Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving day 2011 - Wrap up

HAH!  Since I did no Halloween post, I felt the urge to include theeee Cutest Care Bear in all the land!

So, when Corbin got married and had Chloee, and Luke left on his mission, I decided it was time to break off from the extended family dinners and do our own.  Since we all know, I don't cook very well and I am usually doing some sort of Turkey Trot the morning of the big day, I voted we make a new tradition of....wait for it......The Golden Corral.

I knew Corb, Kar and Chloee wouldn't be coming in for Thanksgiving, Tuffy and 'Tana would be going to her family so that left Luke, Splenda and me.   Splenda's family was having the HUGE get together since fam from LV were coming.  I succumbed to the peer pressure and so that's where we ended up.

I made my famous pumpkin dessert, baked a Marie Callendar's frozen pie and whipped up a huge batch of mashed potatoes.  I grabbed some boxes of Stove Top stuffing since I heard a rumor that it hadn't been assigned and since we all know how high class I am, the boxes were on hand in case, indeed the rumor was true.

(I'm tellin ya - that the real shiz right here.  The bomb.com!  One of the very few things I can make and am proud of!)

Splenda's sister reserved the local LDS meeting house, and between her and his Mom, they had the place all decorated and looking nice by the time we got there.

And to start it off right.......
Any guesses where my place is?  Thanks to my SIL from LV!  She had my back.  Yes, she did!


I don't know about your family gatherings, but this group can never start on time.  Dinner was set at 2pm, but we didn't eat until 3:30.  Which, in part is frustrating, but does allow time for chatting, laughs and a lot of screwing around.





I was glad that Tuff and 'Tan were able to join us for a little bit.  By the time we actually ate, they were scarfing and hustling off to her family.


Clearly, I DO NOT LIKE MY FOOD TO TOUCH!

And where's the stuffing?  Splenda took matters into his hands and got those boxes whipped up!




After sufficiently feasting on yummy, traditional food, it was time to bring out the desserts!

Oh mama - there was some good ones!


My funny nephews (and a niece)



And then, if you can believe it, Jan asked for some help making some snowflakes for her RS activity.  After Splenda made me pee a little by asking if it required ovaries, I decided to give it a try.  That's right, I actually attempted to make a 'craft'


Let the record reflect that there is indeed some Christmas foil in my hands, WITH SCISSORS and I am cutting a snowflake. 
I only could manage three of them, but hey - I consider it a Thanksgiving miracle




After cleaning up, we headed to ANOTHER local LDS meetinghouse and joined 'Tana's family just in time for a rousing game of dodgeball! 

EVERY family should play dodgeball on Thanksgiving - it.is.AWESOME!
Luke and Tuffy discussing strategies

The other team in action


Jumping and dodging and huckin balls - all fun stuff


Making another run for it!



Dayton's team had everyone out but him.  He had all four balls so he was lining up and deciding his best strategy.  The fun rules were that if you actually shot and made a basket with the dodgeball, your entire team could come back in.  Made for some dang good fun! And the best line of the night?  Poor kid takes a ball in the face, some quiet tears as he heads off to the sidelines, a shout from the other team "It's okay, I hit him, but it's okay, he's my kid"
I don't know who that woman was but I fell in love with her.


Later at my house, Splenda, Luke, Mike, Rosa, Robert, Ryan, and eventually Tuffy and 'Tana came over.  I forgot to get a picture but imagine if you will - all 8 of us, plus 3 dogs packed into my bedroom, on the bed, the floor and chairs watching the Thanksgiving episode of Modern Family.  SO FUN!

After our guests left, Luke pulled up the movie Memento and amazingly I was able to stay awake for it.  I didn't get it and it had to be explained, but overall - good film.

What a great day it was.  We got a few minutes on Skype with our SoCal kids, lot's of time with Splenda's side, and then family time with just my kids. 

Best part?  I slept in while Splenda hit the Black Friday doorbusters  - perfect ending!


19 comments:

tammy said...

Consider yourself lucky that you ate at 3:30. When my MIL is hosting we don't eat until at least 7:00. No lie!!! I don't know what takes her so long. She says she gets up at 5:00 to put the turkey in and she makes the pies and the spinach dip the day before, plus I make the potatoes, rolls, and another pie so that leaves stuffing, sweet potatoes and green beans. All day for three things! Thankfully this year it was at my house.

" Hit It......." said...

Looks like you had a great day...! I didn't go shopping either...and couldn't have cared less!

Now that life is slowing down, call me and we will go to lunch.

Unknown said...

Dodgeball for Thanksgiving! What an awesome idea!!! Glad you had a great day...

Connie said...

Sounds like a fun day! I think if I had planned to eat at 2 and didn't get to eat until 3:30, it wouldn't have mattered if my food touched or not!
Like to hear of Thanksgiving miracles!

just call me jo said...

My mom, my daughter, my grandson, and I do not like our food to touch either. I need to do the turkey trot from now to Christmas to lose what I gained yesterday and today. I must do better. You are so cute and little. Glad you had a good gathering. Being a good cook or a crafter is sort of over rated. (And I say that because I don't do either, either...hahaha)

gigi said...

Fun kinda day! I love that you add such great pics! Smart girl with the no black Friday and sending Splenda Daddy!

Mae Rae said...

The care bear pic made the post.

Glad to see that your day was GREAT.

LKP said...

i.need.me.some.thanksgiving.weekend.dodgeball.like.yesterday!

serio, mega family drama the last couple days. there's one family member i'd REALLY like to pummel with MANY balls!

anyhow, i love your thanksgiving adventures! they're wonderful. might have to borrow a few ideas from them, cause they' great! ::hugs::

LKP said...

p.s. we boycotted black friday this year as well, btw. ::fist pump::

Amy said...

I love the idea of dodgeball on Thanksgiving. Sounds like you had a great time with the family and extended fam. My sisters did the Wal-mart thing at 10 pm, I declined. No way!

wendy said...

wowza...what a jam packed Thanksgiving you had.
The whole "timing" thing made me giggle...why can't families ever get it right.
In my house...I always would tell my oldest son to come AN HOUR LATER then I pla (like if it was to start at 1:00...I'd tell him it wasn't until 2:00) Why BECAUSE he always comes EARLY. So that should put him there right about time.
Then with Matthews family...I always had to tell them an hour earlier...if it starts at 1:00, he was told to be there at noon....then Hopefully THEY would be on time.
You got to be really sneaky strategic when a mom...right.
Sheeeesh....that took alot of time just to touch on one subject.
Anway....still laughing at the "does it take ovaries" comment about crafting. And here, all this time, I thought there were NO SUCH THING as a Thanksgiving Miracle.
Love the tongue hanging out part...I can tell you are really concentrate.
And I am SURE the THREE snowflakes you made really took a lot of pressure of the amount she needed to make (tee,hee)
I did all my baking of pies at Marie Calendars too.
ok, I'll shut up now.
you DID have a great day.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

You crafted???????????

SHUT UP!

I can't believe you had scissors in your hand. I hope they kept the glue away.

Looks like your Turkey Day was pretty freakin' awesome.
I love all the pictures.

Uh, I would like the recipe of your masterpiece though.

Mom of 12 said...

Sounds like you had tons of fun! I just love being with family...
Sandy

Jamie said...

Sounds like the perfect day. Love the dodgeball idea!! Crafting? I used to do crafts all the time. I am over it! Now when people want to get overly creative around me I magically dissappear. Not very charitable of me, I know....

Jillybean said...

It looks kind of like our family's Thanksgiving, we always reserve the church and the guys play basketball while the women make the food.....

I'm noticing that you didn't include photos of the finished snowflakes, perhaps you should make some more to show off on the blog?

And most of all, you have never been more correct, different foods on a plate should NEVER TOUCH.
(yeah, I always get that stupid arguement "It all goes to the same place" well, I have news for those people who say that, you don't have taste buds in your stomach, but if your food touches, you can taste the combination in your mouth, and , excuse me, mashed potatoes and jello just don't taste good together, otherwise people would put mashed potatoes in their jello salad, right?)

Shell said...

I think dodge ball would be AWESOME. An excuse to throw things at relatives... yes!!!!

Sue said...

You cook! You make crafts..you play dodgeball..you don't touch your food with other foods..you run marathons..You watch modern family..you skype.Your funny..

you freakin do it all!

glad your turkey day was such fun.

DesertHen said...

Now that is the cutest Care Bear ever!!

Didn't do the shopping thing here either on Black Friday! Just wanted to stay home and hibernate!
Plus...I don't really like to shop!

You did a craft...Wow! LOL!

I wanna play dodgeball! There are a few people I'd like to hit right now with a big, round, hard, orange ball!

I always got hit in the head when we played dodgeball when we were little....hmmmm, might explain a few things! *twitch*

Loralee and the gang... said...

OK I was skimming thru, curious to see if you had written anything about your take on the WS Occupiers, and came across this - love the Thanksgiving post, but NEED your pumpkin dessert recipe!