Gobble Gobble til' Ya Wobble Wobble

This year was our year to have Thanksgiving with Dave's family.  His sister Karen hosted it at her house in Kaysville in her new home.  She just moved back here with her family from Arizona and they haven't been part of our Thanksgiving since leaving Utah about 20 years ago.  They did come back eight years ago, the year Tyson passed away, but that was the last time we were together with them on this holiday.  We were all so excited to finally have them back here.  It was a lot of fun.  No matter what we are doing, I always have fun with Karen.

This year I was assigned to make the traditional green bean casserole, baked beans, a lemon pie, and a veggie tray.  The only thing of the four that was photo worthy was the veggie tray.  I saw a photo of this (no, not on Pinterest- shocking I know!) from a friend and I fell in love with it.  I was excited to make it.  I think it turned out pretty fun!

 

It's larger than it appears in the previous photo.

The fun and games started way before we sat down to eat.  They are playing HedBanz.

Some of the cousins. 

We were missing Skyler (working in Hawaii and by working, I mean on Thanksgiving Day too - he had an eel he caught for his feast),Taylor (serving a mission in Brazil), Weston (serving a mission in Reno), Rachel (serving a mission in Albania), all of Brian's kids (they were at their mom's house), Kimber, Jason, and Kylah (living in Oregon), and Julie's family who lives in Las Vegas.  But, we still had three full tables! 

Click to enlarge

I loved watching Bryce hold his newest cousin Alexandra.  He has always loved babies and they always love him.

 The adults.  Just missing Dave's sister Julie and her family.

Isaac's after dinner creation!

Having some fun!

Have I mentioned how much I love this kid!  He LOVES teasing me and I love teasing him back. He calls me Aunt Joey and I call him Newt - short for Sir Isaac Newton.  We have lots of fun!  He reminds me so much of Skyler when he was that age.

And...have I mentioned I have THEE cutest nieces and nephews on the planet?!  I seriously do!  Look at this doll!  Alexandra Rose.  Isn't she just a beauty?

 

A couple more of Bryce and Alexandra.  She is just soooooo stinkin' cute!

I can definitely say I gobbled until I wobbled!  And then some.....

There is just nothing like getting together with family to celebrate holidays.  I have been so blessed with a such a great family!  Dave's, my own, and my immediate family.  I LOVE Thanksgiving and I think the practice of gratitude is such an important principle to instill in our children.  I honestly believe gratitude is the secret to happiness.  When we are grateful we are happy.  When we focus on what we have, we can't focus on what we don't.  And I for one, have SO much to be grateful for!

However, I feel like this holiday, is being totally kicked aside and trampled on.  I am not happy that the stores have now started to open right ON Thanksgiving Day!  Thanksgiving is a family day, not a day to shop!  I understand it is against the law to do that in some states and I am tempted to move to one of those.  I think it is just SO wrong to take a holiday that is supposed to focus on being grateful and force Black Friday upon us- the one day when people show their greed more than any other day of the year.  It is almost an oxymoron.  

It really saddens me.  So much so, that I refused to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day.  I think those employees should be home enjoying the holiday with their families instead of having to work!  It's just wrong in so many ways!  But that's just me.  I know a lot of families do it together and so they are at least together.  But, no one will ever convince me it is right. 

I have always been a big Black Friday shopper but I used to enjoy it more when the sales began at 6 a.m.!  Then they just kept getting earlier and earlier, with each store trying to get you into their store first.  Now, I just enjoy sleeping in and I eventually hit the stores on Friday, but not until about 7 a.m. and amazingly, I have always found what I needed without having to get up at 3 a.m. and stand in a freezing cold line for hours.  So maybe I should be grateful the stores have moved it away from the early Friday morning and now start either on Thursday or at midnight on Friday.  I'm perfectly happy sleeping through all the craziness!

This year, I did end up standing in a freezing cold line for an hour or so though.  Honeyville Farms had their Bosch Mixers on sale and only had eight at the price advertised.  Mine is 31 years old and is on it's last leg.  It sounds like it is going to explode when I turn it on now.  It's definitely time for a new one, but I have avoided it because they aren't cheap.  So Dave and I headed to get in line a little before 7 a.m. and his sister Linda was already in line and informed us that we were probably number nine.  That meant no Bosch on the ad price.  But even before Dave knew that, he was ready to head back home.  He kept telling me how it wasn't worth it to stand there and freeze to save a few bucks.  I informed him it was worth it to stand there and save over a hundred bucks though.  He still wasn't convinced because he knew the odds of us even getting one were slim.  He was right.  But then we talked to a lady who had some coupons for one item at 25% off.  If we used that, then even if we weren't one of the first eight we could still get one and it would only be $20 more.

This isn't mine, but what mine looks like

The new Bosch

  So I ran home while he stood in line and printed off some coupons.  I saw a worker go in and asked him if they had plenty in stock so it would be worth my time to wait in line or if they only had the eight.  He told me they had plenty and that I could use the coupon on one.  Yippee!  Suddenly it was all worth standing there freezing to death.  Some guy had been there since 3 a.m.!  Now, even I wouldn't do that just to save a hundred bucks!  I DO have my limits!  ;)

Long story short, (yeah right like it even has a chance to be short after all I wrote above!) we got inside and after the eight were gone, they only had about two left in stock. They were gone when I got to them and was certain we missed out.  So much for they had plenty in stock!  Then I saw Dave come around the corner carrying one.  Yea!  I was so excited I almost knocked it out of his hands!  I love going home on Black Friday happy and not disappointed.  Dave headed off to work and I headed off to Shopko and Walmart.  Then I was DONE with my Black Friday.  I used to shop all day. It's just not worth it to me anymore and besides, I have Cyber Monday to look forward to!  I prefer shopping online to fighting the crowds any day!  And you don't even have to find a parking place or stand outside freezing in a long line. So I came home and cleaned my garage and my pantry.  That felt just as good as saving a lot of money.  Well...almost.