We're just a couple of Traveling Turkeys

We are so blessed to have so much family within driving distance. Traveling around and seeing so many of them for Thanksgiving made the past few weeks extra enjoyable --- having three separate feasts did not hurt my feelings either!

We started celebrating early when our good friend Gary came for a visit on the 16th. He finally finished his 4 year contract with the Air Force and gets to be with friends and family for the holidays. Let's see if I can find a really embarrassing picture of him.... ah! Here we go:

So he spent a few days at our house - mostly enjoying the luxury of eating, sleeping, and playing video games with Jake. In the mean time, I baked cinnamon rolls, cooked a dinner of ribs and baked potatoes, bought them mountain dew, fixed them snacks - basically spoiled them rotten and let them carry on in their manly fashion.   

That weekend we headed down to Salt Lake for an early Thanksgiving with some of Jake's family. It snowed like crazy, but I loved it!

In spite of the storm, we met up with his Mom, Wayne, older siblings, and nieces/nephews for dinner at Roosters Restaurant in Layton on Saturday. Yummy food and a good atmosphere where we could all just sit and chat.

Jake's sister has a new baby girl and we were able to stay for the blessing on Sunday. Here is our newest niece, Cassandra:

Just a few short days at work, and then we were back on the road to Salt Lake to celebrate the actual Thanksgiving Day. We picked up my oldest sister, MarLeice, at the airport then made our way to Orem. My younger sister bought a house there this year, and so she was designated hostess for our family dinner!

 Thursday morning Jake and I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in and then turned on the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He had never watched it before - can you believe it!?

The weather was extremely nice that day, but Jake and I skipped out on the family football game due to our being sick with the cold.

I was jealous when I heard how much fun they had had. BUT, we had fun too.... uh, we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (my choice) and James Bond Casino Royale (his choice) --- very festive shows, we know.

Thursday afternoon, we had a great pig out! nom nom nom. Turkey, stuffing,  mashed potatoes, yams, fresh veggies, rolls, and I made a frog eye salad. Something about those little frog eyes that I pretty much LOVE.

ADULT TABLE

KID TABLE

 It didn't take us long to dive into the pie and ice cream, even after a few plates full of dinner. Some of us literally dove in -

And then began the game playing and the present exchange. We decided that since everyone made it for Thanksgiving, and we weren't sure who would be around for Christmas, we would do our sibling gifts that night.

 Friday came too quickly and the morning was a rush. Showered, packed, and off to another location. My extended family on my Dad's side had a dinner at a church building on the way to where we were going, so Jake and I stopped in for a late lunch.  It's always fun to see this HUGE group get together - 13 kids in his family and all of their kids. There were over 160 people there and that did not include the ones that couldn't make it. Amazing wonderful chaos. Here's a little snippet:

K, when I saw her doing this, I was totally inspired. You can't hear the music in the background which is unfortunate, but she is stepping right on beat so it's like a little wiggle dance. Denae, you are awesome :)

Jake and I made it to Mink Creek that night at a decent time, and awaited yet another gathering. This was the gathering of "The Boys."  They all grew up making mischief together, but they don't get together very often.  The most recent picture I have of them all together was at our Wedding: 

 This time we got to see five out of these seven on Friday night. We had some "interesting" conversation and then played a few games of wally ball against a younger generation. Old crowd was triumphant! Most had to disperse the next day, but the few that were left behind had a good day in Logan, eating at the traditional "Mandarin Garden" and watching a new Jackie Chan flick. Yes.... I survived all the "guy" time somehow. Just kidding - They are really a great bunch of guys and I am glad Jake is able to keep in touch with each of them on some level.

I am sad to say we played a little too hard, because Jake and I had a very long sleepless night. By this time both of us were super sick, and didn't sleep much. Bad cough, congestion, the works. I am afraid we did not make it to church and after dragging ourselves out of bed at noon, we watched old Red Skelton Christmas episodes until it was time for lunch at 2:00.

We had to make a quick exit after eating, because Jake had left over work stuff to get done that night.

I am grateful to be home now. Thanksgiving is now officially spent, and Christmas will be EXPLODING out of our house. I've been trying to contain it since before Halloween! But I am glad that Thanksgiving was given its time in the spotlight --- We have really had so much to be grateful for this year, and always! We are thankful for the way our life has taught us so many things, and we are grateful for all of you!