Thanksgiving 2016

This year we went to Mt Pleasant for Thanksgiving. We had a great time and no one got sick! And I didn't take enough pictures. The kids and I left Tuesday after school let out so that we could spend more time with cousins. Tyler had to work on Wednesday. He deiced to work from home because he had to wait for Levi's new computer to be shipped to our house and he had to sign for it. (Tyler ordered it in behalf of Levi to give him a Best Buy discount). Well, it began snowing on Wednesday and UPS didn't make it until 7pm. Tyler wasn't too thrilled about driving down to Mt P in the snow but he did that night anyway.

So, in attendance we had my parents, our family, Rose & Jonny, Levi and Alex and Marci and crew. We were missing Jennie/Grant who were in Montana with his family.

Thanksgiving day Tyler smoked a turkey (yes, we brought the smoker down)  that my parents provided. He also made some pumpkin pies a couple days before. I made the usual pomegranate jello salad and stuffing (without the cornbread because my Mom doesn't like that part). Tyler also brought down his fresh pressed apple cider that he made the weekend prior.

Random shot of my mom.

We all added thanks to the gratitude tree.

Kids always request the popcorn turkey. It gets less and less elaborate each year. 

Alex made the carrots out of our special looking homegrown (and delicious) carrots. Marci also made delicious rolls and 4 delicious pies (coconut cream, banana cream, pecan, and chocolate cream). My mom made mashed potatoes and gravy. Rose and Jonny made sweet potato casserole. Yum. My dad provided the Martinelli's. Am I missing anything?

We didn't do much exciting the rest of the weekend. We watched some movies, ate leftovers and just hung out. Alex and Marci left Friday morning for her family Thanksgiving and then back to Colorado on Saturday. Before he left, Alex installed a bunch of new bookshelves too. My parents finally got new flooring upstairs. They covered their once lovely concrete with "plastic" as my dad calls it (high quality laminate) with some carpet and vinyl in other rooms. They also got some roller shades for their windows. They don't need them for privacy since they don't have neighbors on three sides. But the was fading everything and the blinds help with cooling in the summers. Then they installed some attractive white Ikea bookshelves in the living room. It feels more comfy and full now.

Kids eating Gpa's post-workout smoothies.

The last day we were there (Saturday) we cut down our own Christmas tree. We drove to Spring City where the Richmond's said had a plethora of good looking trees. It was a bit snowy but mostly muddy which made it adventurous. We nearly hiked to the top of this small mountain and found a tree that we thought would work well. We cut it down with a small saw and carried it to the car. Strapped it to the suburban and drove it home. My dad helped us too. The kids also liked playing on the frozen creek on the way back. Of course, on the way down Colin was getting sucked into the mud so I offered to pick him up. And then, as my usual clumsy self, slipped and fell. Fortunately, I didn't get too dirty. Upon closer examination we wished we would have picked a fuller, larger tree and then just chopped off the bottom (because it would have been too tall for our living room) but we got a Charlie Brownish one for $10. Can't beat that. (or free...did we ever pay you back Dad?)

We had a great, short week. With Delicious food, chatting and relaxation.