we hosted thanksgiving at our house this year and all of my immediate family flew out to missouri to be with us (mom, mark, hannah, chris, kamber, shane, and porter). we also had some good friends and their kids join us. it was a full house. the food turned out delicious. and i hope everyone had a good time. this was our thankful tree, thanks to my good friend lisa who brought it with her and let us join in the fun. we wrote down things we were thankful for and put them on the tree. it was fun to read them and a great way to get in the right mindset.
mom and mark, chris, and the girls.
grace really wanted to wear that dress over her clothes. so she did.
a benefit of dan having keys to our church building? being able to get in and borrow chairs for the day - we had 15 people total. next year i'll have to think more about center pieces and such.
food prep. i could not have hosted thanksgiving without my mom's help. i called and emailed her a bajillion times during those last few weeks about grocery lists and recipes. hannah came to my rescue and was the one to rinse the brine off the turkey. i tried to do it wearing gloves and couldn't help but shudder every time i touched it. she'll make a great nurse. :)
in the end, everything came together and tasted great.
on the menu:
turkey (brined the night before and roasted full of aromatics and slathered with herb butter, carved by mark)
slow cooker stuffing - thank you lisa it was great!
sweet potatoes with brown sugar and orange zest - courtesy of my mom
garlic and bacon green beans
mashed potatoes - dan insisted on real, not instant and made them himself. delish!
gravy of course
corn for the kids
jello jigglers - didn't quite turn out like i thought but the kids liked them
holiday jello salad (strawberries, pineapple and bananas in strawberry and lemon jello - best jello ever)
homemade lion house rolls. as in some of the best rolls ever, sold in a box at costco now. they were the hit of the meal mom - way to go!
homemade cranberry pomegranate sauce - in honor of you dad!
the only thing i'd have to add next year would be strawberry freezer jam
for dessert we had pumpkin pie, razzleberry pie (marie calendar knows what she's doing with that one!) oreo pudding pie and pumpkin cheesecake (thank you lisa!). we were so full. which means thanksgiving was a success.
i was so stressed leading up to thanksgiving, never having had to contribute more than a pie or batch of potatoes at a thanksgiving dinner before. i was worried about having all the ingredients, enough serving dishes, room for everyone to sit and eat, let alone sleep (my mom and mark did stay in a hotel). but it turned out great and everyone helped so much - it was awesome. it was great to be surrounded by family and have the shortridges with us as well.
as for the rest of the trip - i took very few pictures. we played games and hannah, chris and i watched you tube clips until it was way to late.
i turned 28 and my mom brought party favors for the occasion.
i enjoyed celebrating with family which tends to happen each year since my birthday is always right around thanksgiving. dan surprised me with some boots and even bought 6 different pair for me to choose from. i just laughed when we had to return all the ones we didn't keep at the store. good thing dan doesn't get embarrassed easily. props to him though - it was something i wanted and needed and he totally surprised me. i got some things from other family members and was very, very grateful.
we went bowling as a family and then out for dinner with the adults to Sophia's, a southern european restaurant that was incredible. i can't wait to go back!
my mom summed up the trip in the farnsworth fold, our extended family newsletter that gets emailed out once a month: "For Thanksgiving we all traveled to Missouri to be with Marie and Dan. Chris and Hannah flew out of Salt Lake despite a blizzard in the area the night before. Kamber, Shane, and Porter flew out of Phoenix, and Mark and I flew from Vegas. We all arrived in Kansas City within 15 minutes of each other! Hannah and Chris were in a different terminal and for a few minutes were afraid they had landed at the wrong airport. We all fit into one rental car and drove 2 ½ hours to Columbia. We had a ball! The cousins loved seeing each other and having plenty of adults to read to them or play with them. While we were there, Marie supervised a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, we played games, went sightseeing, saw the movie Tangled, raked leaves, replaced their water heater, went to a mall’s carousel, created memory boxes for Lansing and Dallin, went bowling, adults went out to dinner for Marie’s 28th birthday, and we all went to church together.
Thank you Skinners!!!!!"
thank YOU mom, for making the effort to come visit us and making it happen for the whole family. it was so much fun and we created so many good memories. we were also very happy that kamber and shane made the trip as well and it was great to have the three little cousins together!
1 comment:
look how much fun you guys had! i love how dan bought you so many boots! my room mates all loved it - so cute!! :)
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