This year for Thanksgiving we were with the Browers'. We got up Thursday morning and got ready for the day. Matt ran to the grocery store to get us a set of ads. I finished a few things to take to Tremonton and we headed that direction about 10am. When we got there we were just missing Ris and her family that were still in route. Most everyone was in the front room watching videos on their phones and visiting we said hello and headed to the kitchen where we found Joy cooking away. We put our stuff down and I jumped in to help Joy get everything done. She was very appreciative of my wiliness to help and put me right to work. Here we are 16 weeks along...getting there a week at a time!
The weather was perfect for the kids to play outside and they were happy to take advantage of it. Gracie was so funny when she saw that Livy was at Grandma's she said, "Oh I really like Livy, she is nice." I thought it was sweet that she has found a little friend.
I find that the girls eat better when I have them help to make whatever it is we are eating and Thanksgiving is no exception. Gracie and Livy took turns wanting to help throughout getting everything put together. It also makes things more fun I never really cooked with my mom so I hope to teach the girls lots about cooking while I can!
We got most of lunch ready then the rest of the girls came to help put rolls together before we loaded up and headed for theater above Northern Furniture. Joy had made arrangements for us to have dinner there so there would be room for all of us to eat. It was nice to have everyone together since it only happens a couple times a year but feeding close to 30 people is never easy. Here is a picture Matt got of the place we ate. It was a little tricky getting everything warm but it worked ok between the oven and the microwave things got cooked or reheated. Just in time since we were all getting really hungry!
This year Joy did turkey and ham. I was grateful for this since I don't really care for turkey
After we ate I started to wonder if Matt's drink might have been spiked but nope he was just being his silly fun self...I really love this guy! He insisted on playing some sort of mexican ghetto jam to dance to...but he keeps life fun
I think as a Brower anything that can be used as a stage is used as such. A handful of the kids attempted to use this platform as a dance stage
Oh our Gracie what can I say. While we were cleaning up she decided to help herself to some fruit salad with her finger, a spoon, and the serving spoon but she seemed to be enjoying herself so I just let her.
After dinner Matt, Chris, Krissy, and I did the dishes while everyone else started a dance party in the large room. By the time we were done with the dishes and cleaning up all I wanted to do is lay down and take a nap. I just don't have the stamina that I did before I was pregnant I get tired so easily...it can be really frustrating. I decided to sit against the wall and take a break considering I hadn't stopped running since we got to Joy's house that morning. Most everyone else started a game which was nice since it was quiet.
I took the time to look at the ads. When we are with my family usually all the girls work together to get lunch ready then the boys do all the cleaning up and my mom and sisters sit down and all look through the ads and map out a plan I missed that. After a while we headed back to Joy's house to finish cleaning up and to do the cousin gift exchange. I happen to catch this cute picture of Gracie helping Joy with the dishes. With so many grand kids its hard to get some one on one time I thought this was so cute.
I love that Matt and I are raising two great girls that are awesome helpers I really don't know what I would do without them and all the help they are to me. Then it was time for presents. Although there was some debate as to what, how, and when we should exchange gifts I hope we have figured something out that will work out for everyone. We decided to do a cousin exchange of homemade or semi-homemade gifts and I think it turned out really well. Both the girls did most of their projects picked out fabric, Hallie cut her's out, and I helped both of them sew them but it was fun how involved they wanted to be. The kids got great gifts that I think they will use throughout the year. I loved seeing how creative everyone had gotten and how excited the kids were to give their gifts. I think Hallie was more excited to give her gift than to get one...which is what Christmas is really all about. Gracie got a stick horse.
Hallie got a coloring notebook that she really likes
Kenzie also made some cute crochet head bands for the girls that she taught herself to make...impressive!
After the gift exchange the sisters, Joy, and I met to make sure everything was ready for Krissy's bridal shower and they liked everything I had put together so far. It was an exhausting but good day. By the time we headed home I was feeling really sick(this happens regularly when I over do it) the only seem that seems to help when I feel that way is to go to sleep and be careful the next day not to over do it again. So we got the kids off to bed and I wasn't far behind. I called the hospital since I was on call the following morning. Luckily for me they said at that point they didn't need me but if they had to go up a nurse they would. I crossed my fingers that They wouldn't need me since I needed a day to really recover. The next morning we got up about 8:30am and decided to put up all the Christmas. I sat on the couch while Matt drug it all out, put up the tree, and got it ready to go. I at that point attempted to help with little success before we got a text that we had a house showing only a couple hours later. We got the tree, Christmas Village, and a few other decor items before we decided to pack up the rest of it and call it good. We then took the kids to Cherry Berry for ice cream to kill time while the people came to look at the house. Then we headed home I had a short rest and then finally started to feel back among the living. Matt started some homework that really had to be done and I dressed the kids up and we headed out to put up the Christmas lights. It went pretty quickly since I knew exactly where everything went and had Gracie and Hallie to help sting the lights. Matt came out and helped me finish since it was starting to get dark. It was perfect timing to see how all of it looked together. After we decided it was a take out night so we went to get KFC to have a picnic in our front room and watched a movie. It was a great way to end a lazy day recovering spent with the ones I love the most.
