Two days of baking, 9 sticks of butter, 15 eggs, 16 cups of flour, and 6 cups of sugar later, I finished 80 rolls and 3 pies. Then I could mostly relax and enjoy Thanksgiving day.
The day started out with a very sweet note from Sarah. She wrote a similar one for Justin. This is her place mat she made in school (I remember making a place mat just like it in first grade).
We started the day at my mom's. We had 27 people for Thanksgiving dinner which sounds impressive but we were missing Julie, Mary Lynn, and Thomas and their families which is like 15 more people. I tried to take pictures of everyone for their benefit but I didn't do a very good job.
My mom bought this huge stuffed dog at Costco. Erica takes good care of him when we're there.
Here's some family (Lisa, Matt, Kyra and Tyler behind Lisa)
And some more family. (Justin, Jared, Kyle, Zack and Hayden)
And the kiddie table (Mason, Erica, Nathan, Maddie and the back of Henry's head)
Sweet little Erica enjoying the sunny afternoon.
And my Henry. Get used to seeing him in this pose today.
After the feast but before the pies, some brave souls attempted this puzzle. I call it gray barf.
It is supposed to look like this. I left soon after I took this picture but reportedly they completed the border, began sorting the middle pieces and then gave up.
Here's my pecan pie. Did you know baking it in cast iron is the Southern way? And it sat in the oven for 3 hours after baking so it didn't turn out runny like my last two pies. I still don't like pie but that doesn't mean I can't get good at making them.
Then we said goodbye to my fam and drove a mile to see Justin's family. They had just finished eating too. We chatted and colored before eating even more.
Hey there's me.
And Justin.
And Henry and his pose.
We pushed right on through Erica's nap. She did pretty well since we brought along snuggle bear.
Justin's brother and grandparents left soon after we got there. You can see sleeping Braden's feet on the left.
What is up with that pose?
Corey and Nadine move this week to Arkansas so I asked Henry to show me his favorite places around the house so we can have pictures to remember it.
This is the toy closet under the stairs. And his cheesy pose.
He has spent many a Sunday evening down here.
And then the theater room with the lovesac.
And his pose.
The big seats.
The exercise ball
And his pose.
The great big ottoman in the family room.
The guitar in the front room.
Nana's piano
And the Utah bell they love to ring too much. We are going to miss having them so close. I don't think my kids quite understand yet.
Friday we had a big huge get-together with my mom's side of the family. Even though I said I wasn't in charge like a dozen times, I was in charge. I guess if you have keys to the building, you're in charge by default. I think I did a pretty good job with just a trip to the dollar store. So to my out-of-state siblings, here are some pictures.
Uncle John from Chicago and brother-in-law Kenny.
Cousin Jordan's girls, Jordan's wife Karen, some other cousin's kids and cousin Arianne.
Cousin Jeffry in red, Aunt Melanie behind him, cousin Alicia, Aunt Leanna, cousin Theresa, cousin Joelle. Standing up way in the back is Rachel, cousin Joseph, Lisa and Aunt Irene.
My girls. When I told Sarah what we were doing that day, she asked "You have cousins?"Ha! I think I have like 37 cousins on my mom's side.
Uncle Ross, cousin Jordan, cousin April, sister Meredith, brother Matt being oh-so photogenic.
Uncle Owen, cousin Allison, Aunt Karen, Aunt Evelyn, mom and dad.
Some cousins' kids and Aunt Melanie helping with crafts.
Peyton, Justin, Tyler and Jaana playing 4-square.
It was super fun and not too much work. I saw cousins I hadn't seen since my grandma's funeral in 2002. I didn't get a picture of everyone because I was busy chasing kids and being hostess-like. I think we had about 70 people come which is probably only half of my grandparents' posterity. I had a huge headache the rest of the day.
About an hour after we got home from the Baadsgaard party, we went to the Dye family party in Orem at Justin's grandma's house. All three of our kids fell asleep on the way there at 5 pm. There were over 50 people there! I didn't take any pictures. We ate yummy soup and rolls and played a white elephant game. My prize shall remain a secret as I want to give it away. There were 4 pregnant cousins. I can't believe how much that family has grown just since I married into it.
Saturday morning we woke up to a skiff of snow. A skiff is enough for sledding if it's a Saturday morning. Erica put on her snowpants for the first time with no fuss. All my toddlers hated getting snow stuff on so I was pretty surprised.
I guess she really wanted to play like her brother and sister.
Sarah was kind and pulled her around on the sled.
Erica liked it.
She was pretty content just laying there.
The big kids wanted a turn on the sled so we went for a walk and she discovered how fun it is to stomp in the snow.
Violet and Sarah.
Dexter and Henry.
All crashing together.
My pretty girl. Is there anything better than being 7 on a snowy day?
That evening we ate at Justin's parents house one last time before his dad flew back to Arkansas and to the Stouffer's plant he is managing there. Nadine leaves in a week or so after the movers pack up their house. They'll be back in 1-3 years. It sounds like a jail sentence. "1-3 years, depending on behavior."
And now that all the fun and parties are over, I finally succumbed to this cold hanging over me all week. Ah, holidays.
