Thanksgiving '09

We had another great Thanksgiving this year. It was the year to be with my mom's side of the family which means LOTS of people (about 100)! It was also fun because we had James' parents here with us to celebrate. We got together at my cousin Alex's church in West Jordan and the party began.

Melanie, me, mom
Shannon and Jackson-he is so adorable!

Josh, Sarah, and baby Corbin- I loved getting to hold this little guy!

Mom, Josh, Aunt Chris, Aunt Cindy

To keep everyone entertained after eating, my mom came up with some relay races and games to play. We are all SUPER competitive so it gets pretty funny watching everyone cheat or try to "bend the rules" to win. They had a 3 legged race, hula hooping, rootbeer chugging, pudding feeding, peach ring on a stick handoff, ping pong ball on a spoon run, and finally the fear factor round. James has done this at my birthday bash before and it was a hit. My dad decided to do it here and get turkey hearts, sardines, anchovie filet, and a jalapeno. The contenders were Mike Budge, James, Alex, and Brandon.

Alex didn't make it! Brandon also dropped out after the first bite, and Mike ended up beating James after chugging some jalapeno juice to get his items down. Now that is dedication! It turned out really fun. I didn't get to play this year since I was in charge of the kiddos.

We woke up the next morning at 6 and met at my mom's house for our annual Black Friday shopping trip. We headed up to Tai Pan and ended up shopping for 10 hours! Our stops this year were Tai Pan, Bath & Body works, Target, and Ross with breakfast at Ihop and lunch at JCWS in between. It wasn't the same without Uncle Dan with us but we still had a great time. My aunt Mary even bought me a "slanket" for an early birthday present. It is a knock off of a snuggie and I love it! Hot pink and all! :)

Breakfast at IHOP

Poor Aunt Mary was stuck in the back with all of our purchases after a great day of shopping. She literally could not get out! It was hilarious. Till next year...