Giving Thanks November 27, 2014

Matt went to Provo to retrieve Katrina on Wednesday evening. He met up with us Kneaders and it was picturesque to sit by the fire and eat dinner together before going home to start on pies, cornbread, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and to get the bird prepped. All hands on deck. I love it. Katrina hadn't been home for while. When she walked in she said, "Everything looks so pretty!" It was extra glowy with my rigged chandelier. The dining overhead light quit working when it took a hit by a ball from you-can-probably guess-who. We needed a dining light so I strung twinkle lights and gold leaves around it.

Then we configured tables and chairs to fit our party of *21+.

Once we got the table set up in the living room both Graham and Callie changed their tune about wanting to sit at the little table. I knew I needed to make the little table seem desirable. 

The next morning I set up the kid table.

I listened as they both changed their minds, "I am sitting here now." "So am I!"

My prep work in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving paid off. The morning of went pretty smoothly. Matt and I commented that even if we hadn't prepped well, this isn't our first rodeo. Let's just say we've worked out a lot of entertaining kinks over the years.

As we waited for guests, Katrina set Grandma Donna up with Instagram on her phone. Katrina proceeded to post some great shots of the day (though I wasn't able to save all of them to my computer for some reason).

A great highlight was when Ademir opened a dinner roll from Kei to reveal a note: Baby Cacique on it's way August 2015! We cheered, we cried, we celebrated. We watched Ademir try to process this priceless information!

*Kei had pulled me aside on the Christmas train just three days before to tell me that she had found out that very day! She wanted to pass her reveal idea along to me and see what I thought, which I thought was adorable. When were setting up tables and chairs on Wednesday Matt said, "Okay we have 21 people..." The kids said, "22!" They were counting baby Addy who wouldn't need a chair. Matt said, "Yes, we will have 22 beating hearts but we only need to set up for 21." I smiled to myself, that was a very interesting thing for him to say. He was WRONG!

 Brudder's.

Callie soaking up baby Addy on her first Thanksgiving!

Time to carve the bird.

Let the feast begin!

Instead of dividing out the meal everyone just brought what they wanted to make. I wanted to make one of each dish so we would have those marvelous leftovers.

The smells, the sights, and especially the sounds are what made this day special.

Pulling out the finery didn't hurt either.

This group is possible because of this sweet lady here!!!!

Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie that went on for days. Literally.

 It boggled our Cranium.

Lookie here. Mallerie hooked me up so I could load the rest of the pics ;)

Big Brudder.

I got up early the next morning and black Friday shopped at Walmart, then went to the Catching Fire with Katrina, Ava, and Matt. We really enjoyed the movie but the true entertainment seems to be at the theatre itself. Before the movie they had local advertisements on the screen. One was for a tattoo parlor, another for dreadlocks. We noted that the owner has fresh dreds and tattoos up his arms. Must have gotten the package deal.

November Accomplishments

I sent this to Katrina wondering when she might join Mal and I in earning her Young Womanhood Recognition award.

I have my former awards from YW and have been glad to wear them to activities, but the program has changed and there is a new award in town. It basically took me seven years to earn it. I wasn't working on it the whole time, only when I was serving in Young Women. Still, it was about time I earned it. I was getting that seven-year-itch.

Another Itch.

I rarely go out my front door but when I do I see how chipped the black paint is and wonder what to do about it. I can't think of a solution so I touch it up with a Sharpie and go on my way. However, When Lindsey posted her darling front door re-do I wanted to copy.

Blue! Yes, that is just what I wanted to do. I was determined. She said, "Mine is actually jade green it just looks blue in the picture." Too late, I was already sold on blue! I went to Do-It Best for exterior paint this time (the sharpie method was getting old). The manager warned me that it was probably too cold to paint but the gal mixing my paint knew of my determination and told me that if I opened my front door and put plastic over the opening to let the door warm up a bit I'd be just fine. 

It worked! I love.

Ready for another project...

Once this chair from my Granny Woolf got a tiny tear in it, it rapidly went downhill. 

I was thrilled to give it some TLC.

I had also repainted the kitchen that very week, and it set me off. I extended the paint color from the livingroom and diningroom into the kitchen so the change wasn't super noticeable. I did it all while the kids were in school. That night when Matt came home I was chopping veggies at the island like I often am. It wasn't until during dinner that he said, "It seems brighter in here..." "Yeah, I repainted the kitchen today. Salad?"

Anyway, as the weekend approached I figured I may as well dive into the other nagging projects. We were to host Thanksgiving and it gave me a reason to get things done. In the photo below I have the oven door off to clean.

Matt came out of the bedroom dressed to go to the temple. I told him, "I can change quickly and join you." Truth is, I had soup boiling on the stove, muffins in the oven, projects strewn all over and my contented children looking like this:

A movie was playing, Lincoln Logs, Lego's, and Hot Wheels were in progress to name a few. Matt looked around and said, "No you stay here, just I'll go this time." He told me it was a matter of my priorities. I agreed with him but not in the way he thought; my FAMILY is always my first priority.

A rare occurrence was that we had boxed muffins with our soup. No one liked them. Matt tells me I have spoiled the kids to all things homemade.

I can't remember why I took this picture of Mallerie as she studied at the counter with braids in her hair and a carrot in her hand. I guess just to remember her as she is a lot of the time. The Malmal.

November brought the promise of a wet winter... 

...but we all know now it was just a big tease!

Cheese Tasting 11-14-14

For a date night in November I took Matt to Kholer Cheese in Midway for a cheese tasting event. It was interesting to hear about the process from start to finish but it was a bit long to not have any visual aids or pictures. I did learn a lot of new things though. One of the finest cheese factories in the country is right in our backyard. 

Katrina worked there summer before last and really hated the work. I told Matt to text her a picture and ask if she knew where we were:

She texted back, "Get out of there!" 

We didn't get out of there. We took the tour. 

"Cheese, George. Cheese!"

There were at least 50 different kinds of cheese to taste. You have to cleanse your palate after a few samples by eating apple slices. They had such flavors as pineapple cheese.

We would then rate and/or comment on the cheeses we liked best. My comment that was that I would like to see some visuals, a powerpoint something during the presentation portion. I bet they'll do it.

Since this technically wasn't 'dinner' Matt took me to Tarahumara afterwards (the other place Kat worked.)

What was I thinking ordering the CHEESE ENCHILADAS?