A Day of Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! It was such a treat to be back in Utah and be with our family. During the 7 years that we were gone, the kids and I came home for one of those Thanksgivings. We LOVED our Thanksgivings in Ohio and thought of and missed the Rasmussen's & Johnson's. It is such a fun holiday and all of them are so great. I know that we will remember this year for many years to come.

Thanksgiving always starts the day before with pie making. Jon is the pie maker in the family, so he worked with the kids to make 2 pumpkin, 2 chocolate cream and 1 apple pie. They were all delicious! When Jon went to work, the kids and I went to my parent's ward building to help set up for the next day. There were 35 of us all together (parents, brothers, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, missionaries, friends, etc.). We played a fun game of soccer and tag, so the kids had a blast playing.


On Thanksgiving morning, the kids helped decorate sugar cookies to look like turkeys. We got our other cooking assignments done and then our friend, Julie (who moved into our ward about the same time we did) came and we drove to my parent's ward.

My second cousin, Annie, made these darling placecards.

My dad and Uncle Bruce were the turkey carvers.

Julie was so great with our kids. She played with them and helped them with whatever they needed. Thanks again Julie - we LOVED having you with us for the day.

We had a ton of food - including this fruit & dip platter - prepared by my cousin Meg and her husband Jason. You'll notice that the "Y" is crossed out. We have a mix of "Y" and "U" fans in our family.

My parents with my grandma.

Mike and Candy with Candy's grandma Ellen.

John and Becky

Hannah and her grandpa

This picture definitely captures our little devil. Ohhhh, she is a stinker!

After we ate, several people played flag football outside and then came back in for several rounds of lightning. It's definitely a family tradition to play lightning and I think some rounds as many as 25 people played.

Everyone that wanted to could play - as evidenced by the fact that I am holding Ellen's oxygen tank so she could shoot.

This is my Aunt Becky. She is such a joy to be around (as well as her cute kids). She was posing in Candy's heels.

After several hours at the Church, we headed to our house and most everyone was able to come join us there. We ate leftovers, visited, played Dance Dance Revolution, and Mad Gab. We got the Christmas blankets out for the kids (more about that on the next post) and my mom gave them a new coloring book, crayons, night lite, Christmas movie, advent calendar and puzzle.

What a wonderful day - full of delicious food, delicious company and delicious blessings!