So Thankful!

Thanksgiving was almost two weeks ago already!  I'd better get the pictures posted, right?

We had a quiet family Thanksgiving this year, which turned out to be a really nice day!  Don't ask me why, because I have no good reason, but we (I should say "I") forgot to sign us up for a Turkey Trot until it was too late.  To save money and time, we decided to go to the ward flag football game at a nearby park instead.  But, when we got there, none of our crew felt like playing football, so we just played in the playground for a little while instead.  It was nice to be active and enjoy the morning air, but next year we're going back to the Turkey Trot tradition!

The rest of the day was spent preparing food and eating it!  We missed sharing the holiday with our extended family, but we sincerely enjoyed being together and being grateful for our bountiful blessings (and especially for each other).

Now for the pictures!

Okay, I can't explain it, but I absolutely ADORE this picture!  Trey was with me when I was doing the shopping for Thanksgiving Day, and he was getting a little whiny (as 19-month-olds tend to do).  I just think this picture is so Trey--somehow he manages to be so stinkin' cute, even when he's fussy!

Some fun at the playground on Thanksgiving morning!

Chase's assignment for the Thanksgiving meal was to prepare the garlic mashed potatoes.  Here he had set out to prove that a "watched pot" does, in fact, boil.  Haha!  The boy had nothing better to do while waiting for the big meal, I guess!

Sitting down to eat at last!  YUM!

Here is a picture of my dinner: Turkey w/gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean salad, homemade whole wheat rolls, and frog's eye salad.  We skipped a few traditional dishes (like stuffing and cranberries) because we had to do it all by ourselves.  But, it was all delicious!  And don't forget the yummy pumpkin and turtle pies that we had for dessert!

So adorable!  Nate got up from the table for a moment, and in a flash our little Trey popped up in Daddy's chair and started imitating the carving of the turkey!  It was like a vision of Nate as a toddler had appeared before our eyes.  One of those "Julie through the glass" moments . . . wasn't he a baby just yesterday?  Haha!

A new tradition!  We decided to celebrate Black Friday this year by doing something we had never done before.  We made the most delicious homemade doughnuts!  Yes, I do realize these are fried in oil.  But this is once a year, people!  Totally worth it!

Our masterpieces!

The family sitting down to enjoy doughnuts and cider.  Now don't you wish you lived nearby so you could have joined us?