Thanksgiving 2012

This year we stayed in Moscow for Thanksgiving. My cousins, Jordan & Allie came up from Rexburg to stay with us. It was SO much fun having them here! They are a blast and were very good putting up with all our crazy antics.

They drove all day last Tuesday and got here before midnight. We are thankfully having a very dry winter season so far, they only had some rain during the drive. On Wednesday I got up & worked half of the day and came home to hang out with them. We had fajitas and played the new GoldenEye Play Station 3 game. Then we played 11 straight rounds of Scattergories and naturally, Zak kicked everyone's butts. He's way too good at that game.

stuffing the turkey

Thursday went a lot better than I expected. Zak and I got up and got the turkey in the oven by 9 AM. Then we just worked on cleaning, other food and around noon Chad came over with his table and drinks and food. We put the parade and later dog show on in the background while everything was put together. Allie and I made her mom's roll recipe. She definitely has a knack for it-she knew what to do and helped make some fantastic rolls! I was pleased that the turkey came out beautifully and so did everything else. It was quite surprising.

the yeast REALLY got crazy

Allie really excited about making rolls (understandably so)

ready to put in the oven!

The feast was fantastic, and we had tons of leftovers! So much so that I dubbed our house 'Leftover City'. We all stuffed ourselves, had little food comas and then enjoyed pumpkin and lemon meringue pie for dessert. We also were able to Skype with everyone back in California for awhile--that was so much fun! It was nice to see everyone and talk with them for a little bit. It felt almost like we were home! I was blessed to have some great helpers, who washed dishes and put things away from me. I think I went to bed around 9, I was incredibly pooped!

basting the turkey

beautiful!

mouth-watering delicious food

Zak cut off our heads, but this is a cute picture!

family!

a nice one of me & Zak

food comas

We decided to go Black Friday shopping...around 11 AM. None of us were willing to get up super early for shopping. Allie and I braved the mall, which wasn't that bad. I found some good deals at Old Navy, but couldn't find any shoes for the wedding next month, which was my main goal. Oh well. After an hour or so, Zak & Jordan picked us up and we went over to Chad & Bryan's place in Albion (5 minutes from Pullman) to meet their pets and go shooting. They have recently adopted a new dog, who was so sweet. We then went shooting a few minutes away. It was pretty cold and windy, so everyone ended up shooting each gun only once.

teaching about the guns

go Jordan!

Allie's turn!

Saturday we had a nice, lazy day with leftovers and video games. In the evening we made pizza and then went to hang out with Kandace & Gabe. We played Mario Party 8 and had a really good time. On Sunday they packed up and headed out before noon. It was sad to see them leave, but it was so great to have them around for the holidays. I am much more confident that I can pull this off again next year, so hopefully we'll be able to do it again!