Conquered, or virtual high five.

Thanksgiving.

Four years ago I wanted a traditional thanksgiving dinner, but it did not go as planned. I was pregnant with Thomas and extremely hormonal. I read the instructions on how to cook a turkey and thought everything was golden. Unfortunately, the turkey was severely under cooked, and in a moment of frustration and hormonal rage, I threw the turkey away. Yes, I realize I could have put it back in the oven, but at the time I was blinded by grief and despair. Since then I have not attempted another turkey, and Thanksgiving became a holiday of inviting ourselves to friends and family's homes and restaurants.

This year both Ben and I wanted big traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and we wanted to share the day with friends. We ordered our turkey (which cost us $50 for 13 lbs.), and invited some friends over. I researched how to make a turkey, and found a schedule for a Thanksgiving feast (thank you Pioneer Woman).

Friends- I brined, I baked, and I WAS SUCCESSFUL!

Miracles do happen; I conquered the turkey, and I am proud of myself.

I also conquered a Chocolate Silk Pie! (My fantastic Aunt Kay's recipe.)

Oh, and homemade rolls. Seriously, are you impressed yet? I totally shocked myself. So here is my virtual high five. And an open invite to come over for Thanksgiving next year.

I would like to thank my dad who gave me pep talk and told me I could do It.

I don't have any pictures, but it was good. We had almost twenty people over, and it was a perfect night. Great food, great friends, and fantastic leftovers.

Ben declared it one of his all time favorite Thanksgivings. Ever.

I call that a win.

Leftovers.

I am counting down to the next time I can eat.

I hope all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

 

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Oh my, another week has gone by.

This week has been fun and full of adventures. Here are some of the pictures of our week. Because as you all know, if you don't take a picture and document it in a least two ways, how do you know it really happened?

 

What I have been working on: Christmas decorations. This year, I wanted to do an angel theme, so I have been busy making angel wings and collecting all sorts of different angels. It has been really fun. Oh, and if you were ever wondering if paper mâché goes bad if left in the fridge too long, the answer is yes, and it smells quite nasty.

 

While I have been crafting, the boys have also been working on their artistic abilities.

 

They are totally cute, and face painting was a wonderful way for them to have fun when I was working on my projects.

 

 

We have also been exploring around town.

The man on the right is carrying cut up pineapple on his head.

 

And, this is what I wore. Have I told you for the last year have been documenting my outfits almost daily? I can't remember if I told you before, in fact, I think I did. Either way, now you know. It has been fun to see the good, bad, and strange things I have worn over the last year. But this is about last week.

 

 

This week has been great, and next week is Thanksgiving, and I can already smell the turkey, which is much better than the rancid paper mâché smell.

I have cooking preparations all week, so wish me luck...I am pretty sure I am going to need it.

This is the first time I am attempting a turkey since 2008 when it ended in tears (raw turkey is never a good thing). This time the stakes are a little higher as we have invited people over...maybe you should be wishing them luck.

 

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Thanksgiving.

Palm Springs for Thanksgiving.

It was a dream come true.  My dad was staying in Palm Springs for work, and invited us to spend the day with him.

It was wonderful.  We enjoyed the Thanksgiving Buffet that the hotel was serving- the food was fabulous and the deserts were dreamy.

It was a great Thanksgiving, I didn't have to cook or clean-up, the weather was perfect, and it was wonderful to spend time with my dad.

I asked Jack what his favorite part was, and he said, "when grandpa bought me a toy car and a cookie, and talking to grandpa."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks Dad, for letting us spend the day with you!

Thanksgiving 2010.

When I was nineteen, my aunt, uncle and their kids let me live with them.  I lived there for a total of almost two years.  They opened their home to me and made me feel a part of their family, and for that I will always be grateful. 

When they called and told us they were going to be in California for Thanksgiving and we were invited to dinner, we were so excited.  Jack loves his "cousins" and both Ben and I were glad to be around family.  

The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and the company was priceless.

Thanks for such a wonderful Thanksgiving.

(Before the invite, we were going to order pizza and sushi.)

My Thursday Thanks{giving}.

I am grateful for one of the best Thanksgivings EVER!

Remember last Thanksgiving at the Whitaker's?  Not so great.  This year our goal was to have a good day together, stress free.  Nobody wanted to do the traditional dinner, so we had Chinese delivered.  It was great.  For desert, we had milkshakes from McDonalds. Very, very festive, and stress free!
The entire day was exactly what we wanted, happy time together as a family.

We ended the night with Jason putting on a magic show.  The highlight was when Jason turned Ben into a bunny, it was awesome!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Wednesday Thanks.

{my only picture of an airplane}

I am grateful that my sister and her cute family flew from Iowa to see us! 

I love my sister so much and it is awesome to spend Thanksgiving together. 

Oh, and what the Thanksgiving we are going to have!  Just you wait...

My Tuesday Thanks.

I am grateful to be a mom.

I am grateful I am able stay at home with my amazing two little boys.

I am grateful to watch them grow.

The love.

The joy.

The laughter.

The tears.

The blessings.

The moments.

My Monday Thanks.

I am grateful to be married to Ben.  Ben makes me very happy.  Most of my happiness comes from knowing that he loves me as much as I love him.  We don't have a perfect marriage, I would NEVER claim that.  Some days we get on each other's nerves and do things just to make the other livid.  However, most of the time we are content and enjoy being married to each other.  We have a great life together.  I love the person I am because of him.

I am so grateful for Ben.  I am grateful to know that both of us would do it again, we would take the good along with bad so we could be together.

Finally...

I realize that it has been awhile since I have posted anything. We have had quite a month. We went to Virginia for two and a half weeks because Ben had some training. Then it was the week of Thanksgiving. November flew by.

We had a really great time in Virginia. We were able to see some really great friends, and we went to the National Zoo.

One of the things that I absolutely love about DC is that nearly everything is free, including the Zoo. How can you complain about that? Jack loved it! He can make the noises of the lion, the monkey, and the cows (they had a farm section). What an amazing little guy!

The lion, Jack and Dad

The elephant, Jack, and Mom.

The tiger.

Our Thanksgiving didn't go very well. We had our first ever Thanksgiving at our house. I undercooked the turkey, but by the time we figured it out, it had been awhile since I had eaten anything (my poor husband, and my senstive blood sugar levels) so we just ate the side dishes, and a few bites of the only part that was cooked. I guess there is always next year, and the hope for an invite to someone's house.