Holiday of Thanks!

This Thanksgiving was of course spent in Seattle and I was lucky to have my family (well some of them) drive up to spend Thanksgiving with me.  It was so fun to see them, although my brother and sister Cheltsey were missed very much.  My family arrived the day before Thanksgiving so after they came in and got something to eat, we spent majority of the day shopping for food and then preparing food for the next day.  On Thanksgiving morning Bran Dan and I got up early and went to Booty Barre at 7 to burn some extra calories before the massive feast later that night.  On the way home we got a little treat at Safe-A-Way.  I got it for Brandee for coming with me so early.  Don't worry we didn't get anything too fattening after we just worked our butt off at Booty Barre, but we loooove this treat!  If you haven't ever tried Ciao Bella Sorbet, you have to go to your local grocery store and pick some up, it is DELICIOUS (blood orange is one of my favorites and mango is a close tie)!  They also have gelato!  Mmmm...

Anyways, after that it was back to the kitchen when we got home.  I did the turkey again this year.  Ever since I found the Dry Brine and Cider Bourbon glaze at Williams-Sonoma I always do the turkey.  So we cooked and cooked all morning until we HAD to get ready before everyone came over.  Thanksgiving was at my grandma's house and we had my uncle's family over and also the Panee's and Ing's so it was a pretty full house.  The more the merrier!  We started off eating of course...check out the spread!

Sooo much food and everything was so good!  We had a green salad, my sisters and I call it the Fully Loaded, Berry Explosion Salad because it is loaded with yummy things throughout the whole salad not just on top and there are lots of berries.  It is muy delicioso!

We also had a broccoli salad and a veggie tray

And of course my Turkey

Honey-Baked ham 

Candied yams

Mashed potatoes

Funeral potatoes

We tried a new recipe for the stuffing this year.  It was from Williams-Sonoma (I love that place so much) its called focaccia stuffing with italian sausage and chestnuts.  It was divine!

Typical green bean casserole

Baked beans

And oh my gosh these rolls are TO DIE FOR!  Seriously, they are sooo good.  Aunty Paree made six dozen rolls and by the end of dinner, they were all gone!  I can't even tell you how good they are! DELICIOUS!!!!

And thats not even dessert...Amanda made a pumpkin cheesecake with an oreo crust

Of course we had to have pumpkin pie

Custard pie, from Safe-A-Way, it is really good!

My mom made this raspberry jello-pretzel dessert that is always a hit

Apple pie

A caramel swirl cake

And finally coconut creme pie

I was stuffed!  We all sat around and talked while we digested a little bit.  This is how full and miserable we were.  (And yes it isn't the best picture, I definitely need a new camera, I have been on the hunt for awhile.)

After we let our stomachs settle we all played Dance Central on the Kinect.  It was so much fun everyone played even my parents, uncles and aunts, kids and all!  Then we looked through some of the ads to determine if anything was worth risking our safety to be trampled on in all the black friday madness.  The only thing I kind of wanted was a camera we saw at best buy.  My mom, sister and I decided we would go out a little before midnight when the doors opened to see if we could get one.  I guess I didn't want it bad enough because when we got there and saw the line wrap around the whole building (and it was a big building because it also had target and sports authority in the complex) we turned around and went back home.  So no black friday shopping this year.  Normally for the past couple of years in Utah we would go out shopping just for the fun of it.  This year nothing really sparked our interest.  

All in all, it was a fun and yummy Thanksgiving and I'm so glad my family and the Panee's and Ing's were able to celebrate it with me!  I'm so thankful that I'm surrounded by amazing friends and family, thanks for all the love!  I hope you all had a Happy Holiday!