Thanksgiving 2011

I have very fond memories of Thanksgiving over the past few years. I have spent a majority of the Thanksgiving's since graduating from high school in Southern California with the Rainville family.

2005

 2006

 2008

 I've ventured to Wyoming to visit Uncle Dale and family. (2009)

 Last year I headed home. (2010)

This year, Tandy had a tournament the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we decided to have our own "cousin" Thanksgiving here. We were cooking all the food! I was nervous! It turned out to be a fantastic week! Who knew we could do it without the "adults". 

Wednesday, everyone arrived. We headed to the BYU vs. Wisconsin women's basketball game. After the game we got pizza and hung out at my apartment.

Thursday we woke up and began dinner preparations. The Park's so kindly offered their home so that we would have more room to accommodate everyone! There were fourteen of us total! So a pretty good size.

Yes! We used paper products! Would you expect anything less from me? The best part about it... NO DISHES! :)

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without NAME cards! :) And trail mix... in Dixie cups! :)

The food...

And dessert...

Prior to dinner... we sang the traditional "We Gather Together"...

 

And thoroughly enjoyed our feast! We played cards, watched football, relaxed, and ate dessert afterwards!

Here are some pictures with those in attendance :)

We attempted some sibling pictures... with our past history of family pictures... we were lucky to get out with a semi-decent picture! :)

Friday, we enjoyed sleeping in, and then headed up to Tandy's basketball game! We dropped her off so she could warm up and then headed to do a little bit of shopping. We did NOT brave the craziness of early morning Black Friday shopping.
(However, Mitchell and Tandy did on Friday night when they went to grab a Red Box from Walmart... this is the pictures they sent us!) SOOOO many people!

We headed back to her game after our afternoon shopping trip. They won by a lot! Fun to see her play in college! She's the one with the dark hair... #32. :) We kept looking for the blonde...

 The cheering section...

That night we did a little bit more shopping and then headed back to Aunt Janene's and enjoyed homemade Cafe Rio and watched the movie Red.

Saturday we went to Tandy's game, they lost by ten. It was quite a memorable experience. One of the members of her team passed out and had multiple seizures on the court. Thankfully we were warned ahead of time! It was still completely traumatizing and apparently happens frequently. Crazy! I probably shouldn't have taken a picture... but I had to send one to Mom. So why not document it? Tandy... don't tell anyone!

After the game we headed to the Pizza Factory (much to the disdain of others)... but all in all had a pretty enjoyable time!

 Free breadsticks... for our wait! Well worth it...

 Mitchell made us stop at Cabela's on our way home...

Sunday, we went to church, came home, enjoyed Thanksgiving leftovers and everyone was on their way home! It was a completely enjoyable week! Weird to actually be in Utah for a holiday! Enjoyable nonetheless.

I love Thanksgiving because it causes people to reflect and truly be grateful. I wish it happened more frequently than just around Thanksgiving. I know I'm guilty of it. But I truly am so blessed and so grateful for the wonderful people and opportunities that I have in my life. It was a fantastic week and I'm grateful that I was able to spend it with my family!