Thanksgiving Fun

Here are a few snapshots of the fun we had over Thanksgiving - we got to spend the holiday week at my Grandpa's house in Orem while he was away doing Thanksgiving in California. My sisters were there, and that made it wonderful :) We also got to share the holiday with friends whose families live a ways away, and it was so fun to have them with us as we ate good food, played games, watched good movies, and hiked the Y.

Before the hike - we chose to do it on Thanksgiving day - to work up an appetite and to qualify for pie and goodies later on. H and M wanted it to look like H carried M all the way up the mountain - which H didn't, but is strong enough to make it quite a ways up I am sure!

During the hike at one of our many rest breaks - everyone was so kind to rest often - being 5.5 months pregnant, I was going slower than my usual hike the Y pace (which still isn't very fast). Greg is amazing - he supported me and stayed with me through the whole hike, and practically pulled me up the mountain a number of times when I thought I couldn't make it to the top - hurray for my wonderful husband!

A picture from the top - to prove that we made it!

Greg watching over the mashed potatoes later that night - in my opinion, no one makes mashed potatoes better than Greg does! Greg helped me with the turkey, and everyone pitched in to make the Thanksgiving feast easy and delicious!

Our Thanksgiving family :)

After dinner, H and M decide to break the Turkey's wishbone after picking the meat from the turkey bones. Have you ever heard of this? You make a wish, and then pull, and whoever gets the longer part will have his or her wish come true!

I hope M made a good wish! :)

M and I comparing babies after a full Thanksgiving feast - me, 5.5 months along, and M with a "food baby" (i.e. very full stomach) :)

One of the highlights of the week to me was getting to go to the temple with Greg and my sisters- I love my family! I am so grateful for them!

Below are pictures of our table (sorry they are sideways) - beautifully decorated, with traditional dead flower arrangement from my Grandpa's garden, by M and H and M's friend. We had quite an elegant time, with Grandpa's dishes and such, and thanks to my Dad, who was a founder of our feast. Thank you!

Updates on our lives - Thanksgiving (5 months later...)

Hello to any of you who still occasionally check this blog! I apologize for not updating it sooner! Since you may be wondering if we are still alive and well (or even if you weren't wondering), it is my pleasure to report that we are indeed, both alive and well :)
To prove to you that we have been alive and well in the past, I now pledge to update you on some of the significant happenings for which we have pictures from the past few months. Let's start with Thanksgiving :) As you can see from below, I am excited for the day, and Greg and I started cooking together pretty early for a holiday morning (about 9:00am I think). We were so excited that we would get to spend the day with several of Greg's family members and my sister - what a wonderful family we have! They are so fun to be with! The sad absence of my brother is due to the draw of Disneyland - but hey, who can blame him when he had a chance to go? He had a good Thanksgiving too - that is what matters most :)

Greg likes to take pictures of me for some reason - I did not ask him to take this picture...

This is my cute husband :)

We both seem to like this pose :) This is us having fun with the camera as we make mashed potatoes for potato rolls - arguably the best part of Thanksgiving (after the stuffing...he he:)

Do you know- I did not try to get this floury - but I managed it :) Part of the fun of baking is looking like what you make, isn't it? To this day, I often end up with dough in my hair or flour on my cheek or arms when I make bread. I suppose that I just really like bread, and bread likes me - bread and I very fully agree!

One of Greg's favorite parts of Thanksgiving is mashed potatoes - here he is enjoying the leftover mashed potatoes from those we needed to make the potato rolls - doesn't he look happy with that spoonful of mashed potatoes? Let's get a closeup:

You would think that Greg doesn't need Thanksgiving dinner after these mashed potatoes - one of the things I love about Greg is that he is easy to please - easily content :)

After the cooking was started, our family started to arrive! Here we see two of our nephews and my beautiful sis making apple turkeys - with gumdrops and toothpicks and apples - great table decor, and lots of fun!

Proof of how beautiful and awesome my sister is - look at her smile! Kids adore her wherever she goes, and it's no wonder why - she is awesome!

This is Greg and his brother Kendall as they talk to one of our siblings in another state - I am so grateful for the technology of today that enables us to keep in touch even when we are snowstorms and miles and mountains away from each other! 

 A closeup of an apple turkey :)

The great thing about apple turkeys are that they are so much fun to make! For adults and kids alike - Isaac and Moroni had a good time making them I think...

This is one of my favorite pictures of the holiday - Greg and Kendall look alike, and are very alike in so many good ways - they are both so kind, selfless, patient, and listen so well - and are so fun to be around! Here they are peeling potatoes for the mashed potatoes - proof of how good they are!

This is the one where Kendall smiled so I could get a good picture :) 

This was our feast table - we were so blessed to have such good food, and in such bounty! It must be noted here that  Grandpa Bezzant is one of the main founders of the feast - he let us use his table and dishes etc. for the dinner, and let us use his main level to entertain our family while he was away with other family in California. He is the epitome of generosity I think. Each of our family members contributed to the meal as well - which made it a lighter burden for each of us. Dad Cummings supported our family get-together as well! Thank you Dad!!!

My attempt at a close-up mouthwatering shot of our table goods...not quite ready for Southern Living, eh....

Daniel preparing to sit down....

This was one of the cutest members of our Thanksgiving day meal - Joy!

And all of this cooking, decorating, preparing, talking, laughing, etc. was accompanied by Christmas music, family games such as Quiddler and Blink, lots of good pie, and wonderful family :) We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! We hope that you did too!