Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving this year was great! It was Brynne and Blake's year to be in Las Vegas so we had planned to spend Thanksgiving with Jake's family but they didn't host a dinner this year so we got to have dinner with my family again! We started out the day with a turkey trot 5K. I've never done a turkey trot before but have done 5K's. Jake was going to do the traffic control for it as he is part of the volunteer sheriff department out in Eagle Mountain but he was super tired so he slept in and "watched" Kaycee {aka kept the monitor close since was was still sleeping!} and I went and ran with my mom and 2 of my sisters! 

My mom and I ended up getting ahead of my sisters and they didn't try to catch up to us so we just kept going. It was fun - we danced and went pretty fast for most of it and then started talking and then went at a slower pace after that and just talked. 

After the race we all went home. I had breakfast with Jake and Kaycee and did the little bit of cooking that I needed to do for the day.  We ordered our pies from some girls in the neighborhood who were doing a fundraiser for color guard so I had that part taken care of, I just needed to make rolls to take to my moms and make Jake his very own turkey.  He loves turkey sandwiches so I make a small turkey in the crock pot for him to eat. Kaycee was very intrigued.

I love how big her eyes are 

"No don't touch it!"

She took a nap, I showered and got ready and then when she woke up we headed over to my moms to eat our feast! Rick, my mom, Jeannene, Popper, Sarah, Ulani {Sarah's friend from her mission} and my dad were there with us. We had all the usual Thanksgiving fabulousness and it was all delicious! Kaycee tried mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, a roll, steamed carrots {which she LOVED!} and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. She was her usual cheeser self and was so fun during dinner.

After dinner we all laid around in the front room and watched Miracle on 34th Street. It's a tradition to watch it on Thanksgiving and I haven't seen it in forever! Kaycee took a nap part way through the movie in the pack and play and we all just enjoyed spending time together.

After the movie we had more pie and visited until it was time to go home.  It was a fabulously fun Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for my little family and for the traditions we are able to share with Kaycee! Seeing her react to holidays makes them so much more fun!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Weekend

The day after Thanksgiving, Jake wanted to take me & my sisters shooting. About a month ago, we had an "incident" where the dishwasher went off in the middle of the night and about gave Max & me a heart attack - we were both convinced someone had broken into the house. I've never seen Max so aggressive - he was barking & growling and really freaking me out. Jake was worried that I was home alone and wanted to have one of police friends in the neighborhood come check it out, but I assured Jake I was fine since I had the gun. Jake wasn't convinced that I knew how to use it, so going shooting the day after Thanksgiving was the perfect chance to "refresh" me on how to load it and make sure I knew how to use it! We headed south of Saratoga for some practice.

The target tree Jake made - all the empty Martinelli's bottles, a couple aerosol cans & an old can of paint

Jeannene shooting the 22. Neither of my sisters have shot a gun outside, and Jeannene wasn't sure she had ever shot a gun, so Jake went through some gun safety stuff first

Jeannene had really good aim! 

So did Popper - we broke all the bottles before Jake got a chance to shoot at one haha

Popper shooting the 40 - it was SUPER loud!

So Jake covered her ears. Such a good big brother in law :)

Jeannene shooting the 40 {she didn't want her ears covered. Jake looks scared haha}

Aiming for the paint can

We did a pretty good job - we hit the paint can at least 10 times between the 4 of us!

Jake shooting his 40

He has 2 San Francisco Giants hats and this one was too small, so he decided to use it for target practice. 3 through the brim and 1 through the black part that goes on someone's head

After we finished shooting, we went exploring in the Chevy. It was SUPER rocky and WAY fun, but it was insanely bumpy and Miss Kaycee was kicking me HARD the whole rest of the day. I think that means she liked it haha. My tummy was moving around SO much during the ride it looked like it was going to bounce right off haha. I had a few contractions that night, so we decided we probably shouldn't do something that aggressive again until after she's here. 

The next day, we went to the sand dunes with Jake's family. Jake's parents were camping there, so we had an aunt & uncle, 3 cousins plus Jake's older brother and us go down to ride in the dunes for the day. It was SOO much fun! Jake's parents just got a new 4 seater Razor and we had a blast riding it around. The weather was perfect for riding considering it was the last day of November! I totally spaced it on taking pictures though. Just know it was SUPER fun! It was an awesome Thanksgiving weekend!

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays as of a few years ago. I absolutely LOVE the chance to focus on gratitude throughout the whole month. I always have a lot to be grateful for, and focusing on it throughout the entire year is definitely a goal for me. I always know that for the month of November though, I will get to be reminded daily of all I have to be grateful for.

The day before Thanksgiving, Jake took me to see Catching Fire in theaters. It was SOOO good, we both loved it! I read the books, multiple times, but Jake doesn't like to read, so it gave me the chance to keep him on edge without explaining stuff and see how confused he would get, since book 2 is SUPER confusing. Afterwards, we went to visit his parents for a few hours and then got JCW's ice cream shakes for dinner. Nutritious right? We came home, made our breakfast for the next day that goes in the crock pot over night and went to bed.

The next day, we woke up and got the rolls out of the freezer so they could start rising before we needed to leave for my parents house and then had breakfast.

The crock pot overnight breakfast casserole turned out SO yummy!! 

After we were finished with breakfast, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then did the dishes so we could have Jake's little turkey cooking while we were gone. I'm not big into turkey, but Jake LOVES it and wanted his own little one for sandwiches throughout the rest of the weekend, so I got one just for him!

I sure love my crock pot haha

We got ready and then went to Salt Lake to pick up my dad, then came back to our house super fast to get Max, the pumpkin cheesecake & the rolls and then headed to my parents house. My parents got divorced 13 years ago almost and have a good enough relationship they can spend Thanksgiving together. I am SO grateful for that!

We got to my parents house and played games for a little while and then had dinner!

Yams & stuffing

The carved bird

Honey carrots

More stuffing & potatoes

Green bean casserole, enough Martinelli's for the whole family to get sick on, and the rolls I made that would NOT rise. Good times lol

Dinner was delicious and the table was SUPER crowded - we had 14 people there and that was only siblings & the missionaries! My step dad is the ward mission leader, so of course we had to invite the missionaries for Thanksgiving. They ended up getting invited to 3 different dinners - I bet they were SUPER full by the time the day was over, since we were dinner #1.

Elder Gleed & Elder Poulima

Everyone {except me & Jake - we were tired} played the game where you write a sentence, then draw a picture of the sentence, then fold the paper so no one can see the sentence and the next person writes a sentence that they think the picture is describing, then they fold the paper so no one sees the picture and the next person draws a picture of the sentence, etc. until the paper is full. It's SUPER funny to see how the sentences evolve.

After that game, we played a game Jake's family introduced me to a few years ago. Everyone gets a 10-15 scraps of paper and writes different nouns on it. All the papers go in a bowl, and then each person gets 20 seconds to give clues about the noun on the scraps of paper they draw out of the bowl so that people can guess what the paper says. So kinda like charades except you can talk. You only get 20 seconds and then you pass the bowl with all the papers to the next person. The goal is to give the best hints so that you get to pull the most papers out of the bowl. So there aren't teams - everyone can play and shout out answers throughout the game. It was REALLY fun - we ended up playing it 3 times. While we were playing, Max was exhausted & kept falling asleep in front of us on the floor. He is normally Mr. Hyper at my parents house, so it was funny seeing him be so tired.

After the games, we had dessert: pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake & pecan pie. Jake had never had pumpkin cheesecake before and wants me to buy another one just for us - it really is that good. We finished dessert, took some pictures and then took my dad back home to Salt Lake.

Me & my siblings who were able to come - Jeannene, Brynne, Lauryl, Lizzy & Richard {Chris was there but he wouldn't come be in the picture. Sarah is on her mission & Matt chose not to come}

Me & my sisters

The girls with my dad

My awesome little family!

The girls with my mom {pictures starting getting SUPER blurry}

The 4 girls with our parents

After we got home from taking my dad out, Jake opened the door to the house and immediately wanted some of his turkey. The house smelled SOO good, I was quite proud of myself.

Jake attempted to pull his turkey out of the crock pot and it totally fell apart - the meat was SOOO tender. That's my idea of a perfect turkey, and Jake agreed. We got his turkey all carved, the dishes washed and then called it a night. It was a SUPER fun Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2012

Last week was Thanksgiving - where has time gone?! Thanksgiving was the earliest day it could have been - the 22 & it just did NOT feel like it could possibly be time for Thanksgiving already! Jake, as usual, had a 4 day weekend off of work so I asked for the Friday & Saturday off so we got to spend the 4 days together. To say it was much needed time together would be a GROSS understatement. It was WONDERFUL getting that much time together!!

Thursday morning started bright & early! I knew that I didn't want to deprive myself eating wise, but I didn't want to go over board and be sick either. And I knew I wanted to get a work out in to help me reign it in a little bit. So I recruited my mom, Jeannene & Lauryl to do Turbo Fire with me! Usually I lift on Thursdays though, and I didn't want to miss it, so I woke up and did Lean Circuit 2 of ChaLean Extreme and then I went to my mom's to get our sweat on. We did Fire 45, one of my favorites that I haven't done for a while.

 

I cannot BELIEVE how sweaty I got - SO proud of myself!

After our workout, I came back to my house to shower & get Jake & my dad before heading over to my parents for breakfast & Thanksgiving Lunch! I always have protein right after a workout, and read in a LOT of places on Beachbody & through amazing Beachbody coaches how important it was to still get in my Shakeology to be sure that I curb cravings and get some awesome nutrients in me, so I had my Shakeology before I got in the shower!

I'm obsessed with Shakeology - for reals. LOVE it!

After I got all showered, we headed over to my parents house. My mom made turkey bacon and regular bacon for those who wanted it while I made egg sandwiches for everyone. It's Jake's recipe & I have been in love with them ever since he made one for me 4 years ago. SO yummy, and with egg whites it's very low calorie! Started out my Thanksgiving REALLY healthy!

Pepper Jack cheese on top... MMMMMM!

Messing around in the bathroom :)

We watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade & flipped through all the ads in the paper for Black Friday sales, then played Scattergories as a family. SO much fun - I forgot how much I like that game!! After we got through 6 rounds {I won - BAM!} we all went to the kitchen to make the side dishes. It took 30 minutes, tops. Record timing. That's what happens when you have 4 girls in the kitchen I guess haha. We sat down to eat & I dished up my plate - the way that I read on my blog friend's Instagram - make continents. Seperate piles of food. So I did! I read on Beachbody that half your plate should be a salad, so I did that too with a salad I brought. That salad was so good BTW - almonds, craisins, sunflower seeds & spring mix lettuce with vinagrette dressing. MMMMM!

One of our family traditions is to go around the table and say what we are grateful for. We set a rule of 3 things. Jake's were his wife, his family & his job. Mine were my family {Jake specifically, my sisters and the relationship I have with Brynne, my parents and that they get along and can have Thanksgiving dinner together despite being divorced for 11 years}, the gospel {that I have been endowed and can wear garments & that Jake is so close to getting to go through so that we can be sealed} and for Turbo. So technically it was 3 things haha.

After dinner, we needed to rush to Jake's parents house. Not before a few pictures though!!

My sisters {Jeannene has her arm out to hold a spot for Brynne who was in New Port with Blake's family} & me with my mom & step dad

Us girls with my dad

Just the girls

3 of the 4 sisters!

My amazing little family!

Pup didn't want to cooperate for pictures - hope he does better for family pictures this weekend!

2 year difference - crazy huh??

 We were running about an hour behind schedule and we held up dinner at their house, but they were super nice and didn't mention our tardiness at all! We got there and they pulled all the food out of the fridge and we sat down to eat. So 45 minutes after we had eaten 1 Thanksgiving dinner, we had our 2nd. And I lost all willpower haha. Jake's mom makes this AMAZING pistachio marshmellow salad. I hate marshmellows but oh that "salad" is to die for. I had way too many servings. And we brought some pretty good rolls from Kneaders that I ate a few too many of. Yeah it was bad but oh that food tasted good! After eating we sat down to let it digest and flipped through pictures. That was SO fun - I love looking at pictures period, but getting to see so many pictures of Jake growing up and seeing family vacations and everything was just so fun. It made me feel like if I focused enough, I could remember what happened on those trips too. Then we went to the movies to go see Lincoln. Really good movie. Really long movie. But really good movie!

Then we went back to mom & dad McClellan's and had some pie. And yep I still had no willpower. Apple pie with vanilla ice cream sounded amazing to me and I am NOT an apple fan. And who can pass up pumpin pie?? Like I said, it was bad. But oh it tasted good! And the old me would have eaten way worse. And it's one day a year. Don't judge. After we finished our pie we headed back to our house to let Max out and then get some sleep - I was exhausted and fell asleep for about 5 minutes during the movie haha. Which means I did not end up going Black Friday shopping. 2 years in a row I missed out because I was tired. I must be getting OLD haha!

The next day we slept in and then decided to go check out the new Outlets in Lehi at Traverse Mountain. And we bought stuff haha. I had thought we wouldn't spend much but nope I was wrong. After we left there, we went to Scheel's in Sandy and looked around. The last time we went was right before closing so we didn't get to look around the entire store. We still didn't get to look around the whole store and we were there for probably 2 hours - this store is GIGANTIC! We found the duck hunting stuff and spent a little while looking at that stuff though - Jake wants to start doing it and I am SO excited! I love that he is going to have a hobby!! Outdoorsy too, makes him my rugged redneck ;) After Scheels, we went to Applebee's just the two of us and got some dinner. It was SO nice getting to spend the day just the two of us!

Our loot from the day after Thanksgiving shopping - a shirt & basketball shorts for Jake from Under Armour, 2 shirts at Maurices for me, a duck call for Jake & 2 pairs of sweats for me from Scheels, a pair of Nikes for Jake at the Nike store {we got to use Liz's discount - THANKS LIZ!} & an iPad cover from Wilson's leather. Yeah we went a bit crazy haha!

Saturday we watched a few football games and decided to go shopping again. We started at Cabela's and got Jake some more stuff for Duck Hunting and then went to Old Navy to look for some boots. I noticed they were having a sale on jeans so I decided to try on the size 10's and see how they fit. And I was stunned. THEY WERE HUGE. HUGE! I came out of the dressing room and apparently had a weird look on my face because Jake kept asking what was wrong. I was CONVINCED something was wrong with the label. So I grabbed another pair of 10's and an 8 and went back to the dressing room. The other 10's weren't as big, but they were a bit big. So I tried on the 8's and guess what. They fit. THEY FIT!! They are a bit snug, but I AM A SIZE 8!! SINGLE DIGITS!! Can you tell that makes me SO excited haha? That was one of my Crazy Cool goals too! I want them to fit a little better, but they do fit. WOOT!!!

The picture I put on Instagram to commemorate the day!

After Old Navy we went to get some crafts at Crafty Wood Cutouts in Orem and then got some lunch at Costa Vida. We came home & I did my crafts while Jake watched his YouTube videos that he subscribes too & then we decorated for Christmas - the crafts I bought were Christmas crafts and I wanted to get them finished before we did all the decorating. I will post pictures soon of the house all decorated!

It was a long day and we went to bed fairly early. I came in the bedroom after turning off the tree to this - could my life be any better?

Having these 2 boys in my life is just amazing. I love my little family!! Happy Thanksgiving!!