Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It started off by making pies with my brother Darren. We have a history of making several trips to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving. This year was no exception! Evern with my most careful planning of ingredients, we still made 2 or 3 trips to Smiths. It was totally worth it though. We made the most delicious Raspberry/Blackberry pie. We even had to do the lattice top crust, which was a little stressful....but thanks to the Food Network I had an inkling on how to accomplish it! Who says TV is a waste of time?

On Thanksgiving day, we said a blessing on the food and were all ready to dig in, when Darren announced "Hold on, I have to take a picture of the food first!" Talk about torture, we couldn't taste anything until he was done! I can understand though, we always take pictures of our food. It's just something we do!!

Lillie enjoyed some real good food, not just that nasty pureed baby food stuff! Although Sam couldn't help himself, he stuck the tip of the Whip Cream can in her mouth and pushed the nozzle. Lille enjoyed a huge mouthful of Whip Cream.

After we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves, my two brothers and I braved the crowds and went to the Black Friday (but on Thursday) at Walmart. Let me just tell you, I usually do the Black Friday thing every year but this was my first experience at Walmart. Oh my word. I can understand how people get trampled! It was the worst experience in human nature EVAH! Curtis wanted some Xbox games and controllers. Well, we got there right as the pallet of electronics was opened and the ROAR of the crowd as it descended upon the goods stopped me dead in my tracks. I saw video games being thrown in the air and I even saw a shoe fly high. All I could do was laugh. For some reason, people kept shoving Darren with their shopping carts. Darren was so ticked and kept telling people off. Again, I laughed. Curtis saw a controller on the ground, amidst the hundreds of people, so he got on his hands and knees and crawled towards it! That right there was cause for a belly laugh! After Walmart we headed over to Target. Oh how I love Target on Black Friday (again, Thursday). Totally organized, people are not animals, their checkout lines go super fast....it was so fun! I even ran into my Sister-in-law and niece! Oh, and I scored a Ninja blender for $29. Yay for me! We made a smoothie last night with it and it blended like buttah! Friday morning my parents, brother, and I went to the Park City outlets for more shopping. It was early, but fun! At one point Darren and I lost my parents. Darren asked me where I thought they'd be. I pointed at a kitchen store and said "there.". We walked over and found them buying a meat thermometer. Oh yeah, the folks can smell a kitchen store a mile away! ha ha! While I was busy tracking down lost parents, Sam was at his sisters house looking at old pictures. Old pictures are so fun! Too bad digital pictures are just stored on hard drives, phones, and memory cards. There is nothing quite like pulling out old photo albums and laughing! Sam when he was a kid:

I don't know who the baby is... Maybe his niece Tera?? Check out Sam's face here. I get this look from my boys on a daily basis!

On Friday night, Sam's sister (who was visiting from St George) wanted to see the lights at Temple Square. I was hesitant because it was the first night the lights were on and I knew it would be crowded. We forged ahead and braved the crowds regardless. It WAS crowded, but it wasn't "Walmart-on-black-Friday" crowded so I was able to relax and enjoy myself!

Sam's nephew, Cory, had a minor incident. He was walking along a rock ledge, about 2-3 feet above the sidewalk. He decided to take a flying leap off the ledge....but he didn't see the sign above his head. He jumped up and smacked the top of his head...hard. Sorry buddy! What is that phrase? Look before you leap? Good lesson for us all!

Finally, on Saturday, we went to our favorite Get-Your-Energy-Out place: Airborne Sports Arena! We took Darren's 3 boys and my 3 boys. Jumping for an hour is a great way to let boys be boys! Cameron enjoyed a zip line for kids under 8 and a little rock climbing wall. It was a blast!

And now Thanksgiving is over. We are all feeling exhausted at this house, but it was worth it. Very fun weekend!! Now to convince my husband we need to get out the Christmas decor...wish me luck!