HAPPY TURKEY DAY

Thanksgiving weekend is always such a fun time. We absolutely love getting together with family and giving thanks for the many things we are so fortunate to enjoy. We feel very blessed. It’s especially fun because with 3 households to travel to we stay pretty well fed throughout the holiday. We began this years festivities with Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday evening at Colton’s Dad’s house. He is such a great cook and there was so much good food to go around. Although the food was great, it was to soon be overdone by the traditional Pie Contest that Colton’s family does each year.

The first year that we held the contest Danielle took 1st, Colton 2nd, and Mandy 3rd. Last year we thought we entered some award winning pies yet again, only to discover that we would be snubbed by the judges out of the awards. This year we were hoping to at least place in the top 3. Just 1 of us. Since there is a considerable amount of prize money ($300 for 1st, $200 for 2nd, and $100 for 3rd) the money would sure go a long way towards our Christmas budget. Colton decided on making what he called a “Winter Candy Apple Pie” and Mandy made an orange cream type pie which she so eloquently named “Kris Kringle Creamsicle Pie”. Here’s a picture of what they turned out to look like:

          

The pies were judged on “Presentation”, “Uniqueness”, “Crust”, and most importantly “Taste”. We had about 5 volunteers come from around the neighborhood to do the judging. After some nail biting Colton ran away with 1st place by a large margin putting his claim to fame as a Pie Contest Champion and earning the much elusive Chef Jacket. Tami (Jeanne’s daughter) took 2nd and Danielle once again finished in the top 3. She is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to baking. What a great time!

  

Early the next morning Colton was pumped up for the Turkey Bowl. He was invited to go play with Kyle up in Woods Cross at the indoor soccer facility which was a lot of fun. The below freezing weather appeared that it might spoil the outdoor game with friends but Colton forged ahead with the football plans.  He met up with the brave few from the ward and some others to get a good group together for football. He loved it!

Our next stop was to the Mather’s home for Thanksgiving dinner with Mandy’s parents. We brought along some good friends of ours whose family lives out of state; The Hohaias and The Oliphants. Nobody should have to spend Thanksgiving by themselves right? That evening Colton and Steve made plans for Black Friday and went over to Target at about 9:00 pm to be ready for the Doorbuster deals at 4:00 am. They camped out all night in the below freezing cold! CRAZY!

If you watch close you can see Colton in his red Utah hoodie about the 10th person rushing in

They rushed the store and were the first to checkout. From there they went store hopping until they were dead tired. Mandy went shopping with friends as well and scored some good deals. Black Friday is the best!

Sunday we got together with our dear Momma Bear and Grandmother Virginia for yet another Thanksgiving Dinner. We also made our traditional predictions for the new year. We’ll see how they go. We had a great time and we are so thankful for our loving family. We feel very very fortunate to have the opportunities and freedoms that we enjoy and we give thanks to God for all that we are blessed with. Hope you had a wonderful Turkey Day as well! Gobble Gobble…