Happy Thanksgiving!

 We were so happy to have my brother and sister-in-law come out for Thanksgiving.  It made it not quite so sad to be far away from Utah.  Emerson was so excited for them to come and didn't waste a minute requesting that they "pay trains" and "'struction job" with him.  They were good sports about it.

Ashley has been my support the last 3 years with my gravy-making.  I always calmly go over the proportions in my head before I'm actually doing it but then I kind of freak out when the turkey is done and it's go-time.  Luckily my mom is a gravy expert and she taught me well.  Maybe one day I'll post how to make perfect gravy.

Here was the menu:
-A delectable roasted turkey (Butterball...I'm never having another brand.)
-Mashed potatoes and gravy (The secret to this is using enough butter, not too much milk, and lots of salt.  I depise tasteless potatoes.  I'm a mashed potato snob.)
-Green bean casserole per Ben's request
-Homemade cranberry sauce (no logs for us)
-Scott's homemade rolls
-Stuffing  (I added quite a bit more broth than it called for after watching Bobby Flay on Food Network and it turned out well.)
-Candied yams (Pure heaven.  I got the recipe from my cousin Brooklin, and this is by far the best part of Thanksgiving for me.  Think pecans, brown sugar, butter, marshmallows, and heavy cream.  Yum.)
-Banana Cream Pie
-Apple Pie

 There was a picture with me in it but I was still wearing my apron and it was billowy...and I'm already sensitive about my weight...and it was billowy...

 E sampling the rolls.  We finally got him to try some other stuff and he kept asking for more candy.  He meant yams.

 Aunt Ashley and her best buddy Sammi.

 They were close.

 They bonded.

 I'm pretty sure Sammi wishes Ashley was her Mom because she's THAT cool. :)

And alas, we didn't get up at the crack of dawn to go Black Friday shopping, and we were thrilled about it.  We did other fun things though.  We had to introduce Scott and Ashley to the joys of Ohio ice cream shops.  We had Graeter's and Jeni's while they were here.  We also had to make the rounds to Schmidt's Sausage Haus which was crazy busy in the middle of the day.  We finished off every evening with a different Harry Potter movie because Ashley is reading the books for the first time and Ben was rereading the last one. 

On Saturday the boys went to the Ohio State vs. Michigan game.  I heard it was cold, and I was glad not to be there.

Then we watched the Utes beat BYU.  It was a successful weekend.

Thanks again for making the long drive out!  We hope you felt a little relaxed while you were here even though you had a very small boy wanting you to play nearly every second. :)