Thanksgiving at the VanShaar's

This year my family was switching which family we were celebrating the holidays with, and so we invited grandma and grandpa VanShaar to our house for Thanksgiving. I was a little scared because this would be my first time ever cooking a turkey. To tell you the truth I am not a fan of turkey mostly because it is dry.

I had a quest of finding a good recipe for the turkey and the stuffing. At this time I had started to watch The Chew on abc4 at noon and had loved some of the things that they had done so I went to there site and looked up a recipe for the turkey and stuffing. They had both and I printed them out. Also, while I was on the site I watched a couple of segments on cooking the turkey and I found out that cooking the stuffing inside the turkey actually will actually dry out the white meat because the bread stills the heat that the meat needs to cook. I was sold. No stuffing the turkey with stuffing this year.

When I would tell people my plans for the turkey I got some weird looks. When I told my mother-in-law that she seemed a little apprehensive. But she was fine the day of thanksgiving and couldn't wait to try the turkey.

I did stuff the turkey, I just used herbs instead of bread. It didn't take as long to cook the turkey and it was really moist and the flavors had seeped into the meat. Jeff carved the turkey and we finally got to use the electric knife we got for our wedding. It was really good I found myself wanting seconds and I hardly ever eat leftovers.

We had the wonderful pie and then we all packed up and the grandparents went home and we traveled up to Logan to do black Friday shopping. That was an experience. We got all of the things that we wanted, but our favorite thing of the night was waiting in line for Kohl's to open and we ordered the products that we couldn't get at Walmart. We had so much fun trying to think of everything that we wanted so we could look it up and not have to stay up all night. We were able to get a little bit of sleep during the night, but most of our sleep was the day after.

Also, over the weekend we did something a little different at my parents. With me trying to lose weight(as of today I have lost 20 lbs this year) I am always looking for ways to be active to burn the calories. So on Friday we took my sister Amanda and her husband Scott to play racquetball. We also took Dallin to teach him how to play. The next day most everyone went over to the church and we played basketball. It was crazy with everyone there but it was really fun. We even got my dad to play with us.

This year Thanksgiving was wonderful and I am really thankful for my family. I love them all and wish we lived a little closer so we could spend more time with them

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well this last Thanksgiving weekend we went on a wonderful vacation. We left Wednesday after work and went to Jeff's parents. We stayed there for Thanksgiving. I made pumpkin chiffon pies. They pies were the ones that my grandma used to make. They were really good and I loved it.

Then in the afternoon of Thanksgiving we packed up and headed up north to Logan to be with my family. We went up there mainly to go to black Friday which was wonderful. We went to JC Penny first, and it turned out they didn't have what we wanted. Then we split up. My husband and my little sister went to Shopko to get her a digital camera that she wanted and I went to Sam's Club to get a comforter and some headphones. Shopko was extremely crowded, but Jeff was able to run across the store to get to the electronics department and get the camera. At Sam's Club they opened the first set of doors so that we were able to be in a heated place. They played music and served hot cocoa. It was a very nice experience. They inside they served a hot breakfast. It made waiting for an hour a lot more enjoyable.

We went to a couple of more stores and got more stuff, but the longest wait that I had was in Joanns. I waited for two and a half hours waiting just to get my fabric cut. they another half hour to get checked out.

It was extremely tiring and I was tired, but I still had fun. It is nice to get good deals on christmas gifts. Now on to Christmas.

Black Friday

Every Year at this time comes the one day that people that store workers hate, Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving where stores put goods on for really cheep and people come out in droves to save a buck or two.

While some members of my extended family think I am crazy, I like to go to Black Friday. There is something in the air on these days that makes me smile. Even if I am not buying a whole lot I still like to go and watch all of the people. It is funny to watch how people can get so emotional and sometimes violent over a toy for their child.

There has only been one time since I was in high school that I have not gone. That was because there was absoluely nothing and I was in Colorado visiting family and didn't want to drag one of them along just I could go and watch. I did however go out at 9:00 and still found a couple of things to get in the sale, but the crowds were a lot smaller.

What a wonderful time to gather together as families and be thankful for all that we have. I truly have a wonderful family and love to be with them. Let us all be thankful for the country we live in. It is a wonderful place where we can have a voice in how we are governed.