Happy Thanksgiving

I'm a little behind on blogging, and I still need to post pictures from our trip to Mexico, but I wanted to post our Thanksgiving pictures first.  This year we stayed here in Livermore and had a small dinner with just our family.  At first we were sad to not have 30+ family members crammed into one house like we usually do, but it was nice to be able to spend time just with our family and have it be a little more laid back this year.  It also made the cooking a little less stressful too.  This was my first year making all of Thanksgiving dinner myself.  I did a pretty darn good job if I do say so myself.  It was delicious!  We stuck with the basics: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots, rolls, and jello.  And of course there was pie!  I made an apple pie, and then smaller mini versions of cherry cream pie and pecan pie.  I did this in part because apparently I only have one pie pan, and also because I figured we didn't need 3 whole pies for our small family.  I didn't get around to making a pumpkin pie, but I will as soon as we finish the apple pie and free up my pie pan.

Here's our beautiful table!  Somehow the rolls and Jello didn't make it into the picture, but here's almost everything.

Look at that yummy turkey!  The blackish parts aren't burned, they are seasonings and they are delicious!

 I used pretty china for the first time too.

And here I am in front of my handiwork.

Ryan carving the turkey.  He means business.

 I didn't get a picture of Lucas eating, but here's Paige gobbling up carrots, and then an after picture of her covered in greasy food pieces, but happy as can be.

 We had so much fun spending time together as a family.  We also talked about Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful and then we each named a few things we're thankful for.  Lucas said he's thankful for trees to climb, yummy cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries to eat, and for his family.  :) We hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!