Thanksgiving

I better get to posting about Thanksgiving before I forget. My parents and my grandma arrived at 9:30am on Thanksgiving day and we chatted and got them settled. My mom began to help me do some of the dinner preparations. We watched the Macy Thanksgiving parade while we had some snacks for lunch. My dad and Daryl finished putting up some of our Christmas lights on our house. They turned out great, I will have to get a picture of it sometime soon. Pretty much I spent my Thanksgiving day getting dinner ready, while everyone else took naps. My mom loved it she said it was the first Thanksgiving she can remember where she took a nap. But I did have some hang-ups with my turkey and the sweet potatoes. My turkey was much bigger than last years and the pan I used last year was much too small for this year's turkey. I had a feeling to by a roaster pan before Thanksgiving but then I said no it will be fine and I was really wishing I had. My turkey that I make requires me to baste it every 15 minutes until it reaches an internal temperature of 180-185 and for a 21 pound turkey that is seriously like 5-7 hours. And my pan was too small so I had a mess for an oven by the end of the day and finally for the last hour I was done pulling it out. Next year I will have a roaster big enough. And while I was preparing other things while everyone slept I forgot to start the sweet potatoes and they were huge which honestly would have normally required at least 3 hours to cook in the oven. But my mom was able to help save them. But everything else went smoothly and yeah I got a little stressed for a while. But I think it is always different when you have people to make a huge dinner for, nothing goes 100% smoothly unlike last year when I just cooked for my family it was a breeze. We were all stuffed from dinner and I am sad to say I took no pictures on Thanksgiving day so I have nothing to show for the great meal I made my family. Just take my word it was great and we almost couldn't eat dessert.
Friday morning we headed to Heber City Utah for the Polar Express train and to spend some time shopping. We left early 9ish I think so we could get all the things done we wanted to. By the end of the car trip up there Paiglee was ready to get out of the truck and so were Daryl and I. Paiglee is not always the best traveler. Plus she needed a nap so we went to the hotel to get our rooms and put her down for a nap. Then my dad my mom and grandma and I went to Provo and Ogden to get some shopping done. Then after getting lost for a while we got our shopping done headed back to Heber and got ready for the number one reason we went to Utah for the train ride. I of course forgot my camera but luckily my dad had his so I took pictures with it and forgot to put them on my computer before they left so I still need him to email them to me. The train ride was fun, Paiglee was super excited. They gave hot cocoa and cookies and told the story of Polar Express and sang songs. Paiglee met Santa and his wife for the very first time and Santa gave her a bell from his Sleigh. It was a little long of a ride for a hyper energetic child but it was fun none the less. It was a good thing to experience but we won't be rushing back especially for the money it costs. But I will post pictures of it when I get around to getting them.
Saturday we drove home and came back to RS to just relax and enjoy the rest of our vacation time. My mom and I went to the mall and shopped for a little, while others took naps. Then on Sunday my parents left to go back home. It was a great Thanksgiving and I am so glad my parents and grandma were able to come, and spend it with us. And I am glad I was able to provide them with a relaxing Thanksgiving of very little labor on their part. But I have to tell you putting on a dinner for company versus my own family is much harder for some reason, nothing different was done really but I think the fact people are around makes it harder. But I enjoyed it, I always enjoy doing dinners for others, even if I get a little stressed, it was worth it. Even the messy oven was worth it. I finally got the oven cleaned on Tuesday it took only two days to get it sparkly clean inside.
It was a great Thanksgiving and a busy one, I hope others had a great one too.