Thankful for Triptophan

Our Thanksgiving this year was the best. We headed to "St. Jorge" and spent the holiday with Rachel and Josh and Michelle. Ashley and Jake went to Mesa for Jake's brother's wedding, so we missed their smiley faces. Rachel worked so hard to make everything nice. She bit the bullet and touched a raw turkey, cleaned all of the slimey guck out and then brined it. It was so yummy. She also made rolls and enough mashed potatoes to feed the town of Colorado City. She didn't enjoy the meal as much as we did because she had seen the turkey in its nakedness. We ate until our tummies were bulging and then we ate some more...can we say PIE smothered in whipped cream. YUMMMMMMM! Neal and Austin made their plans for Black Friday. They planned on beating every old lady into the store. They didn't.

Three generations of fun. We love Grandma Bear. She makes life fun. Notice the tree up in the background? Josh objected and Rachel won.


Michelle did Madelyn's hair for her. Two princesses, one mirror and a camera. Every young girl's dream.




Rachel's yummy turkey. It was MOIST and DELISH. We used Ashley's recipe. Go to Rachel's blog for a copy of the recipe. The gravy tastes gourmet. Well it is gourmet! It's a winner.

Food and company at it's best. The only way to keep this group quiet is to stuff our faces with food.







Yes, we are still eating!!!

This is when the tripotophan kicks in.

Grace is my kind of girl. Eats until she is tired and sleeps until she is hungry. Can you believe she is a walkie-talkie now? She is always smiling. Sweet cheeks.

When the food was cleared away that was when the "wild rumpus" began. Yes, bring on the games. We decided that game companies should run their game ideas by us before producing them. Some games do not bring families together....Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Aquire. But others do...Austin playing "Desert", Five Crowns and Probe. Yes, we love to play games. Late into the night Rachel decides she is going to produce "Playerz Fingers" to be able to hold cards better in your hands. It was late, we were giddy and we started laugh. We told her that her production would end up at Big Lots. That began the downhill slide to more silly ideas. We got the giggles, no belly laughs - soooo hard - Grandma Bear started squeeking which made us laugh harder, in fact so hard no noise was coming out...just tears streaming down our faces. By the end of the night our tummies and cheeks hurt. In fact, the next day they still hurt! So we did it all again.

I am thankful for my family. I am blessed with great kiddos and grandbabies. I have a wonderful husband who loves us all. I am grateful for my mom. She is a great example. I hope to be like her when I am her age....29. I have the best friends in the world. I have pretty good health. I have the gospel. I am blessed.