Thankful

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Sorry for the lack of blog updates. The holidays are slowly sneaking up on me and we've been busy this week preparing for Thanksgiving. I decided to undertake the bird this year for some reason, and it actually turned out pretty good. Word to the wise, almost every single turkey that is frozen is already pre-basted even though it won't say so on the turkey anywhere. Pre-basted turkeys are not supposed to be brined. I brined mine for a shorter amount of time. It turned out juicy, but the whole time I had this huge fear that this big 23 lb salty bird was going to give everyone high blood pressure as an early Christmas present. I also made deviled eggs, pumpkin rolls, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes. I enjoy cooking obviously, so I didn't mind at all. The food was good and I have a ton of leftovers leering at me from my refrigerator. I actually just had a piece of pumpkin roll for breakfast and I feel no shame.

I think that everyone, regardless of what you have going on this time of the year, should really think about what you're thankful for. I know I tend to think about all the things in my life that could be better, or that need working on, or if only I didn't have this to deal with etc.. You realize what a good position you are in life when you think about all of the positives. I have a huge list of things in my life that I couldn't begin to be thankful enough for. I have a savior that loves me unconditionally regardless of my mistakes. I have a loving husband that I'm thankful for every single day that I get out of bed. I have a family that I enjoy seeing and that I look forward to seeing on the holidays. I feel sorry for those people that dread the holidays b/c of their family. I don't consider myself unlucky that I was horribly homesick when I went away to college. I consider myself lucky that I have a familiy that I'm lucky enough to miss instead of the people who were glad to be getting away from home. I have an awesome puppy that loves me and shakes because he is so happy to see me everyday when I get home =) I'm thankful that I *do* have a job right now in this awful economy. I'm thankful that I have a home to go to everyday and that Casey and I never have to go without. There are so many things that I listed above that sooo many people don't have. It's nice to look at what you do have instead of constantly looking at what the person beside you has that you don't.

Well that ended up being a little more long-winded than I expected. I guess I could post some pictures from my holiday. I didn't take as many as I would've liked, but I tried to remember to take them when I could!

In attendance of our family dinner was: me, casey, mom, dad, my sister, her husband, my aunt and uncle, my grandma, my sister's lab (Maddy), Tuck, 3 cats, and Lillian.

This is my mom with her brother and his wife

My sister and her family

Miss Lillian

My turkey!

The inside

It's kind of blurry, but you can see Tuck, Maddy, and one of the cats swarming the dinner table

Me and Casey

These aren't from Thanksgiving but they were on my camera

I was on the phone one day after work and Casey decided to throw all of the baskets of laundry on top of me. This is why things don't get accomplished in my house if I'm not supervising ;)