Turkey day

Thanksgiving weekend was fun, but it seemed really long! I gotta admit, it's not my favorite holiday. Sometimes I think that I wouldn't mind skipping it, and going straight to Christmas, but at the same time, I think that I would truly miss Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving weekend began Wednesday afternoon. School got let out early, so I took my little brother and sister (kade and taylor) picked up their stuff, and began our trek to the "valley." Kade rode in the front seat and proceeded to tell Taylor to shut-up and go to sleep whenever she would start to talk. It was actually pretty funny. Had he not stopped Taylor, she probably would go on and on about anything just so she could talk (we love her despite this sometimes head-ache causing trait). Unfortunately for Trevor he didn't get out of work until late, and he was going to have travel back Thursday night for work at 5 am on Friday so it meant us taking two vehicles. The nice thing about living in St. Johns is that my mom and her family are here, and so is Trevor's so most of the time we will have all our holidays at home, and our time is split fairly evenly amongst the two families. This year however, my Garner family got together. It is the first time in my grandparents 52 years of marriage that they have had all their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids all together at one time. (minus Kellan who is serving his mission in Washington currently) It was really quite exciting, to know we were seeing everyone. Since my parents got divorced, two sets of aunts and uncles haven't even seen Kade and Taylor since we left Utah! That was nearly 9 years ago. Both of the kids were like toddlers then!

Before Thanksgiving dinner at 3, I happened to return a message to my friend Darla and found out that she was in the hospital! She had had a good cry because she was miserable and it was thanksgiving and her whole family was in St. Johns. I guess, she got really sick all of a sudden, and went to the emergency room only to have a million tests run. They weren't for sure it was her appendix, but they took it out to be safe, and it was good they did because it was pretty close to bursting! Poor girl was stuck in the hospital so we went to visit her before we had dinner, and then when I came home from the valley I brought her with me so she could have some recover time at home with her family.

Thanksgiving dinner ended up being really good. I felt that as my first Thanksgiving being married, I should contribute to the dinner, so I made pumpkin bread, fudge, mints, and a cheese ball. It was fun to do that, but not have to cook it all. There was turkey and ham and roast to choose from. I honestly couldn't believe how much food there was. The mashed potatoes and gravy were also some of the best I have ever had. Altogether I think there were about 30 people there and we still had plenty of food left over. A big thank you to my uncle todd and his wife Kim for putting up with all of us!

Shortly after dinner, pictures followed. A professional photographer came and took everyone's pictures. It took forever, but I think the end result was pretty good. (I'll post some of those pictures when I get my copies.) Sadly enough, we took forever with the pictures and because we had such a late dinner, Trevor didn't get out of there until like 6 and then he had to drive the 3-4 hours home in the dark, and then get up super early for work. I was a little blue when he left. Even with all those people there I kind of felt alone. It sounds lame, but here were all these family members that I don't know very well, none of them are really my age, my husband left me, and I don't care how old you are, but no holiday is the same without your MOM. I know I sound like a baby, but I don't know.....I guess it was just the culmination of all the stuff going on.

The two little kids went to the movies with their cousins, and I drove back to my grandparents house where I cleaned up my grandma's kitchen while I waited for them to get home. It was a long day, but it was good. I do feel though that I didn't quite get the whole turkey day experience though, because I forgot to eat pumpkin pie! (I guess I'll have to make Trevor make me a pie.....)