Count Your Many Blessings

Thanksgiving was so much fun. I love to be surrounded by people I love...and delicious food!  

FABULOUS FOOD-

My babies ate this for breakfast. Thank you Pinterest, they thoroughly enjoyed eating their turkeys!

There was no way I could pull off Thanksgiving dinner for 10 adults and 3 kids alone.  Everyone graciously contributed some of their favorite dishes which made the meal a huge success.  We had plenty of food for everyone.

All the desserts/appetizers **chips with cottage cheese french onion dip, frog eye salad, cranberry salsa, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, pumpkin pinwheels, cranberry jello** The spread took every inch of counter (and sink) space

 Relish tray, light and dark meat turkey, homemade rolls, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes

Just a few dishes I made:

Can't have Thanksgiving without pecan pie.  I even made an extra for the father in law.

I attempted this dessert a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving and the cream cheese filling was too runny. Glad I could redeem myself with these pretty pinwheels.

DECORATIONS-

It's amazing what you can do to decorate when you rub to nickels together! 

Mini pumpkins from a friends garden. Fake leaves from my preschool teaching days. "Tablecloth" is dollar store wrapping paper. Pinterest for the name cards- I "borrowed" the wheat lookin' stuff from a ditch on the side of the road ;)

THE COMPANY-

Quite a few people had to go to work at some point or another in the day.  We ate mid afternoon, then sent the poor men on their way to work.  Later, Some of the ladies braved the Brown Thursday crowds. (is that really what it is called? Maybe cause it's totally crappy that people have to work on Thanksgiving hahaha) Then most everyone came back for seconds.  We were stuffing our faces, enjoying games, watching a little football, and sharing bargain deals till midnight or later.

Deeana and Chris Alexander

Brittany, Teancum, and Michael Livingston

Ben Knecht (his boo went home for the holiday since he had to work...we missed you Aubs)

Twodles enjoying olive fingers :) 

Mr Medic is seriously the best ever!  He may prefer spending time as a small family, but definitely goes all out to help me in my party-making shenanigans, and always without complaint. 

Momma Brown pulled off her fair share of the food-making.  

Christopher and Vanessa Hannan

THANKFUL FOR...

I really love our little Thankful tree tradition.  We try to add something every day in November, but as you will see we miss a lot.  But...we truly are so grateful for all that we have been blessed with.  We know that the Lord has been mindful of us!

Our list of thankful's with some explanation (so I can finally throw away the little discs without feeling guilty and fuel my hoarder-phobia at the same time haha)

• Flower pen- Twodles got it from the dentist
• Books- Goob loves to read
• Skinny hot mom- Mr Medic wrote that one. (I met my weight loss goals. His tribute to my success)
• Grammy- the boys are spoiled rotten by Grammy and they couldn't love her more
• Clothing Swap- I got some stinkin' cute clothes that actually fit, from an activity with girls from my ward...$FREE.99
• Tulane Medical School- MR MEDIC WAS ACCEPTED!
• Haircuts- Mr Medic would love to have his hair cut every 2 weeks if he had his way
• Binky- Goob is in love
• Orange plants- I don't think I have blogged about the TREES Mr Medic is growing in our house...I'll have to do that sometime.
• Good health- We've been uninsured since April 2013 and thankfully haven't had any serious issues requiring medical attention.
• Sock and shoes- Goob loves to put them on...several times a day!
• Daddy kissing owies
• Best friends
• No skids in the undies- Twodles is...a boy, so everyone is glad when we don't have to deal with that little mess. Even he was thankful for that since we've been making him do his own cleanup.  #meanparentaward
• Grandkids- Grammy loves her babies
• Flynn Ryder- Twodles loves to get his boots on and carry his satchel around just like Flynn
• Madison Fire Dept Gym- I can workout most anytime I want for free, even on holidays.  
• Bishop Kunz- There couldn't be a greater person in all of married student wards for us to love and adore
• Tangled- boys fav movie at the moment
• Mommy
• Blankies- our boys love 'em
• Ben and Aub- any friends specifically singled out are compliments of Twodles.  He has big kid BFF's and these two are some of his favorites.
• Diaper changes- no explanation necessary
• Baths- I think I may have given birth to two little fishies.  They scream out of excitement, strip down as fast as humanly possible, and run for the tubby
• Momma Brown- no words can express my appreciation for all she does for us
• Milk- Come on, I have 3 Idaho boys living with me. What do you expect? 
• New coat- I won't go in to detail on this cause I might throw a clot.  Needless to say, Mr Medic now has a new coat that we both agree on.
• JESUS- We are eternally indebted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that we can be clean from sin, have perfected bodies someday, and have hope to be together forever.  

"...cast about your eyes and being to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgement day, according to their works." -Alma 33:22 (The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ)