27 November 2009

Thanksgiving Report



I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very enjoyable.

It started Wednesday since James and I both had the day off. We slept in, ran some errands, and headed out to Grandma's around 1:00 (with Parker). We had gone out there to set the tables and chairs for dinner. Grandma was going to have around 40 people this year. Her newest count for all total in the family is 52! When we got there, Grandma was pretty distraught because Jackie hadn't contacted her all day long to let her know what was going on with the turkey. We finally heard from Jackie around 2:30, got her garage code, and hurried to rescue the frozen solid turkeys from 2 of 3 refrigerators in her house. It was a little scary, but the turkeys did eventually thaw.

On Wednesday night, we were supposed to do a FHE at the Rocky Mountain Care Center. We had prepared a rip roarin' program consisting of me playing some "thankful" hymns alternating with James reading a Thanksgiving poem and telling the story of the first Thanksgiving in Utah with the pioneers. Unfortunately, the FHE didn't really happen. The people at the care center weren't expecting us and hadn't wheeled anyone in. It was a little bizarre. After wandering around for 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, we decided to talked to the one lady who was there and then call it a night. The lady we met was Sister Merkley. She was playing "You Are My Sunshine" on the piano and then grabbed a hymn book. Before leaving, we asked if we could share a thanksgiving message with her before we left. She told us sure, told us a bit of her life story, James shared a poem and then we left. She was 94 and her husband had been dead 9 or 27 years from a brain tumor. Her daughter had been to visit her the day before. She had a son die at Guadalcanal (which didn't exactly add up, time wise, but oh well). She told us she would like to crochet us a blanket if we brought her some yarn. She also told us she served as RS President 3 different times. She was still pretty with it and actually played the piano quite well, also.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We headed back out to Grandma's around 1:00 again to finish meal preparations. We ate a little after 3:00. It was a good day!

After that, we headed to Garland to visit James' family - Mom, Dad, Alicia, and Amber. They had already eaten, of course, by the time we got there, but they waited for us to dive into the pie Alicia made. When everyone finally got a piece, it was, well . . . . not good (so I heard). Everyone ended up throwing it away. Alicia said she thought the recipe was a little strange since it didn't call for any sugar. Hmmm. A little while later, LaRon went out to the trash to grab the can with the recipe. Sugar was listed as the first ingredient. Oops.

We stayed at the Binggeli's and went to bed just before 11:00. Departure time for Friday morning was 3:00 a.m. sharp! We made it and were in the car by 3:04, headed to Logan. We shopped at Kohls, Smiths Marketplace, and back to Kohls (with a walk through the entry way at KMart, only to turn right around and leave). James and his dad also went to Sears and Alicia and Amber also went to Sports Authority (where Amber won a $100 gift card).

After shopping and FREEZING (I swear Logan is close to the North Pole) we headed to Angie's for breakfast. It was yummy! We headed for home, but stopped at Smith and Edwards to wander around for a minute before making the last leg of the journey home. I didn't last for much of the ride and James said he got a little dozy. Eventually, though, we made it safely home and both of us passed out for a little while.

Finally, to wind down our Thanksgiving, we were invited to see "Blind Side" with my mom, dad, and Willie. The movie was good and I didn't realize it was a true story until the end. The only downside of the movie was Tim MickGraw and his fake hair, but other than that, a good show. We ate at Red Robin for dinner and then finally home.

We are both very tired, but had a great holiday!!

Tomorrow? . . . Utah v. BYU game (Go UTES!). Put up Christmas decorations at our house and finish some laundry. Put up Christmas decorations at Grandma's.