Sibling Thanksgiving

All my siblings gathered at my place for Thanksgiving this year.  We had the best time!  I hope we can find other reasons to gather together as siblings in the near future.  My kids all seem to know each Aunt and Uncle by name and face very well now and that alone made the hecticness of hosting that many people totally worth it.

Kylie, Nathan, Benazir, and I all ran the Thanksgiving Point Pilgrim 5K run the morning of Thanksgiving.  They gave us all pilgrim getup to wear as part of the race.

 It was hilarious to see all these "pilgrims" running around.  We pushed the kids in strollers which turned out to be quite the feat since the course followed the golf cart path at Thanksgiving Point, and it was very steep and hilly.  Carter got cold and cried for the last mile or so of the race and then a half hour after until he finally warmed up.  (He always seems to be more sensitive to the cold than my other kiddos).

Then, we had a fabulous late lunch. I did almost all the cooking (which I didn't mind at all...kind of really enjoyed it actually) while everyone else entertained my kids.  I started the night before Thanksgiving, and it continued for most of the next day.  We made Mom's famous stuffing and cranberry sauce (with probably half the sugar and all of us agreed we like it that way much more).  I brined the turkey overnight (something my Dad put me onto a few years back) which really seemed to keep it moist and give it great flavor.  The rest Kylie was pretty much in charge of googling and shouting out ingredients and instructions to me as we went.  (Everything except the green beans--so all the most important stuff).

 I sent Derek and the kids off to his family's celebration after our dinner, and my siblings and I enjoyed some kid-free game time.  In fact, all weekend we spent lots of tine playing games.  We had a blast.  We went for a hike in Rock Canyon one morning since the weather was in the 50s! 

We did attempt to see the lights at Temple Square.  Please remind me never to try that again on the first Saturday they are turned on especially when there is a jazz game the same night.  Too much traffic, no parking, and waaaay too crowded to enjoy.   But, overall we had just a fabulous time.  It was so nice to spend quality time with my siblings.  Love you all so much!