SUPER MOIST THANKSGIVING 2015

This year was with Brandon's family. We were excited that we would be able to go down to Utah and spend time with Amy and Justin and the kids. And then about 2 weeks before, we figured to out that Brandon was on call. It was a pretty big blow to our plans. Since we couldn't leave the area, we made different plans. We invited the Fa'aga'i's to join, Kathy & Jerry if they didn't go down to Utah, the missionaries, and my parents.

The night before prepping...  Pie shell for the coconut cream pie

Rainbow jello

Blessing mix

That morning, we woke up to fresh powder! They said we got over 4 inches. So glad that we didn't have to drive on slick roads for the holidays.

I put on comfy clothes, a facial mask, and the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My idea of a great morning!!! I also stuffed all of the Christmas cards too. I know, overachiever.

Faith split a cup of water...

Brandon taking out the turkey...

We enjoyed a super moist turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, rainbow jello, and homemade rolls! It was delicious! We had planned to eat at 1:00 pm. The hardest part of Thanksgiving dinner is the timing. As I pulled out the last tray of rolls and called the family to the table, the clock turned 1:00 pm. That was my absolute favorite part!

Grandpa and Grandma

Faith, Dawson, and Dad

Mom and Kate

And while we were enjoying dinner, these two decided to start talking to their jello. It was really funny!!!

For dessert, we had the choice of coconut cream, pumpkin, and apple pie. It was delicious!!!

We visited with my mom and dad early in the evening. And I ate some super good cherry pie!

I really enjoyed the whole day. It was a different Thanksgiving than we have ever had, but it was a beautiful day. We have so much to be grateful for. Our homes, freedom, our religion, physical bodies and strength, our minds, family, friends... My list could go on and on. So grateful for this day to reflect and hope that we continue everyday to be grateful for all that we have. Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving too! Love you all!

FANCY THANKSGIVING IN UTAH

Thanksgiving was extra special this year! Britney and Erin were married in April, so we decided to make the trip down to Utah so that we could all be together! Erin had to work all day, so he missed the actual dinner.

Amy did such a great job coordinating everything! I brought traditional Blessing Mix (which I also left with the Jensens as well.)

She had us write 4 things that we are most thankful for. Then we did a quick switcheroo and had to guess whose card we had. It was a really fun game! The funniest part was when we heard Dawson's card. It had bacon on it (he's on team bacon). And then it said, "Fancy people." He said he was thankful for fancy people so that they could show us how to be fancy (like when we were drinking out of champagne glasses.) We all had a wonderful laugh.

Of course, most of us were thankful for our family, friends, our homes, testimonies, and the gospel.

And then we ate the most wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in my memory! Turkey was perfect; gravy was delicious; mash potatoes were creamy; rainbow jello was dreamy; rolls were fantastic! There was no fighting at the table; just pleasant conversation with family. The only thing we were missing was Jerry and Erin.

After a quick afternoon nap, we took some Thanksgiving prop pictures. It was really quite entertaining!!! Thanks Amy for the great idea!

Grandma and Jony!

Amy also had a basket of activities for the kids to do while we were finishing dinner and then also cleaning.

Then the Jolleys took us on one of the trails that they love about Farmington. I have to admit that this town is really quaint and beautiful! 

The princess chair

                                        

The hallowed out tree

The younger boys chose to stay back, but this was just TOO cool!!! I'm going to insist that they come next time!

Kissing for the camera on a selfie

And then, on a whim, we decided to stay one more day. I went shopping with Amy and Britney and got a couple things checked off of the Christmas list! (We also did a great deal of shopping on Amazon!!!) Brandon and the kids stayed home and played! Brandon got them all playing Plants vs. Zombies, including Grandma Kathy. We drove back to Poky on Friday afternoon.

Saturday, we went to the movies for Frozen! Kate always loves her pictures, so we took a quick selfie before the movie. It was SO good! A must see if you have children!

So grateful for many, many things this year! Our family has been healthy and safe, and we are so blessed to be able to live in a great ward. We are grateful for the Savior and the sacrifice that he made for each of us! We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love the Jolleys!

WE CALL YOU FAMILY

The Bohneys made the one way 22 hour drive to see us right around Thanksgiving! Well, okay. I guess they saw some other people too.  We had the best time.  Of course, it went by just TOO quickly.  We were lucky enough to have them stay with us.  Because they are family!

Highlights included game night with the Beauchats, letting the kids run loose with many neighborhood friends, and when the boys and kids went to see Wreck It Ralph while Sara and I did some shopping on our anniversary!

Boys really getting into Beyblades

I can't believe how grown up Chase is

Ethan and Faith are both our bookworms!!!

Kate and Myah LOVE each other

Sara making note of our height difference

The girls

The big boys reunited

The big girls reunited with the newest, Olivia!

We love you Bohneys!  Please come stay with us anytime!

It was hard to say goodbye this time, but we know we'll see you again soon!  God be with you 'till we meet again!

THANKSGIVING TURKEY

It was right before Thanksgiving, when we got a picture text from Will Bohney. They had made these thankful turkeys for family home evening. (I'm going to steal your idea and do that next year by the way!)

The joke goes something like this. Anya thought that it was one of the kid's turkeys ... for days! If you notice on the top right hand corner, it says 'Dad.' We had a good chuckle about that.

We have so much to be grateful for this year. Among those are wonderful family and wonderful friends. We were missing Jason & Robyn and their kiddos along with the Warths and the Bohneys. I think that it has been helping us remember that we might not always have time together, and that we shouldn't let moments pass so quickly.

Love you all!!! Brandon, Zoey, Faith, Dawson, and Kate

THANKSGIVING 2010

This Thanksgiving was a really fun one for us. We spent it with the Jensen family and lots of cousins. We were missing Tracy's family, but Robyn and Laura were there. Unfortunately, I have not been the best about taking pictures, so that I did not do.

Preparing for the holiday, Dawson's teacher had them do a fun project called "Disguise the Turkey." I don't know if any of you have heard of this or have done this project, but it was such a neat concept. Dawson disguised his as a Pikachu turkey (Pokemon) and did it himself. I had so much fun looking at ideas, we might even try and do this with cousins at some point.
We brought blessing mix, a tradition for our family, and jello to the turkey dinner.


There are many ways to do this, but we love this. The "Jolley" way includes folded pretzels (arms folded in prayer), orange slices (for a bountiful harvest), candy corns (pilgrims had 5 cornells of corn that first Thanksgiving), bugels (horn of plenty), and nuts (seeds to plant for next year).

I also prepared a fun turkey craft for the kids to make, shown here. I sure hope that kids enjoyed it.

I also brought "Don't Eat Tom!", a different version of don't eat Pete! We didn't have time to play it, but maybe another time.

Dinner was fantastic, and it was fun to visit and spend the afternoon giving thanks and making memories!