Happy Thanksgiving!

Sooo...moving on to Thanksgiving! We actually didn't take too many pictures of our actual dinner, to my disappointment because this was my first time cooking the entire dinner at our home. I was so busy cooking I forgot to get some pictures. I have been wanting to do it, but we have always ended up at friends or family's. I had so much fun and really tried to go all out. I tried out a few new recipes and combined those with some traditional ones from my family and Josh's. We also had some friends from our ward over too, the Shaw family. The dinner turned out great and we all had a really good time.

This picture is from a few days before. Our first official Alaskan snowman. Believe it or not, we haven't been able to build one here yet. I guess being from Florida, my snowman building capabilities just aren't very good. It seems always too cold and the snow is like powder and doesn't stick. Others in our neighborhood have accomplished it, but we never had...until this day. Finally, sticky snow. It just formed together without even really trying and Bella and I built our first snowman! She was so happy and proud. The week of Thanksgiving me and some other mom's planned a mommy/daughter date to go see the Nutcracker. Here is Bella all dressed up for her night out. We had such a good time and now Bella can't wait to dance on stage, just like in the Nutcracker. We listen to the soundtrack a lot and she dances all over the living room....our little ballerina!

Carson's version of helping in the kitchen....emptying the only un-locked cabinet then hiding in it and playing peek-a-boo!

I was determined to make my first homemade pie crust. I had always used the refrigerated dough before and never really liked the way it turned out. So after sifting through multiple recipes online I settled on the one on the back of the Crisco can, which a lady from our church uses and said it was great. I have to say, it isn't as hard as I thought and it was much better. Yummy Crisco...makes all the difference :)

Yummy homemade apple pie...not that gooey junk you get at the store!

And of course, my favorite, the traditional pumpkin pie!

Table all set with the china and everything.

Wahoo! My first turkey. I used a recipe from Emeril where I soaked it in a brine for 24 hours first then stuffed it with herbs, lemons and oranges. It was so good and juicy! I was even surprised at myself.

After Thanksgiving we decided to get the tree out and decorate it. We went back to our fake tree this year, just because of cleanliness with a toddler. Last year we chopped one down ourselves, our very own charlie brown Christmas tree, which was a great experience. I love real trees. But I have decided while our kids are small, fake it much cleaner!

Helping Daddy hang stockings!

Now for the decorations....that was an experience. Decorating a tree with a 1 and 3 year old is a little challenging. Lets just say, you don't have that perfectly decorated tree with small kids, but it doesn't matter. The ornaments are uneven, the lights and beads falling off, but it is the moments that count, right! They loved it and that is what matters most.

As you can tell, the ornaments are all above his height, a necessity for my sanity...and if we want to actually salvage any for next year!