Thankful, Grateful, Blessed!

To be quite honest, I set the bar pretty low for Thanksgiving this year. My expectations for turkey day 2017 weren’t very good. In recent years my whole family (minus when Sami was on her mission and obviously Pakka) has been together and we have gone somewhere fun and stayed all together. Unfortunately this year it didn’t work out for the Chicago Ginn’s to come. Thankfully we saw them in September but without them and Sami who is at school now, I just knew it wouldn’t be the same. And it wasn’t the same by any means, and those six plus Pakka of course were missed tremendously! But the day really turned out MUCH better then I had prepared myself for and I am feeling so thankful, grateful, blessed! 

The girls and I really had an easy, fun day before everyone came over to our house. And by everyone I mean the Fosters, the Houston Ginns and the Frenchs. All the prep work for the big feast went great! Todd came over to help me get the tables all out and Keagan and I had fun working together to make a massive amount of rolls, 106 to be exact which left over 6 rolls per person! We were shooting for leftovers. Otherwise, Keagan taught herself how to throw popcorn in the air and catch it in her mouth, a skill everyone should learn! And both girls played nicely together for hours making all their stuffed animals “repel” over the balcony! I LOVED the sisters playing and the giggles!

This years feast was pretty spectacular! Kari did her turkey again and the Fosters did the honey baked ham. We also had alot of other traditions, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes soufflé, raspberry pretzel salad, veggie tray, fruit, and obviously rolls. We all definitely gobbled til we wobbled! And we definitely laughed too! Hard! We played a homemade version of headbands that Taryn brought, a failed minute to win it game and some others before we cracked out dessert. Lots of pies and Nanas famous hot fudge over Blue Bell was all worth the serious stomach ache from eating too much! Keagan and Campbell performed a darling puppet show partly to “Beauty and the Beast” songs after they had played hard inside and outside all night with Riley. After we all worked together and laughed and reminisced a little more, we all gathered back together in the family room to each say what we are most thankful for and close a fantastic day with a family prayer of gratitude. See? Pretty dang good! 

I have a tremendous amount of blessings to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving and all year long! I talk about that so often on my blog and I proudly sported my new “thankful, grateful, blessed” T-shirt today! When I had my turn tonight to say what I was most thankful it was sure easy. For me it all boils down to 3 items. Keagan, Riley and my Savior. There is no question that’s what I am most thankful for, but the rest of the list is miles long. And a fabulous thanksgiving day 2017 has now been added to the list! One more reason to feel thankful, grateful, blessed!