thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, the holiday often engulfed in football, shopping, and people rushing into Christmas, we tried to do none of those things. Not that they are bad, we just wanted to slow down and enjoy the fellowship which comes with sharing lives with our friends and family. Since both sides of our family live plane rides away, we had friends share the holiday with us. Also, we love food. Therefore, Thanksgiving is a really awesome holiday of eating too.

Our great friends from Colorado, the Lampmans, drove into to Salt Lake City with their two little boys for a few days. We also had our wonderful friends in town, the Moffatts, share the time with us as well. Six adults, three young ones, and one dog had a lovely Thanksgiving together.

Davis' first turkey

Davis was our turkey master this year, his very first turkey. It was a tasty bird. Everyone contributed to the sides.

part of the spread

Along with the traditional turkey, we had many of our individual families favorite sides. All from scratch green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, brussels sprouts roasted with bacon, chicken dressings, mashed rutabaga, fresh bread, and cranberry sauce (canned and fresh). Several of our families also traditionally have a plate of pickled items. That was present as well but eaten before the meal. We got to use our fancy china from our wedding. 

After eating, we played games, ate pies (pecan, apple, and pumpkin) and had beverages into the evening. Everyone spent the night at our house. It was a dream come true for Davis to be able to host two other families mostly comfortable under our roof. The next morning we all woke up slowly and enjoyed a sweet potato pancake and bacon breakfast together.

Davis and I baby holding with Harper and Ben

Baby faces

After breakfast, we headed up the road to the local zoo. The weather was lovely. We saw the oldest elephant in North America while the younger two did headstands. Most of the animals were sleeping, possibly post Thanksgiving food comas. But the gorilla, he had the best sleeping arrangement going.

gorilla naps

At first we didn't see the gorillas out, then we spied a large furry lump under a sheet. We walked around to the window and Mr. Gorilla uncovered his head. He was resting on a pile of blankets, feet propped up on the wall under a sheet. After a few minutes, he had enough of us and covered his head again under the sheet. Silly gorilla.

We showed the Lampmans more of Salt Lake City, but they just need to come back for a more thorough visit. We so enjoyed sharing our home with our friends. Due to the little ones become ill, they headed home on Saturday.

We hope everyone had a lovely holiday!