talkin' turkey

We just got back from visiting my aunt/uncle/cousins in Sacramento for Thanksgiving, and I have some fun photos to share with you!

Visiting my Aunt Shauna always involves card making. I hauled half my stuff all the way down to California...it literally took up half the space we had in the back of the car.

Here's a photo of me and my Aunt Shauna...






Here are two of the cards I made. I LOOOOVVVEEE how this Santa card turned out. It's from our Christmas Magic stamp set and I paired it with some Cosmo Cricket cardstock stickers. The card behind it turned out really cute too but I can't show it to you until tomorrow because it features one of our new stamp singles we're releasing on December 1st. I'll have it up on the LAD blog tomorrow.



(By the way, my aunt said she says the word "cute" a lot more when she's around me because I say it a lot. It's true. If I like a card, it's usually "cute." Maybe next time I'll say my card is sophisticated or beautiful or something else. But it will probably still be cute.)

We did something new for Thanksgiving dinner this year....my husband and my uncle Mike decided to deep-fry the turkey in the backyard. It was quite hilarious. My husband said that it was the added element of danger (350 degree hot oil in a big can) that made it so fun. Here's a picture of them cooking the turkey...you can see the deep-fryer over there on the right...



Now the really funny part. Here's what the turkey looked like when it was done (deep-frying a turkey only takes 35 minutes!)



Doesn't that look like the turkey from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Where it explodes when they try to slice it? HA HA HA! My aunt's face froze when she saw this turkey...it was a little, um, black. HOWEVER it was just the skin that was a little burned up, NOT the turkey meat inside! This happened because they tried this new brown-sugar rub on the outside of the turkey and it didn't work so well with the deep-frying technique.

Here's what the turkey looked like inside....it was actually really tasty! The boys deep-fried a second turkey without the rub on the outside and it was perfectly brown (a tip for you if you ever try to deep-fry a turkey.)



Here we all are at the dinner table...


It was a fun trip. I was a little afraid of how my kids would do on that 12-hour drive there and back but they actually did great! I'm glad we made the trip. And now I have some new Christmas Cards to add to my stash and I know how to deep-fry a turkey.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

It's now time for me to get out all the Christmas decorations...I can't believe it. This is something I usually do the day after Thanksgiving, but we were gone this year so it's going to be tomorrow. I went shopping in Sacramento and bought a new ornament for our tree (we always pick out an ornament every time we go on vacation...) it's a plate stacked high with cupcakes! I'll take a photo. It's very "me." Phillip insisted I buy it. I didn't argue. :)

thankful

I've been thinking about my Dad this week. His favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. We always make bets on whether or not my Dad is going to eat too much and then whine about being too full. It's always safe to take the over-eating / whining bet. :)

One year on Thanksgiving Day, my brother was complaining about a stomach ache. I think my Dad and everyone thought it was typical Thanksgiving dinner / overeating stuff...so we kind of igorned it and went on with our Thanksgiving dinner plans. It turned out he had appendicitis and it burst...and we ended up rushing him to the hospital to have it removed. My poor Dad felt horrible (who would ever have guessed it was appendicitis on Thanksgiving?!)

My Dad retired this year and he says he wants to make it up to Washington every year for my kids birthdays now that he has more free time. I told him he didn't have to do that....he lives in St. George, Utah and we are in Seattle so it's quite the drive. But sure enough he was here on my son Ethan's birthday.

Family means a lot to my Dad and that has been a good example for me now that I'm taking care of my own family. He always put family first. This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for my family....my husband, kids, Grandmas and Grandpa, sister and brother, cousins, aunts and uncles, and extended family.

Hope you enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend!

I finally know how to use my camera....

I have a group of wonderful friends who I scrapbook with every once in awhile...we try to do it monthly but sometimes it turns out every-other month. And whenever we can do it is great, because it sets aside a night to catch up on my scrapbooking. If we can stop chatting long enough to actually get something done, ha ha.

Here's a page I did of Samantha choosing a pumpkin at Fall City Farms (see photos from that day a few posts down.) I've had this little scarecrow embellishment for a long time so I finally was able to use it!





This was my favorite page but I actually got 5 pages done last night, I'm feeling productive. I didn't go to bed until 2am so I'm also feeling tired. But it was worth it!

I'm still figuring out the best way to take pictures of my scrapbook pages...they can be tough because of the size. I am getting better at photographing my cards though...I recently took a digital photography class and I learned so much about my camera! My husband bought me an amazing DSLR camera two years ago for photographing my cards and my kids and I'm ashamed to say it's been mostly on the auto setting until now. I've made it a goal to learn how to use my camera and I'm having a lot of fun! I can already tell my photos are turning out a lot better. The only problem now is I want more lenses. I didn't know what I was missing before and now I want a wide-angle lense and a 50mm lense. Santa are you reading this?? :)

busy

This is a crazy busy time of year for me. I have several birthdays and holidays and anniversaries all within 8 weeks..... Phillips birthday, Halloween, Ethan's Birthday, Nephew Carsons Birthday, Sisters birthday, Thanksgiving, Anniversary, Christmas. Oh and then my birthday is in early January a few days after New Years. By then I'm too pooped to celebrate anymore so I usually just treat myself to a nice spa pedicure and a dinner out with my husband. ;)

Here are a few picts of the kiddies in their Halloween costumes and Ethan at his 7th Birthday Party...that's me in the corner sticking out my tongue, not sure why I'm doing that! ha ha. And that's my Mom in the middle...my parents drove all the way to Washington from Utah to come to my son's birthday. What an awesome Grandma and Grandpa my kids have!







Thanksgiving is around the corner and I always reflect on my blessings this time of year. We all have struggles...I'm no exception, but I know that overall I'm very lucky. I have an awesome family and a very supportive group of friends...and that makes all the difference! The economy has been tough on a lot of people we know this year and my husband went through his own unemployment phase for a few months this summer. Luckily he is employed again and is enjoying his new job. My thoughts go out to you who are dealing with similar struggles! This has been a trying year for many but we will all get through it. Happy early Thanksgiving!