Thanksgiving 2016

We had a terrific Thanksgiving this year!  We traveled to Iowa for the big event. My sister planned it perfectly as we saw our nephew Paul who had recently finished his two-year mission in Hungary!

Before we left we decorated for Christmas for family home evening.  Clark missed out because he was hanging out with cousins in Missouri and then Iowa.Though I'd say he had a great time with them!


I brought 10 pies to Iowa for Thanksgiving--two cranberry and eight pumpkin.  I LOVE cranberry pie!  So good.


If you want the recipe, here it is!


On our way out to the Mid-West we stopped by Indianapolis and ate lunch at Steph's house.  We missed seeing her, but she was off having a good time with my brother Darrell and his family at the local zoo.  I made Jame's stocking, in addition to all the others! 


Picture out of order, but I made a double batch of pie dough and this is how many pie crusts I got out of it!  It was amazing!  I even got the pie crusts done for Christmas. (Which I stacked, wrapped in plastic wrap and stuck in the freezer.) I loved it!!! Lee found a creative way to transport the pies to Iowa, which was terrific.


We arrived around 6:30 that night, in time to have dinner and celebrate Mike's birthday.




That evening some of us went to the church to set-up for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I think it's so fun to get the table set early for a special dinner.


The next morning was Thanksgiving!  Cal peeled all the potatoes by himself.  It was really sweet of him.  Afterwards he said how he was happy about his hard work.  Go Cal!


I went out for a 6 mile run that morning.  Lee came the whole way with me!  Sadly his legs and knees did not like the long run.  Alyssa came with us for a little bit too. 


Thanksgiving dinner was so fun.  A family that Deb is close to came to the dinner.  It was so fun to hang out with them and meet them.  They brought some awesome appetizers!!! 


Before we eat Thanksgiving dinner everyone goes around and says three things they are thankful for.  I love this tradition.














After dinner there was a little performance by the kids.  They put on a play, written by Thomas, entitled "First Day on Turkey Day".  It was pretty funny and awesome.  Some of the kids were really into the play!








After some entertainment, we had our annual Thanksgiving Day race!  We split up into age groups now, and we don't run as far, but we still have the race!










Cal and Elden won their age groups, and Clark won the special sprinting race.


Pie time!!!




The winner of the race get to pick their own pie.




Paul played and sang a song for us--his personal arrangement of "I Believe in Christ" and then did a presentation about his mission.  It was so terrific!


Lee bought a paper that morning.  Even though I look at ads online I still like looking at the physical copies.  Another favorite thing to do on Thanksgiving.














The next day we went shopping of course! First up, a local hardware type store, Menards.  We found some fun goodies here! Later we went to the mall and other stores.


Steven loved Boomer.  It was so cute seeing him sit by Boomer, and just be one happy little man.


That afternoon we went on a walk.  IT WAS COLD!




For dinner you could roast hot dogs and marshmallows! 


This is out of order, but sometime Sunday afternoon a HUGE branch fell on the fire pit area, completely destroying it.  We were all so thankful nothing happened the night of the hot dog roast!


After dinner we headed downtown for the holiday palooza. The Bunkers brought a big thing of hot chocolate, yum! For this event there were a lot of performers, the arrival of Santa on a rocket, then fireworks.  A very fun event.   










The perfect little Christmas angel!








After the downtown holiday fun, and getting the kids settled in front of some movies, we adults headed out to a local coffee shop for dessert and hot chocolate called Not Your Average Joe's.  (We don't drink coffee.)  I loved how we could all sit together and visit.




Saturday some families took off, but the Bunkers, Gerlas and our family went downtown to visit Santa, get some cupcakes and poke around the cute shops. 




I think Haley's laugh caught on camera is so funny and fun!


This cupcake place was the best I've been too.  Which I haven't been to that many, but still.  One knows a good cupcake when one eats one!


I ran again that late morning and we met right before going downtown.  The cupcake was my breakfast.






We went to this cool world/village store.  Can't remember the name, and bought a few fun things there.  The chocolate from Africa looked yummy, but was a disappointment!


Next up, bowling! 












That evening we had delicious pizza made by Deb and watched a movie.  Darrell and Stacie came back after a day trip to Omaha.  It was funny how Elden was eating his pizza off his plate. 


Deb made a Christmas wreath!  Thank you Deb!  It's very pretty, and I realize I don't have an after shot.  Oops.


We drove through the night and that went really well.  It helped that I was listening to a creepy Nancy Drew story.  This was such a fun Thanksgiving being with lots of family, relaxing, running, eating good food, etc.  I loved it.  The holidays are the best. 

Back at home safe and sound.  Shanna balanced one of her crutches.  Yes, she still loves playing with them!