"Real abundance is found when we join hands with those we LOVE." ~ Author Unknown.
"Gratitude is the beginning of wisdom. Stated differently, true wisdom cannot be obtained unless it is built on a foundation of true humility and gratitude." --Gordon B. Hinckley
During month of November, I reflected on the many BLESSINGS I have in my life. I am so grateful for my FAMILY. We truly enjoy spending time together with our many extended family members, friends, etc. In fact, Thanksgiving this year, we were in Northern Utah with the Silva Familiy (my niece Heather a southern Belle from Georgia and nephews James and Justin). Late afternoon Wednesday, we made a stop over to Matt and Chikai's house who invited us over for dinner. Jopes and Elizabeth's family and Justin were there too. Chiaki spoiled us with making homemade mouth watering teriyaki chicken, Asian salad, egg rolls, pot stickers, pumpkin spice cake, and raspberry roll cake. What a way to start our holiday binge! YUM! We played a quick round of Farkle- a fun dice game, which my niece Anna kicked our butts! Then we headed out the door with Justin to James and Heather's house.
Heather and little sister snuggling on the couch!
Big sister is holding James and Heather's dog Roxy! She is such a cute doggie!
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie
On Turkey day, we divided up the food assignments, which helped us prepare our Thanksgiving feast smoothly. John and I brought pies, frog eye salad, sweet potato fixings, cranberry sauce, and rolls. Justin made green bean casserole and stuffing. James made the most absolutely delicious, savory, and moist turkey that I have ever tasted! It was probably due the the fact that the men brined the turkey the night before and baked it with bacon strips all over the bird! Heather and James also made the gravy, mashed potatoes, and southern cheesy potatoes. The guys watched a couple football games while the food was cooking.
Look at all that GOODNESS!
For dessert, I would like to thank Mrs. Marie Callender for the hassle free tasty key lime and pumpkin frozen pies! BRAVO! I did however managed to make an easy Jello pudding chocolate cream pie with a crushed Skor topping.
I would like to share the GREAT frog eye salad recipe that I made for my Thanksgiving meal. While living in a foster home many years ago, my foster Mom Pam showed me how to make this amazing salad. It is a Sleaper family tradition, to have frog eye salad as a side dish every Thanksgiving and I try to continue on that tradition in my household.
Credits: Papers and elements are by Kaye Winiecki, pink dragon fly is by Natalie Braxton @ The Lilypad. I used lima bean and Segoe Script for my fonts.
After stuffing our faces with great food, we watched some TV and waited impatiently for midnight black Friday! At 11:45 PM, we headed over to our first stop Walmart! To be honest, I have never experienced shopping in the middle of the night on BLACK FRIDAY! In the past, I didn't think it was worth the hassle and lack of sleep! However, Heather convinced me otherwise that there were some great door-busters that I could not resist such as unbelievable DVD prices $2.00-$13.00 pajamas, $4.00 each, and a massive 30 piece cookware set that included: pots/pans with lids, measuring spoons/cups, scrapper, turner, pizza cutter, two small knives, a cookie sheet, as well as other kitchen gadgets for $24.00, WOW! In fact, my nephew Justin got the following: a five quart crockpot, a mixer, a ninja, a 30 piece kitchen/pot set, 40 piece tupperware, ashop vac vaccum, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Pillsbury dough-boy fleece pants all for $114 bucks! Heather and James got a lot of great things too!
My nephew Justin saved us a spot in line for check out while the rest of us continued to fill the cart! There were literally hundreds of people in the store!
We left Walmart at 12:45 AM. We spent a total of one hour to shop and check out! Look at that heaping cart of amazing door-buster deals!
Next, Heather and I went to Kohls at 3:00 AM and didn't find anything worth the two hour wait to check out. There were some amazing deals but the cons out weighed the pros of buying the stuff. Our last stop was Target at 4:00AM. I was able to cross out many things on my Christmas list and spent under $100.00 total for the night! Woohooo!!! To my surprise, There were many crazies like me who came out dressed in their pajama's and slippers to stand outside the store at freezing cold temperatures, enduring through the crazy maze mob of many eager shoppers in the stores, being cart-less, and patiently waiting for hours at the cashier line! Was it worth the lack of sleep, time, and effort? Hmmmm, well after seeing the guys in their new fuzzy fleece pajamas, it was not only worth it, but priceless!!!
James is wearing Mountain Dew, Justin got Pillsbury Dough-boy on, and John is loving his Hot Tabasco pajama bottoms.
The crazy fools with over-exaggerated "granny pants"! PRICELESS!!! LOL!
wow...that last picture? i married into a family of WIERDOS! lol.
ReplyDeleteWell, looks like you had an awesome thanksgiving & black friday! We went black friday shopping for the first time ever and Brett bought me a really nice glider chair for 50% off (originally $300). It kind of changed my mind about shopping on that day. You can save LOTS of money and find some really good deals. Who knew? :)
Well, we missed the family over that holiday, but hopefully we'll be able to spend a lot more time together if we end up moving to the SLC area in april.
love you guys! Thanks for posting.