happy thanksgiving

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into 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 vision for tomorrow."
                              -Melody Beatie

let's not get ahead of ourselves

As we head into the final stretch before Thanksgiving, you will find Christmas everywhere. It's on the shelves, streaming through my radio and in the living rooms of many of my friends. But at my house, it's nowhere to be found. Why?… because I'm a diehard when it comes to Thanksgiving. I want to relish in everything that I'm thankful for. Everything that really matters in life. Yes, it's one holiday at a time for me. None of this setting up the Christmas tree before my turkey even hits the oven. This week, I will sit back and take it all in, before the chaos that is the Christmas season begins. Oh, don't worry, when it's time I'll get into it. REALLY into it. But, until then... back off Christmas, it's not your turn yet. 

sticking with tradition

Ever since I was a little girl, one thing about Thanksgiving sticks out in my mind. My grandma's parkerhouse rolls. My grandma has been gone for about 28 years now, but the memory of her delicious rolls carries on every Thanksgiving. My mom made the rolls after grandma was gone. And now, when Thanksgiving is at my house, I carry that tradition on. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have a relaxing Thanksgiving at my sons house, which meant just a couple of food assignments. Rolls was not one of my assignments. We had wonderful parker house rolls made by someone else, but they weren't my grandma's. Today, I pulled out the yeast, butter, and flour and whipped up a batch of my grandma's parkerhouse rolls. Ahhh, they hit the spot. There's nothing like them. One day late, but made my holiday complete. Some traditions should never be broken:)  

many thanks

Just popping by the blog today to with you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope, like me, you are counting all of your blessings on this beautiful day. And, I hope you are able to spend it with those you love most. I'm thankful for the many few viewers who follow me each day, especially those who take the time to leave a comment now and then. It's so fun to have a place to share my photos and a few crumbs from my life. Thanks for taking an interest in me. Now, go eat!! Have a great day:)

Gobbling up Thanksgiving.

I think Thanksgiving gets neglected.

  

Every year, the Christmas decorations

 get put out the day after Halloween 

with no regard for how Thanksgiving feels about it. 

It's a shame, really.  

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.

It's a time to remember family, friends, 

and most importantly,

everything we have been blessed with!

Here's a few pics 

from our Thanksgiving festivities this year.

We left the snow-capped mountains of home 

and flew into Las Vegas.

We grabbed a rental car, 

and made our way to our favorite place in Vegas.

No, not a casino or a roller coaster.

We drove straight to Hard Rock Cafe. . .

. . .and grabbed a plate of Hard Rock Chicken Nachos.

Clearly, we love them.

Next we drove 3 hours to Lake Havasu 

and met Grandma, Bill and Brock for dinner at

Serranos Mexican Restaurant.  

It didn't matter that we weren't that hungry.

We ate like pigs anyway.

Here's a pic of the MONDO burrito Bill and Brock shared.

I'm not gonna lie, it looked delicious. 

We drove straight to our hotel afterwards

 to get a little shut-eye 

before we had to get up in the morning and eat again!

Thanksgiving morning meant stringing 

Grandma's Christmas lights.

Everyone really pitched in and helped, 

which made the job go quickly. 

After we finished, 

we all made our way to the kitchen to help

with Thanksgiving dinner.

The turkey looked great!!

And, so did the potatoes!

(My personal favorite.)

Then it was time to DIG IN!!

It's no surprise what came next.

Except for Tate,

 who had endless energy!!

He broke out his Picasso skills at Great-Grandma's table

Grandpa read to him when he woke up.

(Notice Great-Grandpa looking on 

from the upper right corner :)

Then he played with Grandma's camera case. . .

. . . and helped fix uncle Bill's Jetski.

All in all it was a wonderful day.

And, it was so great 

to have the people I love most in this world 

in one place.

  Thanks Grandma Austin, 

for another wonderful Thanksgiving!