A Redneck Thanksgiving

It was a busy and eventful week.  Jenna learned about cake decorating at Activity Days on Monday afternoon.  Here she is with her creation.

 

Jameson helped himself to the leftover frosting. 

Frosting? What frosting? It wasn't me, Mom.

Adam's last day working for Academy Mortgage was on Tuesday.  He has been with Academy for over 11 years.  That's a long time.  Jenna was 6 months old when he started back in 2003.  We decided it was time to move on and the timing was right.  Adam will be working for Veritas Funding and is planning to activate his Real Estate license and do a few real estate deals on the side. 

Now we just need to figure out what to do with all of his logo wear. Academy polo shirts take up about half of his current wardrobe.

For scouts this week the boys were asked to come prepared to dress and pluck a chickens for the animal science merit badge. I bet your local scout troup didn't slaughter chickens this week, am I right?

One of the assistant scout leaders had several chickens that weren't laying enough eggs to warrant feeding them through the winter and another assistant just happened to have experience in large scale commercial operations in this area.  Who knew?

 Britton with the chickens he dressed and plucked (and killed).  He was only slightly traumatized.

On Wednesday afternoon we headed to Blackfoot, Idaho for my niece Abigail's baptism.  Abigail lives in Texas but my sister opted to have the baptism the day before Thanksgiving in Blackfoot so Abigail would have a lot of family present instead of only a few. Abigail asked Jenna to give a talk about the Holy Ghost during the program and Jenna did a terrific job.

Wednesday night we stayed at my Aunt Kathy's house and my parents and sisters and families went back up to  Rexburg to stay at Heather's house.  They returned in the morning but since Adam is in charge of the rolls we find he needs to start them before the crowd arrives so they are done in time for dinner.

My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Brent and my cousins Dustin and Jake and their wives Larah and Marci and families were all there there.  Usually when a family starts to have their own grandchildren they stop getting together with extended family and just get together with their own family instead.  For my Dad and his sister, this transition never took place even after both of their parents passed. Why?  No one wanted it to change.  We genuinely enjoy getting together and have so many traditions we just can't give it up.   Every year my Dad's kids and grandkids and my Aunt's kids and grandkids all get together in Blackfoot for what can only be called, "A Redneck Thanksgiving."

My siblings who live out of state or out of the country will tell you that Thanksgiving is the only day they ever feel homesick.

Dustin, Marci, Jake and Larah on their cell phones.  Parents these days. . .

Adam making the rolls.

 

Every year my family jokes that my attendance is optional, but Adam's attendance is required and non-negotiable. 

The weather was amazing this year.  Britton and Jantzen out playing soccer in the back yard.

Is it really 50 something degrees out here?  Yep. Gotta love it. More often than not it is bitter cold with a lot of snow and ice at this time of year.

 

That's a lot of cooks in the kitchen.  It must mean that dinner is almost ready!

 

My Aunt always clears out her garage, rolls out carpet on the floor and heats it so we can use it as a Thanksgiving gathering place.  Here are the girls working on their Thanksgiving crafts.

Anna, Jenna and Abigail

Jameson found a true friend in Oakley, his second cousin.  They were 2 peas in a pod and before long I was calling her the "Jameson Whisperer". She was so good with him and they stuck together the entire time. In fact when Oakley had to leave she cried and cried saying that she wanted to stay and be with Jameson.

Jameson, Oakley, Quinn

Wherever Oakley was, there was Jameson also. 

Just when everything is about ready to go the kids miraculously start showing up. Oh the anticipation!

The food is amazing.  When you are able to divide the feast between 14 competent adults everyone brings their "A" game and the food is to die for.  Since every family is responsible for something different it comes together nicely and isn't too much for one person to handle.

It's go time!

Elsie, Brinley, Abigail and Korinne

Jantzen, Anna, Jenna, Parker, and Riley

Tanner, Britton, Cole, Oakley, Jameson and Quinn

 Official homemade Thanksgiving root beer? Check!

Marci

 Adam's plate.

Adam didn't really understand why I wanted to take a picture of his plate, but he was plenty happy to sit down and start eating it.

All of the adults around the table.  

After dinner and cleanup it was off to the bowling alley.  Uncle Brent had an assortment of trophies for highest scoring man/women, girl/boy and even a trophy for the lowest score of the day.  Our bowling tournament plans hit a snag when we arrived at the bowling alley right as it opened at 4 p.m. only to be aced out by 2 other large families who have the same tradition.  Instead of 5 or 6 lanes we needed we only had 3 lanes to work with.  We quickly decided to just let the 16 kids in attendance bowl and the rest of us could help and watch the action.

What a difference a year makes.  Last year Jameson hated bowling, this year he would jump up and down and cheer every time he hit a pin.

Jenna and Brinley

Heather and Tiffany

Larah and Heather

 

 Unfortunately the scoring computers stopped working so everyone's scores were messed up.  Not even the highest boy and girl trophies could be given out since none of the scores were accurate. Oh well, there is always next year.

Jantzen and Britton

Jameson hadn't had a nap all day and was so tired he fell asleep in Adam's lap.

12 of the 16 kids in attendance

 After bowling it was back to the house for the fireworks. . .

Watching the fireworks

 

This part of the tradition is only slightly illegal.  My Uncle Brent seems to "up the program" every year so apparently he isn't too worried about getting in trouble.

No one will ever forget the year we saw a police car flying down a road toward the house with his lights flashing and siren blaring at the conclusion of the fireworks.  We all ran in the house and someone yelled, "Everyone hide and turn off the lights!"  Well, the cop never arrived  and we had a good laugh about it.  My Aunt and Uncle found out later the cop was one his way to a domestic dispute call from one of the neighbors and didn't care at all about the out of season fireworks.

After the fireworks it was time for the Thanksgiving pinatas. The kids were split into 2 groups, the older kids and the younger kids.  Then the kids went from youngest to oldest when hitting the piñata.  Jameson was the first one to get a crack at the Angry Bird.

Everyone got 3 or 4 turns before the piñata was finally broken.

A mad dash for the candy and prizes.

Next up were the older kids.

Uncle Brent made it a little more challenging to actually hit it.

More candy and prizes.

 

After the pinatas it was back to the kitchen for leftovers and pie.  The only thing better than one Thanksgiving meal is 2 Thanksgiving meals!

 

This is also when my Aunt pulls out a sampling of all of her chocolates and homemade candy.

 

Kathy is a very gifted chocolate and candy maker.  If you've ever tried them you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sooooo good.  Unfortunately I can never get enough which is why I simply plan on gaining 5 lbs and just hope I can lose it during the rest of the winter. :-)

Siblings Kathy and Steve

After the festivities were over we headed to my sister Heather's house for one more day of family togetherness.  Tif and Shawn were in town from Texas and flew home on Saturday.

 

Some day we will learn to take family pictures at a time other than first thing in the morning when everyone is packing up getting ready to leave.



Heather, Brinley, Aaron, Elsie, Quinn, Anna, Jantzen and Tanner

The cousins.

Tiffany, Shawn and Abigail

We arrived home in time to put up Christmas decorations and get ready for the Christmas season. We had a great week with family and missed everyone who wasn't able to be a part of it.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!