Thanksgiving Week

The week of Thanksgiving was a wonderful reunion with my side of the family.  We did the ten hour road trip and gathered in Provo, Utah (one of my favorite cities ever!) at my grandparent’s home.   With each of my siblings living in different states and my youngest brother being on his mission for the last two years in Honduras, it was so great to be all together for the first time in three years!  Of course this meant lots of late nights, laughing at old memories, and a new family picture! 

Thanksgiving Day was perfect. The weather was sunny and beautiful, but freezing at 17 degrees for the high.  The men had their own “turkey bowl”, the women cooked, we had a delicious feast complete with a turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, my grandma’s homemade rolls, corn, yams, and cranberry relish.   

We did our traditional public thanking of our blessings as we sat around the table.  My heart was full as I have so much to be grateful for.  There aren’t too many opportunities that I have to thank each of my family members individually and publicly for their positive influence and the way they bless my life and my family’s.  Of course I cried (like usual) as I shared with them my blessings, my love and my testimony.

The kids shared their turkeys with gratitude feathers.  They got loved on all week and loved every minute!!  

After wards my darling sister (the first grade teacher and fabulous aunt) and the kids performed the play had been working on, complete with homemade costumes.  They did a super cute job. 

  After that it was naps and our traditional trip to catch a movie.  That night we played games to end our perfect day together. 

During the week we had a fun time visiting a few friends (never get a chance to visit as many as we would like), 
taking the kids to see Tangled (two thumbs up – darling!), 
pulled out my Grandma's OLD toys from when I was a kid,

 visited BYU’s Art Museum to visit the most amazing exhibit of Carl Bloch’s (although they may not recognize him by name, many Christians around the world know and love the religious paintings of Lutheran Danish artist Carl  Bloch) artwork. The exhibit featured five huge alter paintings of which four of these paintings were taken out of their altar settings for the first time since they were originally installed in the late 1800s. We loved the absolutely stunning art and loved learning more about the history of the images,  
had oodles of Grandma Jensen’s yummy cooking (especially her famous scrambled eggs), 
checked off one of my "35 goals for my 35th year" - learn to make a beautifully pinched pie crust (although I'm not sure it was beautiful, it looks better than my pie crusts have looked in years past),

Black Friday shopping (my dedication and motivation was threatened by the freezing temperatures!), 
going to see the beautiful lights on Temple Square, 

and a trip to the Provo Temple where my grandparents have volunteered a few times a week for over 25 years.  We had a great trip and enjoyed so much seeing everyone.