Time To Give Thanks

Jake and I just celebrated our first Thanksgiving as hosts. My mom came to Arizona to celebrate with us, and we packed in as much fun as we could! My mom arrived Tuesday evening and we made her one of our favorite dinners; stuffed avocados.

I was lucky enough to have Wednesday off from work so mom and I did some shopping and got pedicures that included massages. It was the perfect way to spend a day off and prepare for a day full of cooking!

We love pink and purple!

Thanksgiving day started out right with Jake making some delicious German pancakes accompanied by some homemade Apple cider made by yours truly. After breakfast we watched the Macy's parade and started on football. When everyone was dressed and prettied up we headed outside for some pictures. I really wanted to get a nice picture of me and Jake for our Christmas card and my mom wanted one of all 3 of us for her card. Here's a couple that may or may not have made the cut:

Meanwhile our turkey had started cooking. Jake was in charge of the turkey; it was brined for 24 hours before being cooked. I had a list of recipes I wanted to make for the side dishes and I found them all here (including the Apple cider). We ended up having rolls, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes and gravy that Jake made in addition to the turkey. All homemade and so delicious!

Needless to say, we have plenty of leftovers!

Those are some happy eaters!

After dinner we had an amazing pie from the experts at village inn provided by the company I work for. Each employee received their choice of pie for Thanksgiving, which I think was pretty generous.

I had to work half day Friday and Saturday, but we still managed to do more shopping and gym going and movie watching and just enjoyed spending time together the rest of the weekend. My mom headed out this morning (Sunday) and we're glad she was able to come out for a few days and have fun. This year, and every year, we're thankful for good friends and amazing family. We're happy to be in Arizona and are grateful for the opportunities we're being given. There's no better way to give thanks for all you've been given than to celebrate with family. Hopefully next year we'll be surrounded by even more of the people we love! Thanks for spending the holiday with us mom, we missed all of those we didn't get to see, and we hope you all were blessed with the same joy we were!