I know, I know, it has taken me FOREVER to get this post on here! We were really blessed this Thanksgiving to be visited by my whole family. Brandon and Tamsin arrived early on in the week, so we got to take them to some of our favorite spots (including Zachary's, of course). Parker and Landon were stoked to have some new playmates!
Alicia arrived next and with her came the return of Gouda and a fun night of photography using laser pointers, cell phones and ipods :). Here's Fort Gouda in all its (his?) glory:
These are two of my favorite photos from that night:
After all the fun it was time to get serious and down to cooking. We made the whole meal this year and it took a lot of planning to pull that off in such a small space! Luckily, Carrie let us borrow her oven for the day :)
We did a turkey trial run...Tamsin volunteered to be the turkey.
Stacey and Brandon peeling apples for the pie.
Scott and Brandon were in charge of the yams and potatoes. They did such a good job!
All of our pies turned out great! Kit got me some pie crust covers for Christmas (which she let me open early for this event) and they made cooking my pies SO much easier!! As you can see, the crusts were NOT slightly burnt as usual.
We even put together some of my Mom's favorite American foods: gala salame and pimento spread. Can you believe you can't get those in Canada? Landon probably ate half of the deviled eggs by himself!
I was so ready to eat by the time my parents and Bryson arrived. The turkey took a few extra minutes, so they arrived right in time to feast! Here's my Mom quickly becoming Parker's favorite person in the room:
Parker's begging face:
My Dad taught Landon what you're REALLY supposed to do with olives. Landon ate every single one :)
Next came play time!
A few family members got to open up their family Christmas present early since we're not all going to be together for Christmas this year (sad!). Brandon and Tamsin are going to be in England - we'll miss you! Scott was seriously confused by his box full of rocks (though they were very pretty..haha). He eventually found his gift!
We can't wait to see Alicia's trained goldfish. Seriously, hurry up and train one!!
Brandon and Scott had to slow dance - like they were at the Prom, hence the butt grab - until the timer ran out. My Mom was just grateful it wasn't her...
Bryson had to film a documentary of any person who rolled a four.
I had to write a phrase and whoever rolled a six next had to read it 10 times over without laughing. Of course, Scott rolled a six and he TOTALLY failed - I think he laughed on the 3rd read, which was actually really impressive considering the phrase. Here it is in all its glory (Ashley, Mark, Tristen, Ken, Marie, Brandon: you all will hopefully remember this from our game the week before!):
My crazy mangled twin in the attic has spina bifida.
So there you go.
Tamsin had to drink a glass upside down without laughing. I think she failed at this one too..haha. I wish I had a picture of Brandon shoving ice down his pants while rolling the dice - priceless!! Maybe I'll have to put the video up sometime.
Aren't you sold on that game!? You should basically all go out and buy Quelf - that's the message here!
I had to get a picture of what my Mom was doing through all of this. She's with us now folks :)
It was so fun having everyone in town - can't wait to see you all at Christmas!! Brandon and Tamsin, we'll just superimpose you into all our photos and pretend you were there too :)
