11/30/13

Thanksgiving Family and Fun


I had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I love family time and I am looking forward to Christmas and our REALLY BIG family get together.

I met up at my aunt and uncle’s house.  My older sister Jenny and her husband Will were not in attendance and neither was Kenyon, who had to work.  We still had a large crowd.

These are the turkeys that my grandparents got when they went to dinner at their new retirement community dinner.  They are made from a small candy bar.

 

I look forward to having some wine since I don’t drink unless I am in a social setting.  I try to start with small pours so I can feel like I am having a couple of glasses (also these are really BIG glasses).    I started with St. Chapelle’s Moscato.

 

I then tried some New Age wine my friend Kate gave me.  This is not super sweet but has a nice sparkle to it.  I actually had two small pours of this, one was with dinner.

 

Not to worry!  Lots of H2O was also consumed.

 

I didn’t take many photos of our amazing food spread but this was a cranberry jello mold my Dad made.  It actually has horseradish in it.  It was pretty good.


Mmmm….Rhodes rolls are just as good as homemade but without all the work.  I often skip the roll since I have both wine and dessert but I have been really craving carbs lately.  So I enjoyed a roll and talked myself OUT of eating second one!


My cute nieces “toasting” with their sparking cider.


Here is my plate.  I got some turkey and ham along with mashed potatoes and gravy.  The gravy is a port wine reduction gravy and is super rich.  I had some cranberry and the cranberry jello mold, salad, one sweet potato bit, a few bites of stuffing, and a roll.   For those of you that are hard-core WW members, you will notice that I didn’t follow the TNT rule (Things Not Touching) on my plate.  Thanksgiving is too yummy to follow the rules!


I forgot the corn casserole so I had to make some room and get a little.


I was one of the first to finish, I still have not mastered the act of slow eating, and after thinking on it a bit I wanted more turkey, ham, and corn casserole.


Part way through eating my aunt informed us we were eating with my Great Grandma Birmingham’s silver.  These were uncovered in my gandparent’s recent move and the sell of their house.  Grandma B would be 100 years old but she passed way at age 93.


I should have waited and had my dessert later in the evening.  Since I am on the graveyard shift and was going to be up all night that would have made the most sense.  Since I didn’t do that, I enjoyed some of my sister Jenny’s chocolate wine cake and one of her homemade caramels.  I also had some Marie Calendar’s Razzleberry pie.  It is a favorite.  Whip cream on the side and some coffee.


My aunt and I took the girls for a walk to see the lamas that live a few houses down.  Lamas are freaky animals!  Even when it would turn its head away from us the eyes were ALWAYS watching.  Freaky!


Several houses further down the road was an actual lama out on the street.  They were taking it for a walk!  We got to pet it and the girls let me take a photo.




When we weren’t looking at lamas the girls I were entertaining ourselves by playing hide and seek.  Emma, who is 3, isn’t very good at waiting to be found.  I wouldn’t have seen her hidden under the pillows except she popped up and looked at us.  Great hiding spot!

 
I had the first of my Thanksgiving leftovers at home before I headed out to a 10pm movie.  I chopped up some turkey, an apple, and some smoked gouda and made a salad.

 
I brought home two rolls along with some turkey and ham so I plan to make sandwiches the next few days.  Yum!

11/28/13

Happy TURKEY Day!!!


Happy Thanksgiving!!!



I am spending the day with my family eating lots of turkey. I love me some turkey!

I hope you are enjoying your day with your family and friends as well. I am so thankful for Weight Watchers and all the new friends I have met along the way. I am continually thankful for all the support and love I have gotten through both my weight loss and maintenance journey. I have such wonderful family and friends.

I will leave you with some photos of the St. Alphonsus Festival of Trees.

I enjoy going to the festival each year and I have also volunteered at the festival a few times. I met Danielle and Natalie for drinks and appetizers at PF Chang's (which we received terrible service!!!) and then Natalie and I went to see the trees. My friend Jamie's daughter was singing in the choir so we also watched her.

The Festival of Trees consists of top-notch decorated trees, wreaths, mini-trees, and table top decorations. Some are judged, some auctioned, and some sold. All the money goes to the hospital foundation.

Enjoy!



This a tree dedicated in memory of a doctor and the decorations included some of his bow ties.


















 This one was really neat. It has decorations that look like the rainbow and then a pot of gold under it.





This is a Wizard of Oz tree and the ruby slippers on the feet are coming out from under the tree.










This tree was put together by the Idaho Yes Coalition. I was shocked to see that 18 people will die today because they didn't get an organ donation.



















Somebody donated use of their cute trailer and woody car.







For you Shauna!




This one is a Willy Wonka tree made in a top hat.



 This is my kind of tree....wine bottles!!!




This little guy followed me home. I enjoyed him with my favorite hot beverage.