thanks giving

so we had Thanksgiving with John's family at our house. there were 18 adults and 5 kids. there were 3 families that couldn't make it, but it was fun nonetheless. we had SO MUCH GOOD food! there was:

turkey

ham

rice dressing

mashed potatoes

sliced cranberry sauce

green bean casserole

yam casserole

petit peas

gravy

rolls

pecan pie

dobosh cake

tons of cookies

lemon bars

oreo balls

let me just say i think i gained 2 lbs eating the good food! haha.

the company was great, and since this was the first big gathering since we have moved in, i was a bit worried about how such a big crowd would fit. it was a success tho! we had seating at the bar and at the table and it seemed to work fine. not everyone ate at the same time and the kids seemed to have a ton of fun! of course they were in and out, but the joys of having lots of windows and a fenced in yard is you can stay inside while the kids played outside.

everyone having a good time

jake took courtney's stool to prop up his feet. hehe

mike and aley with sophie

john and dillon playing ping pong, i think dillon won?

marsha sitting next to a sleeping guy, and ben trying to poke "pop pop" with his fork...never a dull moment huh?

i believe john smoked ryan in wii basketball.

jenni doing some hula hoop and gracie and sophie are amused.

the appetizers that were supposed to hold us over til dinner. we had plenty of food.

the boys outside throwing the football, getting some exercise!

jake was trying to blame nelson for the ball that nailed jenni. oh yeah, nelson did it on purpose. i'm glad we have such a large yard that accommodated all the activities

daniel was about to fall asleep, so courtney and corine quickly fed him while we waited for the ham to finish cooking

yummy desserts

yummy food

nelson got tackled by both kids. lol.

and then kathryn passed out after such a long day!

i was a bit tied up with making sure everything was right and ready that i didn't get to enjoy everyone's company like i would have wanted. we also had the Wii to play, but there were more people this year and it wasn't as fun to sit and watch and wait your turn. so! for future reference i have thought of good "large group" games to play where everyone can get involved.

-scategories

-taboo

-cranium

-pictionary

-charades

well, i'm sure there are more, but that is what i could think of. i am going to have something set up for christmas. i'm having christmas at my house with my side of the family. should be interesting. you know, as much as i think my family is polar opposites of each other, every family has their disagreements, and i guess we should all try a little harder to get along and stop picking on each other. you know, BE MORE CHRIST LIKE. i personally love Christmas time because it gives everyone a reason to try to be a little nicer, "the spirit of giving" usually makes you more positive. i love to give my time, my talents, anything i can to help other people. it makes me be more humble. but for some reason there always has to be somebody to say something that someone has to take the wrong way, and suddenly there is anger, frustration, and resentment. why can't we just LET IT GO! i wish people didn't take things so personally or try to twist things into something it isn't, or just keep their opinions to themselves. it would make for a much happier holiday time.

so i am going to try to get my family together for some fun, and see how it goes. maybe this year we can enjoy each other.

so i have decided that i will set a goal to do 1 post a day for the month of decemeber in an effort to catch up with all the cute/funny things going on that i have pictures of or what not, so i'll have something to look back on to scrapbook before i forget completely. and in an effort to stay in a positive mood this month, i will include (no necessarily related to the blog) 3 things i am thankful for.

if you don't want to have the blogs emailed to you, please let me know, and i will delete you from the list.