David and I had an excellent Thanksgiving weekend! We celebrated Thursday with just the three of us at home, but that did not stop us from having the full, big meal! I decided to go all out this year and make my first big turkey (we got a 15 pounder) and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out! I put the turkey in a brine overnight which I think made all of the difference in how well it turned out. I then took it out the morning of, dried it off really well and covered it in butter, onion powder and pepper. I also put some butter, onion and garlic inside the Turkey. It was so good!!
 |
| Mmmm-mmmm good! |
 |
| What a handsome man carving that turkey |
Last year when we went to visit David's family for Thanksgiving, we announced our pregnancy by giving his mom a little thanksgiving onesie I had bought that had an ultrasound picture taped to it.
 |
| Here we are with the cute onesie |
It was so fun that this year we got to use that same onesie for Maddie's thanksgiving outfit. It fit her perfectly and she sure was cute in it! It was a little tender seeing her wearing it since it brought back happy memories from last year and reminded us just how grateful we are for our sweet girl!
 |
| She's always so happy! |
 |
| Our happy family, Thanksgiving 2014 |
Anyway, the reason that I chose to make a big meal for just the three of us was because David's brother and his wife and three kids came out to visit us on Friday and stayed with us all weekend. I wanted lots of leftovers to share so I wouldn't have to do so much cooking ;) We had a great time with them visiting, and Maddie sure loves her cousins!
 |
| A lot of friday afternoon was spent in the living room hanging out. Maddie kept rollin over to her cousin McKinley :) |
 |
| We also went to the park for a little bit on Friday. Maddie's face in this picture cracks me up. What a funny girl. Haha! |
Saturday morning was a cold and rainy day, but we all got up and headed out to Virginia City. We had a good time walking around and looking in the shops, and then we went on the "candy cane express" train ride! It was such a cute little event. The ride lasted about 30 minutes and they handed out hot chocolate and cookies, we sang carols and they read the night before Christmas story. At one point the train went through a tunnel that was decorated with candy cane lights which was really fun. Maddie had a great time, even though she had no idea what was going on ;)
 |
| Posing in the waiting room before the train ride. We had just gotten out of the rain, so don't mind my flat hair ;) |
 |
| Seriously, it doesn't get any happier than this! |
 |
| I can't help but take pictures of this happy girl! |
 |
| Ready for the train ride! |
We were going to go up to Reno after the train ride, but we were all too cold and hungry to do that, so instead we went home. We enjoyed some lunch and then had movie time at home to stay warm!
On Sunday we enjoyed church together, but Maddie is starting to get so antsy that it's a little harder to pay attention. She likes to arch her back when we're holding her on our lap to try to get down and gets fussy faster now. So we've started to let her roll around on the ground during sacrament meeting, which will probably only last until she rolls several rows away from us ;)
 |
| Hanging out under the benches is where al of the cool kids can be found |
 |
| Someone returned David's orange cones that they used at the turkey bowl and David put them to good use ;) |
The rest of Sunday was spent hanging out at home, watching movies, taking naps, eating San Diego tacos and playing games! We played Yahtzee and it was so much fun. Overall it has been a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend!
We love and miss all of our family and friends that we didn't get to see over the holiday weekend, but we are so grateful to Ian, Amy and kids for taking the time to drive out and see us!
Much love,
