We enjoyed a warmer Thanksgiving this year in Surprise, Arizona! We made the drive in a record time of 9 1/2 hours, thanks to Dan's (surprisingly) ticket-less speeding efforts at two in the morning. We drove through the night Wednesday and went to bed around 4:30am after chatting with Pawn and Thomas after our arrival. Fortunately, Thanksgiving dinner didn't happen until 5:30pm on Thursday so we had a laid-back morning, and better yet, we did not have to do much of the cooking!
Emily's brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Amy Rae, live in Pawnee's ward (which is actually how Pawn and Amy Rae managed to set up Ryan and Emily three 1/2 years ago!) so we decided to all get together for the holiday. Amy Rae offered to host, which included preparing ALL of the entrees with the help of her two visiting friends.
Dad and Dan watching a little football before dinner. Robert was nice enough to consent when Dan INVITED himself over to watch the BYU v Utah game the next day in their beautiful theater room! Dan definitely did not look this calm during THAT game though.
Maile, Rachel, and Emily's niece, Grace. They play so well together.
Amy Rae and Adelyn
First Thanksgiving together! Addie did so well at the table.
Robert playing with Addie. I really, really like Emily's family!
I wish I took more pics of the kids. They sure are cute and a lot of fun! They loved having Halo-wars with their dad and uncles all weekend. Pawn isn't crazy about them playing the game so it was a real treat for them to play so much. Dan can't get over how skilled they are!
Time for dessert! Now this is the portion that we DID contribute to. Our entirely home-made buffet included: Brownie trifle, eclairs, raspberry-jello-cream-cheese-pretzel deliciousness, pumpkin cobbler, pumpkin pie, and...
TA DA! My first berry pie! Ok, don't judge me. I realize it's lacking a little on the aesthetics. My ruffled edges collapsed in the oven, so I guess I should have trimmed them more! It looked a little more like the skin of someone who lost weight really fast and has the excess hanging over. Nice image to go along with my pie, right? = ) But the crust was absolutely flaky and delicious, (Thanks, Nicole, for the recipe!) and the blackberry/raspberry filling was pretty good, too. Next time, I'll add just a little less corn starch so the filling is less firm, but Dan professed it was perfect. I tried to judge if he was just being nice, since it was his mom's infamous boysenberry recipe I had attempted--but considering the fact that he hid one of the two left over pieces in the fridge for himself, and then scarfed the last piece for breakfast before anyone else could touch it, I think it's safe to say it was as much of a success as I was hoping for! I was really proud of my efforts because pies really are not my thing and I assumed I would fail. But I really wanted Dan to have a "taste of home", so it means a lot to me that it was a decent first attempt.
Overall, it was a fun weekend with family, GREAT food every day, and even a little shopping thrown in the mix (Of course!)
4 comments:
So fun! Oh, I ache for my Arizona family! I am glad you were able to have such a fun time.
That pie was beautiful in color and amazing to the palette! I LOVED IT! Had I known Dan had stashed it away, he might have found that 2nd piece missing! :) We loved having Thanksgiving with you here in AZ.
I love seeing pictures of your family! Great pots. Good job on the pie too! And you look so pretty in all your pictures! Especially the first one with your non existent baby bump. It's so exciting to see your growing belly! I can't believe you are at it again! Love you!
Sounds like a perfect turkey day!!
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