Give Thanks!

Since we moved out to Arizona in 2005, it has just worked out that every year my family, Pittson side, usually comes out for Thanksgiving. This year Shavonne has had some complications with her pregnancy and she's on complete bedrest at her home in Utah, since Halloween. My mom, Sky, and Blake have all been taking turns making sure she and Haven (her 18 mo old) are well taken care of. So since Mom was staying in Utah...Sky, Blake, and Tyler live there already...it made sense that they would stay there this year.

So we were cool with just not cooking a turkey (remember, I hate meat, and Phil is not a turkey fan) and sticking with Prime Rib (Phil's favorite) this year. Most of Phil's family lives in Utah so it's kind of expected that his parents usually stay there and do Thanksgiving with everyone there, but this year they surprised us and said they wanted to come to our house! It was pretty sweet.

We started out the day by going to "JIB" which is our slang for Jack in the Box for breakfast. We knew they would be open and Phil's dad has a routine of going to the nearest fast food joint to read the newspaper every morning...so we decided to join him. After breakfast it was back home to chill and play some games. Normally there would be cooking involved...but we decided a couple of weeks ago to make reservations at Claim Jumper this year for dinner! I'm a fan of being with family on Thanksgiving...but where...doesn't bother me!
My mom sent us a "Stick the hat on the turkey" game, which the kids had a blast making everyone take a turn!

Papa had more fun sticking the hats on the kids than the turkey...

but he finally made it!
Gramma Debbie was a great sport too! She had no problem wearing the beatiful bow for a blindfold! Boston someday I'm sure...will be mad about this photo.

This is where we all lined up. Can you guess which hat is Madison's?

Seattle's new trick! She pretty much does this with all pencils, pens, & straws. Where does she find these things?

Our dinner reservations were at 2:00PM and I was surprised at how many people go out on Thanksgiving! They had a "Thanksgiving Menu" that had 3 courses. You could choose from Soup or Salad...then a sourdough roll served with your choice of a main course 1)Turkey Platter with stuffing, 2)Prime Rib, 3)Salmon, or 4)Vegetarian (roasted veggies on a skewer). They all came with your choice of mashed potatoes or a baked potato. Then dessert! You could choose from Apple Pie (with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream) or Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream on the side! The kids were all in heaven because they had the Turkey platters and their dessert choices were the "build your own Sundaes"! It was a platter for each of them that came with ice cream in the center and then all these different toppings in their own cups for them to choose what they wanted! I was really jealous! Then to top things off...they gave all the adults $10 gift cards to come back. Since there isn't a Claim Jumper in Utah...we scored his parents too! So, we'll definitely be going back soon! So for any of you ever interested in venturing out...I have to say just for the clean up...it was way worth it!!!!

Later that evening, we got the Christmas lights started. I should have taken a picture of that! We had to stop...because we got a serious thunderstorm that dropped a huge amount of rain and drenched everything for like an hour! So this is take 1. I'll put the updated pictures up soon.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Thanks Gramma and Papa for visiting...it was fun!