Golden Turkey on My Table

We hosted several friends for Thanksgiving yesterday. Daron and I were up until 1am on Wednesday night making pies and brining the turkey. I wish I'd taken a picture of this massive 19 lb turkey floating eerily in brine. It barely fit in our refrigerator! The brine was a salt water/thyme/maple syrup/brown sugar mixture and it really made the turkey moist.

From the time we got into the kitchen yesterday (9:30am) to dinner time (4pm), we did almost nothing but cook, clean, wash dishes, set up, wash more dishes, and cook some more. Whewph! It's hard work, but I really enjoy putting on a feast. I love working with Daron on it. We have the same vision and just go, go, go until it's done. It seems strange, but it's really become a bonding time for us - working together to serve others. It really becomes a labor of love.

Our beautiful Thanksgiving table! I found the turkey and candlesticks at a thrift store and spray painted them gold.



The turkey plates were from TJMaxx. I just wanted a little something special. I love these!

Place settings with real pears.

Golden turkey on my table - there can be no turkey like thee! (Ever seen Man of La Mancha? Golden helmet of Mambrino? No? Okay...)

The pre-brined and grilled turkey in all it's glory right after Daron brought it inside. It didn't have quite the smoky flavor that last year's did, but it was moist, it was done on time, and it was delicious!

Besides turkey, we served green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes with bacon and rosemary, plain mashed potatoes, sausage, apple, and raisin stuffing, cranberry sauce, cranberry fig relish, homemade gravy, homemade Lion House rolls, and pumpkin and apple pies. Oh, and plenty of Martinelli's!

Sister Grant, the elders, Nathan, and Daron.

Daron again, Brother Tessmer, Sister Chretian, Cydney, and Esther.

Right as I put the last of the food on the island and Daron was carving the turkey, I heard Esther crying. She ran into the kitchen holding her hand above her eye and there was blood everywhere! I began to wonder if I was going to spend Thanksgiving in the emergency room! She had been twirling with her plastic horse and it knocked her right on the eyebrow. Fortunately, when I mopped her up, the cut was tiny and stopped bleeding pretty quick. With a bandaid and a kiss, she was ready to go and the meal was served almost right on time! I had one more thing to be grateful for, I guess!

The name of our family blog is Peace and Plenty Here Abide. I really feel like that has been the case in our home. Granted, it's not always peaceful, but we try. I feel very blessed for all that Heavenly Father has given to us - each other, our home, food to eat and share, safety, freedom, and our amazing extended families! Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Activities

This year our theme was pirates - not super creative, but it was fun. I went to a zillion thrift stores grabbing little pieces of costumes, boots, scarves, and other needed items. My best find was boots for myself that are in great shape for $7.99! Some of the pieces needed a little altering and some clever reworkings, but the final result was pretty good, I think. Several people at Daron's office told him they looked like they were professionally done. Yes!! My thrift-store-costuming skills have progressed to a new level!

Here are the kids doing the annual Trick-Or-Treat at Daddy's office on Friday.





Here we are for our ward Trunk-Or-Treat activity on Saturday. Hurrah for the Pirate King! We had Pirates of Penzance playing in the car, but none of the kids understood what it was all about. That's alright. We knew and sang along.

We finished off our Halloween weekend with our annual Dinner in a Pumpkin on Sunday evening with some friends. The pictures I took didn't turn out super, but the food did! We had our dinner baked in a pumpkin (meat, mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, tomato sauce, and spices), butternut squash soup, salad, and buttermilk biscuits. And brownies for dessert - thanks Maren!

Cute Poses

Wedding

The main reason we went up to Massachusetts in September was for my little brother's wedding. He married a girl from New Hampshire and they are the perfect match. Daron and I really enjoyed spending time with our kids up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire for the week before the wedding. Then after the wedding, Daron came back to Dallas while the kids and I spent another two weeks enjoying the fall up there. Between everyone's cameras, there were hundreds of pictures! So I'm just going to post a few - mostly from the wedding.

Michael and Melanie with the 7 grandkids from our side and 1 from her side. She was in a hurry to take the picture before Daniel accidentally had a diaper explosion on her dress! As you can see, most of the grandkids were very excited to be taking pictures!

The newlyweds just coming out of the Boston Temple.

My Dad, my Grandpa, and my Uncle Ed. Can you see the resemblance?

The four original Brown siblings! Again, notice any resemblance?

My adorable little boy. He was so excited to wear his suit - just like Daddy!

Nathan and Esther being adorable.

Another shot of the grandkids - a little happier this time, albeit blurry.

My grandparents at the reception.