Thanksgiving Weekend

We made our annual Salt Lake city shopping trip again this past holiday weekend. I think I have mentioned before that Thiago and I got engaged the Saturday after Thanksgiving after a full day of Christmas shopping and then dinner at The Roof. That was 10 years ago. That blows my mind. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. And here we are 10 years later. Hence, the picture of my ring. I have been wearing this baby for 10 years now. Loved it and him then, and I sure as heck love them now. Its been a great 10 years.

We look forward to this weekend so much. Its the start of all the holiday madness, and we all know we are holiday freaks in this house. It is so great getting the whole weekend to ourselves and getting the jumpstart on our Christmas. These three little boys have some very specific lists this year. Hope Santa follows through. First up, we packed up the boys and dropped them off at my inlaws. They are always so sweet to take them for us and plan a huge, fun day for them.

Then we grabbed our little overnight bag and we hit the road.

First half of the day is all about the boys. Boy did we do some work. We had brought with our many toy catalog's that the boys had received and marked up for what they wanted. Carson even took the liberty to put a star next to the things he really wanted. Thanks Cars. Most of our morning was spent at Toys R Us and Walmart. We took ourselves rather seriously. Thiago finding the items we were looking for, me standing there making lists and comparisons while working within our budget. My calculator was my best friend, making sure each kid was within the amount we had allowed for them. I am proud to say we are almost completely done with the boys. We did good.

We of course always stop for a few treats along the way. Never eat much cause of our huge dinner plans that night, but just a few things to keep us going.

Then we headed down to Salt Lake. Mainly Fashion Place. I always like to get the boy's a few new outfits and such and have the most luck at Fashion Place. Of course a stop at Nordstroms for myself was absolutely necessary. I needed a few new Christmas outfits as well :)

Oh the toasted cinnamon almonds...their smell gets me everytime. Had to buy a snack bag.

That wrapped up our shopping portion of the day. Here's our haul by the end. Not bad. Now time to head to our hotel to get ready for the night.

We usually stay at the Grand America. Which of course is absolutely grand. It is such a beautiful hotel.

Got there in plenty of time for me to curl my hair and get ready which gave my honey time to rest.

All dressed up.

Thiago picked himself up some new shoes while we were shopping and decided to wear them. Nice.

Then it was off to The Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Up, up, up we went to the 10th floor where our table was waiting. Overlooking the beautiful Salt Lake City temple and temple square all aglow with Christmas lights. The atmosphere is out of this world beautiful and I am so glad we make it a priority to go each year. Really sets my Christmas spirit for the season.

If you have never been, you must. Set up as a big beautiful buffet. Shrimp cocktail, clam chowder, fresh salads, cheeses and breads, mashed potatoes, seafood cakes, prime rib, honey glazed ham, chicken cordon blue, creme brule, red velvet cake and about a million other things. I swear I eat more than Thiago there. I just keep going and going.

We wandered through City Creek on our way back to our car after dinner. Downtown Salt Lake city is so enchanting this time of year. So beautiful and festive and so many people out enjoying it. It is just magical!

Next morning after an ok night sleep. I always think I am going to sleep so good, no interuptions and all. Never the case. I woke up about a million times. Must just be out of my element and thinking of my kids. I don't know, wasn't great though. Anywho, we slept in and finally got ready then headed downstairs for one last thing...

Brunch at the Grand America. This my friends is even better than the Roof. It is just splendid. The atmosphere is just so perfect, so open and so much natural light flowing through the huge windows. More food than you have ever seen, so many choices and options and this beautiful live music playing softly the entire time. Go at least one time and you won't be sorry. Every Sunday at the Grand America. A little pricey, but so worth it.

They had fresh juice bars and hot chocolate bars, fresh salmon and crab legs, sushi and all other kinds of seafood. A crepe station that they make right there in front of you. Filled with berries and cream and chocolate. An omelet station with all kinds of ingredients. A fresh belgian waffle station with all the condiments. Prime rib, ham, sausage, bacon, twice baked potatoes, fresh pastries and fruit. And then a huge dessert bar. Bread pudding, fresh cobblers and cakes. I was in a food coma after this weekend. Soooo good.

And then after a fabulous 24 hours it was time to head home. It was truly a perfect weekend.

Thanksgiving!

Well friends..it was a BIG Thanksgiving for me. I accomplished a major first. Pretty freaking proud of myself. I will tell you all about it. And then you will wish for me to quit telling you all about it. Because that is now how my entire family feels about the subject. I talked about it, bragged about it, admired it for endless hours. Probably took all the joy out of it for everyone but myself. I'm still excited...want me to fill you in?

Now let me just tell you this post includes alot of pictures of me showing you the things I made. There is a lot of food going on in this Thanksgiving post. Past years, I usually just show up. My mom kinda loves to do it all herself and really never has us bring anything, but this year we went with the Cano's and they told me I could do whatever I wanted. So I did. And I will show you. Woke up nice and early to get my kitchen started. First up was a lovely cup of raspberry hot cocoa. Just to set the mood. I was so involved in my baking I barely drank any of it. But it looked pretty.

Caramel apple pudding cake was my first project. Just imagine brown sugar, apples, cinnamon and nutmeg. My kitchen smelled ridiculously good.

While that was in the oven baking, I pulled out my salad that I had put together the night before. Raspberry pretzel salad. Crust made of pretzels and butter, cream cheese layer, raspberry layer. Chill overnight and then whipped cream on top.

Now that is almost to pretty to eat. I said almost.

Meanwhile, my honey woke up and headed outside to finish up our Christmas lights. Its no Clark W Griswold, but it sure does look nice.

Fresh out of the oven. Can you smell that through your computer screen? Divine my friends. I am telling you.

Meanwhile, this one sleeps on...

and this one too.

The baby however, well he woke up. He was all smiles. I decided to take the next little bit to get a workout in. I P90X'd while my babe smiled on.

Finally the sleepy heads joined us. Of course we had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on. Tradition. Always. Since I was a tiny tot. Here they are watching Santa Clause make his debut.

Now here is where the craziness comes in. My friends...drumroll please. For the first time ever, in my grown-up life, I attempted to make my moms homemade rolls. Gasp. I know, I know. Trust me, I was scared. I mean we are talking yeast here. YEAST! Horrifying. I was bound and determined though. So we got things going.

Heck I even had the boys scared. They sat just like this, right next to me on the counter, watching my every move. It was intense.

Got my dough all made and then the waiting game begins. Plopped it in this big bowl, placed it on my nice warm kitchen table with the sun hitting it and waited for the baby to rise. Oh the waiting. The waiting. It about killed me.

Thiago came in from outside to ask me how things were going. I rambled on and on about the dough, it didn't appear to be rising, he asked me how long it had been sitting there. I told him 5 minutes. He then said "well how long did your mom say it is supposed to rise". 2 hours, I told him. He rolled his eyes at me and said quit watching it. He then returned 15 minutes later with my Mcdonalds coke. Ya know, to calm my bread baking nerves. He's a good man.

I pulled myself away from the big green bowl and decided to use this time to get ready. Ta-da...all ready!

Got my little turkeys ready too.

Love these four. My four greatest blessings. So much to be thankful for but it all starts and ends with these guys. Love them.


Thiago then left for his moms house. We deep fried our bird this year, and he was in charge of it. He took Drake with him, cause I knew he needed a nap and would fall asleep in the car. I had work to do...

back to my rolls. About an hour into it, I started to see some real progress in my dough. It was rising!! I did it! Oh you guys, can't even tell you how relieved I was. Time to make some crescents. Got it all rolled out.

These two busied themselves with angry birds, wandering over to me every now and then to check on my progress. Sweet boys, they were so proud of their mama. Probably cause I was going on and on about how awesome I was.

4 cookie sheets full of crescent rolls. Time to rise again. Another hour and half. I know the suspense just kills ya.

Gathered up my kids and my food and we were off. Family picture. This was seriously the best out of like 20. Honestly, I tell ya...young kids and family pictures. They don't mix.

Look at this beautiful table. My mother in law is the cutest. She put so much work and thought into the presentation. I am all about the presentation and she did beautifully. Love her so much.

Boys busied themselves with some art projects while we waited on that bird.

And here we go..the big reveal. Look at my rolls!!!

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful. You guys they tasted just like my moms. Oh my heck, I did it. I am an official grown-up/mom. I made my own rolls. And now I will stop talking about it.

Our dinner was delightful. My mother in law and sister in law both made wonderful things as well and it was delicious!

After dinner and dessert, we cleaned up, visited a bit and checked out the Black Friday ads which I don't participate in. No thank-you, I would rather enjoy Thanksgiving night with my family and then go home and go to sleep. We headed to my moms from there for a quick hello and some of her delicious pie. No more pics though, I was tired from taking pictures of all my food. Haha.

It was a beautiful day! Hope all of yours was wonderful as well. See you soon friends...