Thanksgiving Bounds Family Style

(You've never tasted cookies until you've had Emily's Chocolate Chip Cake Batter Cookies! YUM!)

So, as the saying goes, "Much fun was had by all!" I absolutely LOVE getting together with my whole family. I am so blessed to have a family that loves the Lord whole-heartedly first, which makes loving each other a little easier=) In this day in age, very few, handfuls probably, have such a strong, supportive family where everyone is married to the perfect person, and we all just love getting to know each other better as time goes on.

Proud Grandmama & Granddaddy

Mark the youngest & me the oldest=)

Love my sisters=)

First & Second Born...love my Matthew.

This year's Thanksgiving has been in the books for three years now. My brother Matthew and wife Emily were on an alternate family rotation for us to do Thanksgiving together as a whole family every year, so to fix the rotation, I offered to have both sides of my family's to MY house for Thanksgiving last year--my first by the way, cooking and everything, and I had just had my sweet Savannah who was only six weeks old at the time. YES, I was crazy, but being here all together this year made it TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

Wednesday before, we all converged on Matthew & Emily's house, and we have filled this home to the brim this weekend. Mark graciously took the couch. Mama & Daddy took the guest bed. Joey had a mattress on the floor next to my day bed, and Savannah had a pack-n-play at our feet, and lastly, LaurieAnn & Tim took the blow-up mattress at the foot of Matthew & Emily's bed. So, yes it was a full house, but full of fun and joy too=)

The gang enjoying fondue.

Wednesday night we all got things kickin' with Emily's amazing fondue party. Now, you have to know that Emily is an phenominal cook, so we have all been looking forward to her Thanksgiving for months now. And fondue was great! It's just that growing up in our family, sitting back and savoring food was not our strong point, so eating fondue became a fast and furious feast of trying not to let anyone else get more food than you! Too funny! And did I mention that we dominated every last morsel of fondue? Just check out the dessert picks below=)

Second course of the fondue feast.

Ok, this is about one minute after the dessert fondue hit the table...

...And this was about another minute after that. You can only imagine that another minute later, and this whole container that had been brimming with strawberries and angel food cake was now left to waste. Not exactly what anyone would describe as "savoring." Ha-Ha!

Thanksgiving schmorgesbourg

Thanksgiving Day was a fast-paced machine to get everything on the table hot and steaming, but we all did actually take our time this time and enjoy every morsel. The stuffing was my personal favorite. Emily makes it from scratch (like she did everything!), and I have never tasted anything so moist and flavorful. We all had our time of sharing what each one of us was thankful for this year, and it was a blessing to hear stories face-to-face of how God has been working in everyone's life this year. He is so good.

After that, the next few hours and days were filled with our own versions of fun--took some pictures, played some Wii, laughed at Savannah, took some naps, saw a movie, did a whole day of shopping, enjoyed some Red Robin, played some games, said goodbyes. Took a deep breath and sighed. My favorite place to be in the whole world is just spending time with my family.

Daddy trying to bowl on Wii (finally a game other people could beat him at!), and Savannah watching intently.
A great pic of LA & Vay-Vay
LA & Tim-lumberjack man=)
And Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a picture of me & my man=) Couldn't get a good one with our whole family of three=(

I am so grateful for each and every one of you=)