We have a LOT to be "thankful" for . . .

This little turkey wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving - in fact all of the turkeys below wish you a Happy Thanksgiving :). This is an idea that Emilee got off the Internet (crafty crow) and sent to me so I thought we'd try it. Nellie and I, along with Bailee and Paige's help, tag teamed it and made a ton of turkey cookies. They were a lot of fun to make.

We had a smaller group this year; Kaisa and Billy celebrated with his parents, and Emilee and Paul with his family, so we ended up with 15 people I think. This is our festive table with our sparkling cider all ready to go.

The "turkey bowl" is a big tradition in our family on Thanksgiving. The guys all get together with other guys from our church and have an early morning football game - frost and all. Lee's opinion is that you have to dress outlandish to participate, so here's Tyson in his BYU dredlocks.

. . . and of course my one love in HIS lovely hat ") . He always has to load up on muscle relaxers and pain killers afterwards but it's worth it I guess.

Chad's friend, Josh, is wearing the hat that my Mom made me last Christmas - yes it's pink.

Here's the pre-game "tough" picture: Lee, Tyson, Paul, Chad and Josh

A wacky picture always follows -this shows their true personalities

Sweet baby Abby is thankful for everything

Big sister Summer hearts bananas

A little kickin' back on Thanksgiving

The ceremonial carving of the turkey

and checking out the adds to aid in the "plan of attack" for Black Friday's early morning shopping trip. This was Calley's first year . . . I hope she won't suffer any emotional scars ")

Nellie was just TOO EXCITED

Chad was "all dressed up with no place to go"

Jen brought a gingerbread house for the kids to decorate after dinner, and THEN Calley arranged another very fun activity for the kids.

Tyson played the part of the turkey (fills the bill quite nicely don't you think?). The deal was for him to run around and the kids were to try and pluck the feathers that were taped to his back.

Then it was time to drag out the firetruck.

Summer started out as the driver, but we quickly realized that she didn't have enough experience to drive a firetruck so we switched and Tanner took over.

It was a great day. I LOVE Thanksgiving and feel very blessed.