Act 1: The Turkey
Now the turkey was one of the main reasons why Karl and I wanted to do thanks giving at our house this year. We have never made one before and we thought, “hey, this is our third Thanksgiving as a married family and we have never done this on our own…it’s time.” Yes time to grow up…I guess. So we did it, we went to Costco and got a Turkey.
For how to make a turkey we did not know…but luckily, between Alton Brown and 20 other peoples advice, we, and when I say we I mean Karl…did it!
We started the night before with a brine. We bought our turkey fresh so we didn’t have to worry about thawing it, THANK HEAVENS!
Here is Glenda our turkey. Check out her wing span! She is preparing to dive into a brine of salt, Tony Sasheries, and water. She didn’t fit into the bowl…so:
We found an empty plastic tub in the house we use to store stuff in. It had holes in it so we had to line it in garbage bags. Yes, we are poor and resourceful. Glenda soaked in her brine bath all night and in the morning we racked her up and put her in the oven.
She looked enormous in the oven. See how the racks are sagging under her weight?But just look at her 8 hours later!
Isn’t she a beauty!
And here is Karl carving our first Thanksgiving turkey….with one hand. The only comment he made while carving was, “now I know why they have those electric knives, this is hard!”
We had quite the spread. Having so many people from different homes made having all the right things hard so everyone ended up bringing tons.
Mashed Potatoes, Pecan Pie, Leah’s Dad’s special stuffing, green bean casserole, spinach artichoke dip, cream cheese with shrimp and cocktail sauce, Pumpkin Pie, cranberry jelly in the shape of the can…just like my mama used to do, ham with brown sugar and pineapple sauce, turkey of course, and tons more!
Look at this spread…really, there were only eight people…way too much food! Tons of leftovers though. Here is the group…
Starting from left, going around then ending up at right. Leah, Zac, Krysta and Ren, Karl, Me Cam. Branny was taking the picture, and Randal didn’t come until later.
Here is a better picture of Cam. His hair is getting so long!
This is Randall, Branny’s mission friends first, Leah’s and Branny’s college buddy second, then Cams Recording mate third, then finally he came into our life where he has been ever since. Although I did meet Randall before Leah, Cam and Karl…in the MTC. Yeah!
This is Branny’s plate…which he barley finished.
After dinner, we cleared the table and ate pie. Krysta also brought this amazing Marie Calendars Chocolate pie…yum. (not pictured.)
Act 3: The After Party
After all the food was eaten, we just hung out and talked.
Karl was pooped after all that cooking and eating!
Branny and Randall caught up.
It was really cool to be with my brothers. Since Karl and I moved to Utah, we have been fortunate to see them more and more. I love them so much. PS, I look really tired in all of these pictures because I had been at work since 6:30 that morning.
Karen of course was the star of the day. Both Cameron and Branny wanted to hold her. Turns out she is kind of stand offish. I spend so much time with her, she is used to me.
Branny chased her around all night, he was determined to be her friend. By the end of the night she finally let him hold her.
And he even got a kiss. Karen looks a little worried.
Cam and Randall reminisced about some recordings they had done.
Zac jumped into the conversation too. They talked about music, Critical Mass, and more.
Then, wonder of wonders, my brothers and wonderful sister in law Leah, did all of the millions of dishes. It was awesome. Good times.
Chalk one up for awesome Thanksgiving! Yea! it was wonderful and we still have left overs! YA. Oh ya I will trade you some pecan pie for some of that yummy chocolate pie I left in your freezer.
Hey Allie, I just found your blog and I have to say, I’m super impressed with your Thanksgiving dinner. Way to be!
How fun for you to do ALL of thanksgiving! I don’t think I’m ready to take on that huge adventure. I’m sure you really enjoyed spending time with your brothers. How fun. Everything looked amazing. Nice job!
Allie and Karl – you guys are awesome and my heroes. And I love you both. Oh, and everything looks delish! I really should have made an effort to be up there with you or something because I spent most of my holiday/time off alone in my house because, as it turns out, I’m a total loner or something. Go fig!