Turkey and Blessings.

I have so much to be thankful for, it's a little bit out of control.

One thing that quickly comes to mind is the fact that I had a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Johnny's family was nice enough to invite me, David, and Laura all up for the holiday.  We were all so grateful for that, because all of the Lanoys went to Arkansas this year, so we weren't sure what we'd do.  But it was important to me that we stick together, so when I heard that my siblings were also welcome at Johnny's parents' house, I was so excited.

Johnny and I drove up to Layton Tuesday night, and hung out with his family from then until Thursday night, when we drove back to Provo so Johnny could work the next morning.  Laura and David just came up for Thursday.  We basically played games, watched movies, and just had a grand time with the Allreds.  I seriously love Johnny's family - they are such nice people, very funny, and very welcoming.  I feel really comfortable around them, probably because they remind me a lot of my family.

Here's some pictures that I stole from Johnny's camera from the week. This is Norah, Johnny's niece.  Her parents, Nate and Claire, live in Orem while Nate is finishing up at the business school, so we get to hang out with them pretty regularly.  She's exactly one month younger than Tanner, and I can't help but think the two of them would be pretty great friends.
  

This is Johnny's mom, Margo, with Johnny's two younger siblings, Amy and Scott.  They both go to Utah State in Logan.

On Wednesday, we went outside to play in the snow.  It was freezing!  Johnny and Scott got a little adventurous, while I was struggling to get enough blood circulating to my fingers to even take a picture.

Claire was in charge of making pies for our Thanksgiving feast.  She and Nate made 5 pies, all from scratch!  They were all delicious, and we were all very impressed.

I made one baby pie, which I realize is pretty weak in comparison to all of Claire's.  It's Emily's glazed apple cream pie, and I cheated by using a Pillsbury pie crust.  Maybe next year I'll be brave enough to do a homemade crust.  Grams taught me how to make my own pie crust this summer, for coconut and banana and chocolate cream pies, but I've still never done a two crust pie.  I think I was just nervous to try it out on Johnny's family.  Maybe next year I'll be braver.

 

Basically, Thanksgiving Break was wonderful.   Dinner was delicious, the company was fun, and I even got a little bit of homework done.

On Friday night, Laura and I had a slumber party in her dorm!  It was pretty cool.  We watched a chick flick starring Ryan Reynolds (love him) and played some serious foosball.  Then we got up super early Saturday morning to eat breakfast with David.

Oh, another thing to be thankful for: Arkansas, who was ranked #12, beat LSU, the 5th team in the nation in a wonderful game yesterday.  David and I watched the game together on my little TV in my ghetto apartment.  It was so much fun.  Plus, it was my dad's birthday (happy late birthday, Dad!) so a victory from the Hogs was just what he deserved.

I think that pretty much sums up the past week.  I only have like 3 weeks of school left! It's crazy, I have so much to do before then.  But I'm so excited to go home for Christmas!

Ok, I'm really done.  Now.