Thanksgiving

I hope everyone enjoyed their short work week and had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had TWO Thanksgiving dinners (one with my parents at 2pm and one with George's parents at 5:30pm). We were so, sooo ridiculously stuffed by the end of the day. I don't recommend eating that much. It is kind of past the point of enjoyment. The company was great though :)

On Friday, we hosted an ASU v. U of A party at our house. It kind of served two purposes - to watch the game and for people to see our house. I was telling my mom that our house seemed big until we put 25+ people in it....it got small fast! Once we have our backyard done (won't be until next year), we will be able to use that as well for entertaining.

We did do just a little bit of Black Friday shopping. Not nearly as much as years past. Like I said before, it was kind of annoying that stores opened so early. None of us were up for missing an entire night of sleep with plans the next day.

On Saturday night, we said goodbye to Grandma Warren (she went back to Rochester on Sunday morning). She treated us all to dinner at Charleston's on Stapley and the 60. That was our first time there and it was very tasty. It was nice to try a new restaurant....seems like that rarely happens. We always tend to go to the places near us that we know we like.

On Sunday, George and I went to the AZ Cardinals vs. the St. Louis Rams game at the University of Phoenix stadium. We had tickets through my work. A girl from my work went and George invited his friend, Jim....both are from St. Louis so they were cheering for the Rams. The Rams won. It was a cool experience. That was my first time to that stadium and my first professional football game too. Our seats were really good (only 24 rows up from the field). The crowd was also very, very energetic compared to other sporting events that I have been to.

I am procrastinating on an essay so I better go. I did one earlier tonight and have one more to finish. I will leave you with a few pictures that I took on Instagram (love that app!) while baking on Wednesday night for Thanksgiving.

Grandma In Town!

Whose excited about a short work week?! I love three day work weeks....the week following a three day work week is hard though! 

Last week was an exciting week. Our friends, Brent and Chrissy, welcomed their little one, Charlotte, and Grandma Warren arrived on Thursday. Also, it is starting to feel like the Christmas season. George is one of those people who believes that pre-Thanksgiving is too early for Christmasy things....I, on the other hand, love this time of year and don't mind welcoming it early :)

We are having a few families over on Black Friday to watch the ASU v. U of A game so I am being very organized about getting ready for both that and Thanksgiving dinner. I am in charge of bringing cranberry sauce, corn bread, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream to my parent's and cranberry sauce and Martinelli's to George's parent's house. On Black Friday, I am making chili and some appetizers. I want to have as much as possible ready to go on Wednesday so that I can relax on Thanksgiving and do some shopping on Black Friday. It is a tradition (has been for 10+ years) for my mom and sisters and I to wake up early and hit the stores on Friday. We don't go for any of the big items (we would have to be in line now for that stuff), but we do like to go for some of the other deals. I am kind of annoyed with the stores that are opening at 9pm on Thanksgiving this year. Kind of ridiculous.....

We are enjoying our visit with my Grandma Warren so far. We all love her company so very, very much - and I'm not sucking up because she is one of my top readers :) 

Grandma feeding Paisley some lemon ice. She is like a little bird when it comes to food. She will come right up to you and open her mouth....that means she wants to be fed.

I took the day off on Friday and my Dad, Grandma, and I went on a bike ride in Gilbert

The bike ride was so awesome that I Emily, Nick, George, and I went on another short ride on Sunday (George was sporting his new bike that my parents bought him for his bday)

The cranberry sauce is ready (I made squeezed oranges for it....yummmm)

I just joined Instagram (late, I know) and was experimenting with the different picture effects

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!

PS- This year I am thankful for living back home in Arizona. Although California was a great experience, there is nothing like living near family. AND it is pretty awesome that we don't have to travel for holidays now!

PSS- I am thankful for our new home. We love it and are excited to make memories in it this Thanksgiving/Christmas season.

Last Performance

Sorry for the long hiatus. I think that is the longest I have gone without updating my blog since I started it 1.5 years ago. Sometimes I run out of things to post.

I have been in Saturday classes for the past couple of weeks. Our electives are from 8-5 on Saturdays (kind of makes the weekends less appealing than they used to be!) The good news is that they only last a month. My elective this semester is a Leadership/Management class....very interesting topic, weird professor.

Tonight was the "Outback Night" for Hannah's marching band. Outback donates meals at a very discounted rate to the band and the band turns around and sells the meals for a profit. Creative fundraiser....and better than buying cookie dough or discount cards :) The band also does two performances of their show. It was Hannah's last performance in marching band - competitions and football season are over. My parents have been dedicated marching band parents since Brian started band in, I believe, 1998.....that's over 14 years of chaperoning, making cookies, riding the bus with the students, attending meetings, etc, etc, etc. They've been extremely dedicated over the years to the different band programs. Thanks, Mom and Dad for being involved parents - it has made a difference. 

Four children, 14 years of marching band!

Paisley and Jeremiah enjoying the show (Jeremiah's younger brother, Nathan is also in marching band). I always have to throw in a cute picture of Paisley :) 

George is a huge fan of chicken pot pie. Costco has a delicious one in their deli, but it is $16 it....so I looked up a few recipes and tried this one. It was a success!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed 1 cup sliced carrots 1 cup frozen green peas 1/2 cup sliced celery 1/3 cup butter 1/3 cup chopped onion 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon celery seed 1 3/4 cups chicken broth 2/3 cup milk 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2.	In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3.	In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4.	Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5.	Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.