Our Thanksgiving Recap

I actually hosted my first Thanksgiving this year and I have to say I think it went pretty well.  Andrew's family was here and so I had a little help which was great, but I was more than happy to do the majority of it while they played with the munchkins.  I was especially thrilled to have my first turkey turn out so delicious.  It was literally falling off the bone it was so moist.  It didn't look very pretty, but it sure tasted good.  We did the traditional green bean casserole, yams, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce and jello with it.  Since my brother-in-laws Brazilian girlfriend was with us they made some delicious cheese rolls to go with dinner instead of the traditional rolls and butter.  They were sooo good.  For dessert we had the usual pumpkin pie with some delicious whipped cream and my favorite chocolate pie. Mmm mmm!  We had a great time and it was nice to have Andrew's family here to visit.  On Friday, I did the usual Black Friday thing with a friend and her sister-in-law.  We were at Sears at 4 am.  Craziness!  It seems like each year gets earlier and earlier.  Good times though.  I was so excited to get a pair of sawhorses finally.  Can you believe I've been doing all of my projects without them.  I am actually working on a project currently and got to use them for the first time.  What a difference they make.  After Sears we headed over to Wal-Mart.  Oh My Goodness!!!  We actually managed to get everything we wanted, but holy cow it was a mad house.  After spending a good hour and a half there we decided to forgo more shopping since we didn't really need anything else and go to breakfast instead.  It was fun to go out with just the girls for some early morning shopping.  Friday night we decided to ride the trax to Temple Square to see the lights for opening night.  Temple Square is always so beautiful, but especially at Christmas time.  Unfortunately, it is always way too cold and with two little munchkins we're pretty limited on the time spent there.  Friday night and Saturday morning all of our guests headed home so we had a pretty laid back Saturday and Sunday.  We managed to get all the laundry done, clean the house (there was way too much dog hair from two dogs), I snuck out to JoAnn's for a little bit and we got to enjoy our new In N Out again. :)

Me and Mr. Turkey saying saying hello :)

Doesn't she look so pretty all dressed up

Doesn't she look so tasty

Look at those perfect peaks on those mashed potatoes

I have to say the table was a little disappointing to me... I had big plans and then I just didn't have time.

Me and Mr. Handsome waiting for the train

Ella Bella and her daddy at Temple Square

Gorgeous!!! Unfortunately we didn't notice the battery was dead in the camera until we got there.  So we only have a couple decent pictures.

I've taught her right.  Dipping her fries in her shake.

Oh I'm hungry just looking at this picture.

One More Little Project

I have one more little project that I finally did today.  The stuff has been sitting in my craft closet for months and I'm just now getting around to finishing it.  I figured I couldn't let the whole month of November go by without showing it off.  Enjoy!

I'm linking up to the "its so very creative" party.

Give Thanks Banner

Today I'm participating in the NewlyWoodwards Dare To Do It Yourself Party.  This week the dare is Dare To... Be Thankful.  I made this cute little banner by cutting out some felt to the size I wanted, gluing on some cute scrapbook paper and topping it off with some chipboard stickers.  I finished it off by hot gluing the felt to some ribbon, gluing on a few leaves and adding some ribbon.  It turned out cute I think, not really what I was imagining, but I don't think I have the tools to do what I wanted to do... oh well.  I was pretty lucky to have everything on hand already except the chipboard stickers and those only cost me $1 in the Target dollar bins.  Gotta love the dollar bins!  Head on over to the party and see what other crafty people are doing.

Thanksgiving Tablescapes

Well since November is well underway now and we are hosting a couple different parties I thought I should start thinking about tablescapes.  I love to decorate for the holidays and I love to host holiday parties, so I'm really excited this year to be hosting a dinner for friends and Thanksgiving at my house.  I have a few different ideas of what I'm looking for, but haven't been able to find a picture that has it all.  Even Pottery Barn, my mentor and inspiration, hasn't done it for me this year.  I still love you PB.  So in my vast searching of the world wide web this is what I found.

Courtesy of Country Living

I absolutely love the creams, ambers and use of silver pieces in this one.  Plus it helps that they are using my absolute favorite kind of roses in that silver urn.

Courtesy of Country Living

I love the rich fall colors and the use of nature in this one.

Courtesy of Country Living

What a cute idea.  I won't use it on the table, but my kitchen window would look great with this.

Courtesy of Pottery Barn

I did find this little beauty from PB.  So easy to replicate.  I'll be making a few of these lovelies for my home.

I guess we'll see what I end up using for my own tablescape, but I think I'm leaning toward the first lovely setting.  I really love the soft and cozy feel that it has.  It helps that all my dishes are of the cream family as well.  Follow me to see how my tablescape turns out.

If you're visiting let me know what you think since I love to hear others ideas.  I'm linking up to Today's Creative Blog.  Stop by to see lots of other great ideas.