Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving, David and I went to Charlotte to be with David's mom. David's sister, Courtney, and her family also came down. It was so nice just to sit and not think for a while! We had such a great time and David's mother did SOOOO much. We are so thankful for her and to have family so close to home!

Jackson enjoyed watching TV while standing on a stool.
Jackson loves to wear girl's shoes! He is such a funny little boy! We love him!
Jackson eating (or destroying!) a cookie
We made a Thankful turkey together. It turned out pretty big but it's just because we have so much to be thankful for!
The beautiful table setting
We had SOOOO much dessert. We had cookies, brownies, skotcheroos, candy popcorn, pumpkin cheesecake, blackberry cobbler, and homemade BYU mint brownies (mom, I know you're jealous. I'll send you the recipe! ;)

Family Home Evening

David and I are both stressed with school right now so we just had a quick family home evening tonight. I remembered how my brother, Brian, and his wife, Katie, always make a thankful turkey (or thankful poster) for Thanksgiving. So, David and I tried it out. We each wrote down things we were thankful for on the feathers of the turkey and then taped the whole thing to our front door so we can remember how much we have to be thankful for. It was really fun and really quick! Now...back to homework!

Notice that David is pointing to the feather that says he's thankful for his wife... I LOVE HIM!

Early Thanksgiving

Because my family always has an early Thanksgiving dinner and my roommates and I also always had one, I decided to keep up the tradition. David's mom, grandpa, and sister's family all came and we had a great (although a little cramped) dinner. We had crock pot turkey (it was so moist it completely fell apart when we took it out of the pot...literally all that was left in the pot were the bones!), carrots, green bean casserole, cranberry salad (thanks Angie!), mashed potatoes (thanks David's mom...so good!), yams, rolls, and awesome pumpkin and Christmas tree ice cubes! I also made apple, pumpkin, and chocolate mousse pie. Everything was so yummy! Here are some pics!

These are the centerpieces I made for Thanksgiving.

Sweet Caroline
I love this picture...Jackson looks so funny!

Isn't my apple pie pretty?!

David's sister Courtney made these wonderful cookies. She just used fudge graham cookies for the brim, yellow frosting for the buckle, a tiny ckicklet for the buckle, and a reeses cup for the top.

Youth Temple Trip

This weekend, David and I were able to go with the youth to the Raleigh Temple. I got to help in the changing room and David was able to baptize all the youth. While just being in the temple was wonderful, even more special was the fact that Kacie and Leslie, the two who were just baptized, came to the temple for the first time. I was able to watch as David baptized them and they did great! They are so willing to be a part of the church! We are so grateful for their example and friendship! And I have to add that my young women are pretty wonderful too!

From Left to Right: Jenny Simmons (My fellow young women leader), Amanda Fowlkes, Kelly Jarvis, Kacie Sneathern, Leslie Shreve, Ashlea Ross (Young Single Adult), Rachel Rufunacht, ME!

Penelope

If you haven't seen it, SEE IT!!!