Thanksgiving 2024

The day before Thanksgiving we packed up and headed to Lake Coeur d' Alene around noon. We stopped at Midtown Market to restock my booth before the big shopping weekend. We also got lunch at our favorite Noodles Express. 

Bryn and I did a little Christmas shopping and we bummed around in CDA for a bit.

We love the house that we sometimes rent for Thanksgiving. It is perfect for a cozy holiday weekend. They had the Christmas tree up again which we loved. The lake was looking gorgeous too. 

We unpacked and got settled. Reilly, Hunter, and Karson weren't coming until the next day so we made homemade noodles, ate my Mom's baked brie, prepped food for the next day, and watched a Christmas movie. We talked to Ailey and Luke. They made it safely to Utah and had good roads.

The next morning was Thanksgiving Day. We slept in, enjoyed a leisurely morning of the Macey's Day Parade and The National Dog Show (the Pug won!!), and ate pie for breakfast! 

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition! Thanks Mom!

Our family group chat was popping off with everyone and their activities and our joy that the pug won The National Dog Show!

Way to go Vito!

Tyler had the turkey roasting and we had the rest of the food prepped. I love having Thanksgiving here because it is so relaxed and enjoyable! I set the table and did a bit of holiday decorating. I brought twinkle lights, See's chocolate turkeys, and some decorations from home with me. LOL. Everything turned out pretty. The lake view out the window doesn't hurt either!!

After setting the table Tyler and I did a two mile walk with Beverly.

After we got back, we got ready, and then it was truly time to get things going for our Thanksgiving Dinner.

Reilly, Hunter, and Karson arrived around 2pm. 

Poor Karson wasn't feeling well and was running a low grade fever. He snuggled with his dad and watched some football while the rest of us got dinner going.

All of the Johnsons are fantastic cooks which is so nice when holidays roll around! Lots of helpers in the kitchen and it is fun to cook together. We had the music going and dinner coming together.

Tyler is very precise in his carving! LOL.

Our 2024 Thanksgiving Menu:

Brined and Roasted Turkey (Tyler)

Killer Mashed Potatoes (me)

Mom's Liquid Gold Gravy (me)

Rolls (Bryn)

Pecan Patties (Reilly)

Noodles (me)

Brussel Sprouts (Reilly)

Christa's Sweet Potato Casserole (me)

Mom's Sourdough, Sausage, and Chestnut Stuffing (me)

Cranberry Dip (me)

Granny's Jello Squares (Reilly)

Relish Tray (Bryn)

Pumpkin Pies (me)

Cherry Pies (me)

Pecan Pies (me)

Homemade Whipped Cream (Bryn)

Bubbly to drink.

Bryn also made chex mix to snack on and she and Tyler helped with all of the chopping, slicing, and dicing! Tyler's turkey was amazing! His special brine makes the turkey SO GOOD! I made two new recipes this time...Christa's sweet potato casserole and my Mom's famous stuffing. Both were fantastic! I usually make my grandma's sweet potatoes but after having Christa's sweet potato casserole last Thanksgiving at Kirk's...that is the one I want from now on. As for my Mom's stuffing...I've never made it before and I have missed it. My kids don't enjoy stuffing but at least two of them admitted that it was really good this year and Hunter was a fan too!

After dinner we facetimed with Kameron and Erin. They had gone to Thanksgiving at her aunt and uncle's house. Her parents and some of her siblings were in town too. They had a good time! We also talked to Ailey and Luke. They had gone to Luke's aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving. Luke's siblings and his dad were all there but not his mom. Luke's parents are getting a divorce and his mom was with her side of the family. Luke's Grandma (the one who just lost her husband) and his aunts, uncles, and cousins were really nice and the kids had fun. Unfortunately Ailey had an allergic reaction to all of their animals and was pretty miserable by the end of the night. They had to head to the store for some Zyrtec. She usually is okay and doesn't have too much of a problem if it is only one dog but I guess they had several at the aunt's house. We also talked to my dad, Tyler's mom and sister, and Kirk and Meki too. It seemed like everyone had a good day! 

We all wrote in our Thanksgiving journal and laughed at all of the old entries especially the infamous one from Reilly from when she was 15 and angrily wrote that she "...wasn't thankful for anything!!" Ha ha! Classic! We played games after dinner and watched the new Twisters movie until everyone fell asleep! We had a great Thanksgiving despite missing some of our kiddos. 

The next day was straight relaxation. We slept in...watched movies and football...the Chiefs were playing! Tyler and I took Beverly for a long walk. 

We snacked on leftovers and pie pretty much all day. Bryn and I worked on some crafts. She was doing some gem art and I was making paper stars and medallions. 

Karson was feeling a bit better! The rest of us relaxed, napped, ate, read, and played games.

We played a lot of Skipbo, Tapple, and Violent Spoons! We watched movies and stayed up late again. Another great day for us at Lake Coeur d' Alene!

Meanwhile in Utah...Kameron, Erin, Ailey, and Luke all went to Kirk and Meki's house for their Thanksgiving celebration.

Kirk did his smoked turkey that I love! He and Meki make a lot of my Mom's recipes so the kids felt like they got to eat their traditional Thanksgiving dinner too. Kirk also keeps my Mom's tradition of eating at night like we do by candlelight. If our kids can't be home for Thanksgiving; they like to be at Kirk's. 

They played Violent Spoons too and LUKE won!!! Not a McClellan??!! Not a Johnson??!! Unheard of!

I'm glad that they were all together! I had a great Black Friday sales day at Midtown Market too!

The next morning Tyler and I were up early and facetiming with Ailey and Luke. They had an appointment to look at a wedding venue in Utah early that morning. They loved it! We were able to book it and they picked out their décor, linens, and flowers. Yay! That is a relief! Venues fill up so fast in Utah especially at the end of April. 

Everyone was still at Kirk and Meki's house the next day including Dwight! Kirk and Meki just got a new puppy too; an Irish doodle named Maple. 

We have the cutest granddog!

The kids had fun at Kirk's watching movies and making homemade noodles. Pretty much the exact same thing that we were doing! We talked to all of them several times. It sounded like they were having fun!

Meanwhile back in North Idaho... it was a spectacular day on Lake Coeur d' Alene. The sun was shining brightly and the weather was pretty warm. Reilly made us pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup for breakfast. I ate mine out on the deck in the sunshine!

Look at that blue sky in November!!!

Karson was feeling much better and chowing down on some bacon.

Tyler, Beverly, and I went on our longest walk yet. The sun was shining and it was too gorgeous not to be outside! I enjoyed the view from the deck and read my book snuggled up in my coat and blanket in the sunshine. I love a sunny Thanksgiving! The rest of the family was on a Harry Potter movie marathon. I worked on my paper stars again. Bryn taught herself to crochet and made a little animal for Karson. Way to go Bryn! She's so good at teaching herself all kinds of things. She just watched some YouTube videos and did it!

Reilly cooked for us all day! We were so spoiled. For dinner she made us burritos with homemade tortillas. Amazing! We played more games...lots of card games. Karson was running around by the end of the night.

It was so cozy and fun to be together. No one was looking forward to leaving the next day. It was another late night and lots of laughs!! Small Business Saturday was also a great sales day for me! It was really weird to have Thanksgiving so late this year. 

The next day we packed up and headed home. It was another sunny day and the water was gorgeous! The kids all left Kirk and Meki's too. Ailey and Luke stopped and had lunch at Kameron and Erin's house before driving back to Rexburg. We facetimed with all of them again. I talked to Kirk while I made turkey stock and got the scoop on Thanksgiving from him too. He loved having the kids there. It sounds like everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! It's hard to believe that it is now DECEMBER 1ST! I was so happy to come home from Thanksgiving and walk right into a Christmas house!

Bring on CHRISTMAS!!

Thanksgiving 2023

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving (which was the day before we left for Utah) was crazy. Tyler took the day off to make his rolls and I made multiple kinds of pies to take to Utah with us. I also ran into Midtown Market to restock my booth and saw my friend Teresa shopping there and had a good visit. It was so fun to see her! 

Bryn had basketball practice that night and Ailey headed to Utah with her friends. Kirk and Meki have their Thanksgiving dinner the day after Thanksgiving to accommodate some of Meki's family members so Ailey decided to go to Utah and have Thanksgiving with her friend's family and then meet up with us on Thanksgiving night. Kameron had to work and wasn't planning on driving to Utah until Thanksgiving day. So we were all arriving in Utah at different times and on different days which ended up negating the whole reason that WE were driving rather than flying...which was so that we could caravan with the college kids! 

On Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) we left Spokane at 5am with Beverly. We had a little snow at Lookout Pass on the Idaho/Montana border but not much although it was icy and we saw two accidents on the other side of the highway. Ugh. I hate winter road trips. We stopped for breakfast in Missoula and then made good time to SLC although after driving only to Rexburg lately those extra hours to Utah were excruciatingly long!!

We got to our Airbnb and it was SO NICE! Even better than anticipated. We could've hosted a lovely Thanksgiving there. It was really beautiful and so spacious. It was perfectly located near good shopping, restaurants, and was about 10 minutes from Kirk's house. We loved it and would happily stay there again.

After dropping off our luggage (and Beverly) at the Airbnb our first stop was dinner: 

We had to! There isn't one anywhere near us. The place was a ZOO! It was so crowded with tons of people and a bunch of out-of-towners like us. Tyler and Bryn thought going inside would be quicker. I'm not sure about that but it was good despite the extremely LONG wait.

Then we went to our favorite Harmon's grocery store and grabbed food for the weekend at the Airbnb and to take to Kirk and Meki's. College kids are always so HUNGRY! We had a great time roaming around in there. I bought some Christmas gifts too. They had all the Fraser Fir products and candles. So good!!

Kameron was planning to drive from Rexburg to Utah the next morning (Thanksgiving Day) but a  snow storm was headed his way so he decided to drive to SLC when he got off of work at 11pm. He ended up leaving much later than that and arrived at the Airbnb at around 4am. 

On Thanksgiving day Tyler and I got up early and headed to Kirk and Meki's house. Kam and Bryn slept in until much later and then drove themselves over. We had a fun day of prepping for our Thanksgiving feast. We had the music going and were chopping, slicing, dicing, and doing everything we could for the next day. Kirk and Tyler got an extra table and chairs from their neighbors (after their dinner was over) and we set up all the tables and decorated. We had so much fun hanging out and catching up. Kirk and Meki's house was already decorated for Christmas and looked gorgeous. We had Christmas music playing and it was very fun and festive. Plus I loved seeing some of my mom's Christmas décor and family nutcrackers that Kirk inherited. It made me happy and it felt like she was a part of it all. She would've LOVED to have been hanging out with us cooking and dancing around.

Bryn and Kirin our two little brace-faces. :)

Our niece Kaiya was coming the next day and our nephew Tarren was working so it was just Kam, Bryn, and Kirin as far as the kids went. After most of the prep work was done Tyler, Kirk, Kam, and Bryn played video games and watched sports.

Kameron also had to study when there was a little down time.

We facetimed with Reilly, Hunter, and Karson. We talked to Tyler's mom and sister. We also talked to my dad. Everyone had a decent Thanksgiving on their own this year.

After all of our cooking and baking we decided that we didn't want to cook or make another thing so we went out for Chinese. It was so good! We weren't the only ones there on Thanksgiving night either. LOL.

After dinner Kam and Bryn headed back to our Airbnb and Tyler and I drove to Provo to pick up Ailey. The family that she was staying with lives up by the Provo Temple. We got to meet a bunch of her friends. It was snowing when we picked her up and several of her friends were from Florida and were so excited to see snow! Ailey had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with all of them and... lucky her... she got to have two Thanksgivings!

It was so nice to have Kam and Ailey back with us!! I really missed them. Beverly was so happy to see her boy! She loves Bryn first and Kam next. The rest of us are chopped liver to Beverly.

On Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) we got up, got ready, ate pie for breakfast (my Mom's tradition with us), and drove to Kirk and Meki's house. But before we left Tyler thought he could just *run over* to Traverse Mountain and grab another pair of jeans that he wanted. He totally forgot that it was Black Friday and Traverse Mountain was a nightmare!! I was so glad that I opted NOT to go with him. He was stuck in traffic for forever! Kameron and Ailey picked up our niece Kaiya at the U. On Tyler's way back from getting his damnable jeans; we made him stop at Harmon's too to get a few last minute things from the grocery store since he wanted to shop so much!

Kirk's family eats a later Thanksgiving dinner...just like we do...and just like our Mom always did. It makes for a less rushed day which I love. We took some pictures before everyone else arrived.

Cousins! Bryn, Kameron, Ailey, Kirin, and Kaiya. Tarren had to work on our Thanksgiving too. He works at the hospital. He was basically a blur as he works nights and missed all of our festivities. But he loves working at the hospital and is doing a great job there!

This was basically all that we saw of him every day! LOL!

I love Meki and am so grateful for her!! She is truly my sister in every sense of the word.

I'm grateful for Tyler's sister too. It was fun to have Lori there with us!! I am so glad that she moved back to Utah so that we can see her more often.

I forced the college kids to take pics with me and they obliged. LOL.

Then it was go time! Everyone else started arriving. We were a pretty big group. In addition to all of us, we had Krista (Meki's sister), Cathy and her husband Joe (family of Meki), Gabi and her husband Ben and their two daughters and son, and Tyler's sister Lori.

We had three big tables set up in the shape of an I and a dessert table set up on the side. It worked out great! 

The food was fantastic! Everyone contributed some amazing dishes to the meal. 

Our menu:

Two kinds of turkey... baked and smoked. (Kirk)

Two kinds of stuffing (Meki and Kathy)

Macaroni and Cheese (Meki)

My Mom's Brussel Sprouts (Kirk)

My Mom's Killer Mashed Potatoes (Meki)

Gravy (Meki)

Homemade Rolls (Tyler)

Sweet Potato Casserole (Christa)

Charcuterie Platters (Gabi)

Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pies, and Chocolate Pies (Me)

Crumbl Cookies (Lori)

After dinner we all played a bunch of games including a very lucrative game of Left, Center, Right!

I won $85 and Ailey was furious!! 

I did feel a little bad winning at a table filled with college students but two of those college students were mine and they are expensive. I let her hold my money. LOL.

After part of the group went home for the night we played a wild round of violent spoons! Family traditions!! Fear not...Ailey got her revenge on me!

It was such a great Thanksgiving with people we love!!

On Saturday we all got up early and headed to Kirk and Meki's house. Kirk wanted us to go to this amazing nutcracker store in SLC. This reminded us so much of our mom and our childhood. He took Kam and Ailey there last year and they loved it. We couldn't wait to go. It was nutcracker heaven!! My mom would have been a kid in a candy store. I am sure that many of her nutcrackers came from there. Every year growing up we would get a new nutcracker. We kids never knew which one or what kind of nutcracker it would be. It was always exciting to open that gift and see what kind of nutcracker the family would get that year!! We love them all so much! That's why seeing some that Kirk inherited was like seeing old friends. Weird but true. Thank goodness that Tyler and Meki who didn't grow up with nutcrackers quickly got on board with the tradition. Did they have a choice?!

Nutcracker collectors...the next generation.

 A purchase was made!

We got this handsome devil! Scottish Santa. We LOVE him!!

Meki and I love following The Food Nanny on Instagram. We are big fans! Tyler and Meki have both gifted me several Food Nanny items and Tyler and I got Reilly some Food Nanny merch for her birthday so of course a visit to the new Food Nanny store was in order.

If only Lizi had been there...or Liz (the OG Food Nanny) or any of her siblings! We are love them. Kirk went to high school with Lizi's older sister. We were hoping for a sighting and told Kirk that he had to introduce us immediately but alas with it being Thanksgiving weekend and all none of the family was there. Next time! I did however spend a good quantity of money as I picked out Christmas gifts to myself *from* Tyler!

Kirin came back to the Airbnb with us and hung out with our kids while Kirk and Meki did some quick Christmas shopping for him. Tyler and I got ready and drove down to Provo to attend the memorial service for my good friend Matthew. I cannot believe that the stars aligned and I was actually in town for his service but it did and I was so glad. He had been living in California and had a service there in October and then his family planned another one for Thanksgiving weekend in Utah. I was so grateful to be able to express my love and condolences to his wife and daughter (and parents and siblings) in person. I am still stunned that Matthew is gone. The silver lining to this event was seeing so many people that I dearly love. 

Tyler and I met up with my childhood bestie and still oldest and dearest friend Naomi who is married to Tyler's childhood best friend Kevin and we went together. Naomi and I grew up in Springdell with Matthew and have so many stories we could tell! I love my dell friends fiercely!! 

No one anywhere could have a better friend than this girl right here!! I am so glad that we are going on 41 years of friendship! Whoa. 41 years!!!! Kool and Nifty forever!

Tyler and Kevin...best buddies since junior high. 

Now this group of crazy kids has 9 kids between us and 2 grandsons. WE ARE GRANDPARENTS?!

It boggles the mind. There are no better friends than old friends who have seen all of the different versions of you (elementary school, awkward junior high, high school, college, newlywed, new parents, old parents, and now grandparents) and are STILL THERE! It's a beautiful thing!

These guys too. I have such love and affection for every single one of them. These are some of Matthew's siblings: Jill, Andrea, Rex, and Mindy. Rex was my first *real* boyfriend. First kiss...first date...all the good stuff. It was so fun to see him and to meet his wife and kids. Another one of our dell friends, Paul, was there too but he left before we remembered to take a picture.

(Our dell crew who I love and adore are: Kyle, Tom, Naomi, Iralee, Rex, Matthew, Chris, Paul, Susan, Becky, and me. There were other dell kids who I also love but that group was the core. When I think of *my* dell kids. It's them.)

It was so good to see Mathew's mom and dad who I love with my whole heart. They were our next door neighbors and second parents in so many ways...actually all of the dell parents were like extra parents. Jerri and Keith though are top notch. They are the best of the best. Jerri looked out for me the entire time I was in college and took Tyler in and got to know him well despite whispering my ear at our wedding reception, "I am so happy for you Kristin but I must say I always thought that you might marry one of my boys!" 

It was a special afternoon and I kept thinking about all who were there and thinking about how much Matthew would have loved seeing everyone. From now on no dell kids gathering will ever be complete without Matthew. He leaves a giant heartbreaking hole.

While we were at the memorial service...Kam was in Provo too doing yet another interview with the flight school that he wants to attend. This time he had to do an interview flight. He flew from Provo to Ogden with the instructor only assisting with the take off and landing. They wanted to see how Kam flew (this is his 3rd flight) and how he took instructions. Kam felt that it went well and now he waits to hear if he is officially accepted. Kam met us back at Kirk and Meki's house that night.

Kirk and Meki picked up Ailey, Bryn, and Kirin when they were done with their Christmas shopping. Ailey, Meki, and Kirk made my mom/grandma/great-grandma's homemade noodle soup. Ailey taught them to make it last Thanksgiving and this year Kirk made some fantastic bone broth from both turkeys to add to the soup. Tyler and I got back just in time for dinner! Then we all got comfy and watched movies including the Barbie movie. It was another great night with good time together and good conversation. We really had such good time with them this visit. Sometimes we are going-going-going but this trip there was a lot of time to just hang out and talk. It was just what we needed. We told them goodbye late that night. We will most likely be back in April to move Kam from Rexburg to Provo and then again around the 4th of July.

The next morning we wanted to hit the IKEA before leaving town. The kids (and Tyler) wanted to eat lunch there. Weirdos. So we did or should I say...they did.

It was kind of nice that we drove because I found a giant rug that I wanted and we were able to lug it back home! We wandered all through IKEA and picked up a few items.

We tried to convince Brynnie that she *needed* this hat!

If anyone could pull off this hat it is her! Ha ha!

Then it was time to tell Kam and Ailey goodbye because they had to drive back down to Provo to pick up one of Ailey's friends who was catching a ride with them back to Rexburg. They were also going to stop in Ogden so that Kameron could meet up with a friend of his. We had a bit of a rushed goodbye but not quite so sad this time since they would both be home for Christmas in 2 1/2 weeks.

After IKEA, Tyler, Bryn, and I went to Fashion Place Mall to do some Christmas shopping before we left town. We don't have a Zara in Spokane (or many other good stores) so we did some shopping and I ate my lunch that I had been looking forward to the ENTIRE TRIP!

Give me my HOT DOG ON A STICK!! 

This could also be where we contracted COVID. So many people were shopping and eating at the food court. But my corn dog and my cheese-on-a-stick were bussin (as the kids say and have told me to never say!) We also got Orange Julius (which we also don't have) and Boba.

After that it was the LONG LONG LONG drive home. Look at those beautiful dry snow-free roads and the blue sky too! It was too good to be true. We had one brief stop in Missoula, MT for a very unappetizing dinner at Panda Express which is where I choose to believe that we contracted COVID! (It is now the end of January and none of us can even think of eating at a Panda Express. Our bodies know.) The college kids had good roads and got back to Rexburg safely and in good time. They also didn't get COVID the lucky little bastards!! We got home around 11:30 pm so not too bad. Reilly left us some No Bake cookies and a cute note. So sweet! Kameron also found out that he was officially accepted to FLIGHT SCHOOL!! WOOHOO!! Despite missing Reilly, Hunter, and Karson and getting TERRIBLE cases of COVID we had such a fantastic Thanksgiving and were so glad that we went!!