Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving 2016

The Johnsons 2016

Thanksgiving Eve was a little crazy around here. It was a bake/sweat shop. I was in charge of pies and rolls so I was baking up a storm. It was fun texting pictures back and forth with my mom, sisters, and Reilly that night as we each prepared our items for the Thanksgiving feast the next day. Reilly wasn't able to come home for Thanksgiving this year but she's coming home for 15 days over Christmas break!! We can't wait!! Reilly went home with one of her roommates who is from Salt Lake for Thanksgiving and spent the night at her house. Then the next day my brother and his family had their Thanksgiving dinner and she headed over there for that. She ended up having two fun Thanksgiving dinners! But we really missed having her here.

I made two pecan pies

Two cherry pies

And...a ton of rolls.

We spent Thanksgiving at my Mom's house in Northern Idaho. We drove up on Thanksgiving day. Our family eats our dinner after dark and by candlelight so we had a leisurely morning to enjoy the Macey's Day Parade and the National Dog Show (a family fave) while getting dressed, finishing up any food preparation, and packing the car.

We were the first to arrive and took some quick family pictures before the day got too crazy:

Paper Plate Reilly made yet another appearance! It's just too weird to take holiday family pictures and not include her in some way.

Mom and the kids

Mom and her dogs: Maggie Mae and Finn

My mom's house was decorated beautifully!! She had her tree up but no ornaments on it. I like Thanksgiving to be it's own holiday and don't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving but the tree with just lights on it was really pretty and set a nice mood.

Since we were the first ones there we got to hog her new puppy all that we wanted. He is adorable.

It didn't take long for everyone else to arrive:

The Sykes: Dane, John, River, and Stacey

Kelley and Elle and Kelley's boyfriend, Chris.

Some father and son shots:

Kam and Ty

Dane and John

Mom working on her famous gravy.

That stuff is magic!!

Since my work was done the night before all that I had to do was put my rolls in a serving dish, put my pies in a cool place, and relax. Nice.

The chefs

Our menu:                  

(I love having a record of this every year!)

Appetizers:

Charcuterie Board (Kelley)
Cream cheese and chipotle dip and crackers (Mom)
Relish Tray (Stacey)

Main Course:

Turkey (Mom)
Vegetarian Stuffing (Mom)
Sausage Stuffing (Stacey)
Homemade Southern Noodles (Mom)
Mashed Potatoes (Mom)
Gravy (Mom)
Homemade Rolls (Kristin)
Roasted Brussel Sprouts (Kelley)
Sauteed Green Beans (Kelley)
Chipotle Cranberry Sauce (Stacey)
Carmelized Shallots (Stacey)
Jello Squares (Stacey)

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pies (Mom)
Pecan Pies (Kristin)
Cherry Pies (Kristin)

Finally it was time to eat!! Cute kids at the kids table: Elle, River, Dane, Ailey, and Bryn. Kameron graduated to the grown-up table this year. Always exciting!! I never did get a picture of all of us around the table. Shoot! Suffice it to say it was beautifully set and a lovely sight surrounded by family.

My very favorite moment came when we were going around the table and saying what we were thankful for... Kameron said that he was thankful for the gospel in his life, for church, and for the priesthood. (He was just ordained a priest.) Whoa. It made my holiday. Especially because we are the only active members of the church in our family. Everyone else has left the faith for various reasons and all have strong opinions about the church. Therefore, I was particularly touched by Kameron's confidence in who he is and what he believes and what is important to him.

Another favorite moment was facetiming with my dad before dinner. That was pretty momentous. It has been years since any of us have seen him. It was pretty special to be crowded around as the kids got to talk and "see" their grandfather. We all had a good chat and even our husbands and my mom said hello and talked to him for awhile. This past year has brought a much closer relationship with him. I have talked to him more this year than I have in years. Facetiming has been a huge blessing. Yay technology. I really credit a lot of this with my Family History Project that I started in January. I only got to week 7...I think...but it still has made a huge difference in our relationship. The promises made in the scriptures about the hearts of the fathers turning to the children and the hearts of the children turning to the fathers is true and powerful. I am going to continue on with that 52 week challenge even if it takes me a couple of years to finish it. (One of the things that Ailey was thankful for this year was that she was finally getting to know her grandpa.) Pretty cool.

Our family and Stacey's family all spent the night at my mom's house. The kids had a great time with their cousins. It was lovely to be able to sleep in the next day and eat pie for breakfast! It doesn't get much better than that!!

Reilly never did send me any pictures of her on actual Thanksgiving Day. Boo. But the next day while she was celebrating at my brother, Kirk's, house I got a steady stream of snapchats. Ha ha!!

Reilly and my nephew Kaiden

My personal favorite: Reilly, Kirk, and Kaiden

I really appreciate Kirk and Meki. They have made Reilly a member of their own family. She is included in every celebration and family event no matter how small. She loves going to their house and spending time with them. To her it is a bit of home away from home. I am so grateful.

It was a splendid Thanksgiving and even though we really missed Reilly, Kirk, Meki, and family, Jordin, Ramon, and family, we enjoyed one another and were grateful to get to spend time together!!

The Vintage Whites Christmas Market 2016

The Vintage Whites Christmas Market 2016 and Trip to Montana

Most of October was spent preparing for the Vintage Whites Christmas Market in Kalispell, Montana. It's always fun to take a break from our usual Sisters Creed merchandise and get into the holiday spirit. This big Christmas Market is a fun way to kick off the holiday season.

We headed out of town early on Kameron's 16th birthday. I know. What a thrill to be helping your mom with a vintage show on such a momentous birthday but he did and seemed happy to do so. He's a good kid. We stopped for breakfast in Libby and Kameron got the royal treatment from the wait and kitchen staff.

They brought him out his french toast with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday to him. So sweet!

Then once we got to Kalispell we were all business. Christmas shows take twice the amount of work and set-up. Not only do you have regular merchandise but you have all the holiday merchandise to incorporate and set up too. It is exhausting. We were down a person as well. Stacey was unable to come to the show at the last minute. Her husband's brother passed away unexpectedly which was devastating to their family. John had to fly to Hawaii and Stacey had to hold down the fort at home. So sad.

After we unloaded both trailers, Tyler and the kids were able to head to the hotel and relax while my mom and I got to work. We had a big four booth space to set up. It turned out pretty cute.

Here are some pictures:

One side of the booth

This was our Thanksgiving section.

The other side of the booth

Here is a little live action cam:

I will work on slowing down and being a smoother videographer. Ha ha.

This was the entry display to the show. It was pretty magical. The Vintage Whites girls did a great job decorating the venue.

That night after set up we went out to dinner with my mom to one of our very favorite restaurants in Kalispell and had an amazing birthday dinner for Kameron.

You can't go wrong with a huge SLAB of huckleberry cheesecake on your birthday!!

The next day was show day. Here are some pictures of the show:

Hanging out with our vendor friends...Jennifer of the Funky Junk Antiques Show, her sister Erin, me and my Mom.

Our good friend Renee of Chippy Paint Chick in her cute booth.

Marion of Miss Mustard Seed was the special guest of the show. You can link to her amazing blog HERE. She flew in, did a meet and greet, signed books, and put on a presentation and demonstration during the show. We were so busy that we didn't have a minute to spare to go and meet her. Lucky for us her demonstration was right by our booth. It was perfect!!

Marion being introduced by Jana (one of The Vintage Whites girls)

Doing her presentation and milk paint demonstration

We were still so busy that we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves and we were pretty bummed. But about an hour after her demonstration she walked into our booth and began chatting with us. She was awesome!! She was so down to earth and sweet. She was very complimentary about our booth and style. We had a great conversation and it was such a fun experience. For us it was like seeing one of our favorite Hollywood stars. Such fun! We are even bigger fans now if possible.

Just hanging out with Miss Mustard Seed!!

My family came to the show off and on. They brought us food. We were starving and the show was so busy that we couldn't leave to even grab some food from the food trucks outside. Ailey and Bryn love to help out in the booth. They wrapped and bagged items for the customers and Tyler and Kameron hauled furniture out for them. I appreciate them all so much!!

They did manage to have some fun at the show too...

The girls got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas...

We had an absolutely fantastic show!! It was so busy!! Our booth was packed all day and was still full of customers even 20 minutes after the show was over. People were still buying furniture!! Sweet. It was super successful for us.

After a brutal tear down...it was freezing cold! We headed back to our hotel and ordered Chinese food which they delivered to our hotel while we did the books and all the financial stuff. The next day my mom left super early. We slept in and had a leisurely breakfast and did a little shopping in Kalispell before we headed home.

On our way home we stopped at Kootenai Falls and hiked around for awhile. We went across the swinging bridge. It was absolutely gorgeous!!

Ailey is smiling in this picture but it is fake. She is terrified of bridges and DID NOT want to go across any bridge let alone a swinging one. There can only be five people on the bridge at one time because it really does sway. (It's pretty cool!) She cried all the way across but she did it. I am proud of her for always facing her fears and not letting them hold her back. Her second trip across was much less traumatic. :)

So pretty!!

We stopped for dinner on our way home and had a great day as a family. When we were only 20 minutes from home THIS happened...

That would be a shredded tire on our cargo trailer. That thing blew and ripped off the fender as well. Of course it was pitch black and raining super hard and we are on the freeway with people flying by us at over 70 miles an hour...and missing all the necessary tools to fix it. (of course!) Our lame road side service...Allstate Motor Club I am talking to you... couldn't locate us on the computer. 30 minutes later the woman was like "I still can't find your location on the computer." That was after the most meticulous directions down to the mile marker and the exit we were right by. We were like screw it! We unhooked the trailer, continued home, dropped the kids off, grabbed the tools, and Tyler and I headed back to change the tire. I am not going to lie it was a terrifying experience. I thought for sure that we were going to be hit by a car. But prayers were answered and we were able to change the tire, hook the trailer back on, and make it home safely. There always has to be some kind of drama on our many road trips. Luckily when it happened we weren't far from home. We could've been in a remote part of Montana when that sucker blew.

Besides that little incident, we had a fantastic time in Montana!! It was great financially and a fun weekend trip for the family too.

Now onto Thanksgiving...