What a Turkey weekend!

Hey guys, so we just got back to Pensacola from Missouri about an hour ago. We had SUCH an amazing time!! There really is nothing in the world like spending time with family. It's so sad so many people take it for granted. Specially when you have such an awesome family like me and Kevin do, you should spend time with them as much as you possibly can! They really do enrich your soul and bring you so much joy.

We had our actually thanksgiving dinner on Friday afternoon since everyone from out of town was arriving late that thursday. On Thursday, me and Mrs. Cindy (mother-in-law) did some last minute shopping as well as preparing some things for the meal on Friday. We baked pecan pies and chocolate pies and some corn bread for the stuffing. AND even managed to watch the Patriots totally demolish the Lions in between! (okay, so maybe we didn't demolish them like we should have...Come on, they're the LIONS, but we won, so I'm not gonna complain....)

On Friday, we all woke up and had a quick breakfast and soon got to the kitchen for cooking. My mom pretty much did all the chopping, which to me, is the hardest part, so it was a huge help. And she's one of those cooks that just magically chops everything into identical perfect sizes. Which is perfect so everything gets cooked evenly. She did such a great job :)

Me and Mrs. Cindy kind of divided the different dishes among ourselves...like, she did the mac n cheese and mashed potatoes since they were her specialties, and then helped me with a new green bean casserole dish I had come up with. Everything just worked out so perfectly.

It was probably one of the most special, fun, and exciting memories I'll ever have. It's my dream to one day (hopefully soon :) have a huge house with a huge kitchen and dining room and entertain family at holidays, so this was a small way of accomplishing that dream. The recipes all came out so good, and nothing seemed to have gone wrong. For the first time, I had no over-baked veggies, or ANYTHING burnt :O ... it was all...perfect.

Then at night time, we opened Christmas gifts since it won't all see each other for Christmas. Opening presents is such an exciting time for me because I'm such an emotional person. Any little small act of kindness will totally trigger my tear glands and I will be boohooing in no time. I got some awesome gifts this year: an Amazing Bulova watch from daddy...that one of course made me cry... Ray bans and Miss Me jeans from mom, and some awesome latte mugs that I had been dying for that match my kitchen. I also got something that I had been wanting since I've began cooking...every girls dream= kitchen Aid stand mixer :D along with a Bridal edition Cook Book that I pretty much read all in the 12 hr drive and learned more than Ive ever known about cooking; a waffle maker (Kev loved that) from his grandparents; and so many more awesome gifts that if I were to name I'd be here until midnight. I hope everyone knows how thankful I am for all of them though. This really was one of the best Christmas Ive had as far as gifts go... and last year I got Tiffany's so that's saying alot! lol. it's like everyone just knew exactly what I wanted and needed. So thanks guys! :D

On Saturday we got up and went to Silver Dollar City in Branson Missouri. I'd been there last year and loved it, but this year was the first year going with my parents and the entire Chaney family (minus grandparents) and it was so much fun and so special.

To imagine that this is the just the beginning of the Holidays and in 2 weeks I will be in Brasil with my grandparents and family that I haven't seen in 5 years, and that will meet my husband for the first time and his brother, sister, mom and dad, and we will all spend Christmas together....wow. It's definitely going to be the best Christmas I've ever had.

Thanksgiving Dinner recipes coming up :D!