Hodge Podge

This is an update of all things happening in the last week or so. I am happy to report that the Thanksgiving pies were a success.

I made the Key Lime...very tart and sweet, but I will definitely make it again. Maybe just alter the amount of lime juice next time.

The Banofee pie...also very sweet and rich, but I think it was the first one devoured.

Sweet Potato pie...Alton Brown's classic...had a little tangyness to it, maybe it was the yogurt. It was good, but I don't know if I'll make it again.

And last but not least the Pumpkin Apple Butter...also very good.

Amidst all of this, I also made a cake for Jens' birthday. He is a huge Mario Bros. fan, and this was his request. I think this is the first cake I have decorated with fondant in over two years...way too long! I felt very out of practice and was a little disappointed with the overall look because I am a perfectionist with my cakes and could see all the flaws. But, with all the kneading of food color into the fondant and molding of the cake shape I was worn out and it came to the point of just saying it was good enough. The boy was happy and that is what really matters, right? We celebrated his birthday with the rest of Jed's family, including his brother and sister in law who were here from California. Carmen also has a birthday in November, so we celebrated her as well. We had a wonderful dinner made by Jed, of course and a great time with family.

We were lucky enough to have two Thanksgiving dinners this year. With Jed's family we had the traditional dinner on Thursday with all the fixin's. It was delicious! We then loaded up the car and headed down to St. George to spend time with my family. We haven't been down there since July, so it was a long overdue trip. One that the boys specifically asked for. The great thing about the visit was that my parents consented to hold off their Thanksgiving dinner for a day and have it on Friday so that we could join in. We brought down a smoked Turkey and mom made the rest of the food. Aunt Chris and Uncle Keith also joined us on Friday and they treated us to Chris' homemade rolls. Clearly the best part of the meal in my opinion. All of my brothers were down for the weekend. A miracle in itself! I think this is the first time we have all been together since our wedding. It was so great to spend time with each of them, playing hand and foot, out playing each other on the Wii and just chatting it up a bit. All of the men folk' except for my dad took a quick trip to Las Vegas for some sushi. I know it sounds crazy to go to Vegas just for Sushi, but Jed has a friend from Japan who has a restaurant there and serves a crazy good deal for crazy good sushi. We have searched high and low for great sushi here in Utah and it just doesn't compare.

We headed back up north after a fun filled weekend expecting to see a little snow. Little did we know we were headed right into a killer storm that had traffic going at a snails pace with cars sliding off the road everywhere. After 7 1/2 hours on the road we finally made it back to Pleasant Grove in one piece.

I had my 35 week checkup this week and all looks good. Heart rate was 138. Baby is currently head down as he should be and I'm dilated about 1 centimeter. Right on track.

We are very thankful for all the blessings we have enjoyed this last week, especially being able to spend some quality time with both sides of our families. With a baby due to arrive anytime around Christmas, we don't know what to expect or how much we'll be able to visit family and friends, so we are so happy we had this opportunity.