Thanksgiving Done Right...

Joel and I have always wanted to host a ginormous Gardner bash - not a small undertaking considering there are 31 of us (and growing)! So since we finally have a house that will fit more than 3 people, we invited the crew. It was tons of work to prepare and clean-up for our guests, but you can judge from the million pictures below if we thought it was worth it.

Neither Joel nor I had ever cooked a turkey prior to this past weekend. Scary considering it's kind of the star of the show. After doing some research, we decided to go with the classic brining technique (soaking the meat in a combination of water, sugar, salt and spices). This bucket was the only one we had that was big enough to hold the 24 pound bird. It was brand new - makes me feel better anyway.



And of course, the meal was what the whole weekend was about. We had so much dang food, it actually fed us (and that's saying a lot) for like 2 days - turkey gravy and all! In fact, Joel and I are still trying to figure out what to do with all of our remaining turkey. Ideas?

Going back for 2nd, 3rd and more helpings...
This is how we all felt once the first dinner was over - so full!
And the tryptophan has kicked in...

And to work off all of those extra calories...time to play some games...


Learning wii tennis through osmosis...isn't this supposed to ruin your eyes or something?



Whenever we get together, someone inevitably busts out the grapes for tossing... look closely, you can actually see the grape mid-air!

Where there are Gardners...music will be also.
I don't think my piano and guitars have ever seen so much action before!
I loved that Camryn got to play some duets with Grandpa and Auntie Brit.


So the day after Thanksgiving we celebrated my neice's birthday at Camryn's gymnastics facility. It should look familar - JD's party was here too. We had so much dang fun flippin' and jumpin' around - I totally felt like a kid again. There was a zip line, half pipe, huge foam pit (the favorite), trampolines and more. I even did a flip through a hole and into the big pit. I defy gravity - I laugh at you old age!




Go Grandpa, Go Grandpa!

My Joellie doing a flip into the pit!
Time to get creative with the mats...
Look how happy I am - I'm about to do a front flip!
I hadn't done one of those in like 20 years! It felt great!

This is why I love my big Gardner Fam! They're goofy, gracious (thanks for the thank-you notes!), uplifting and fun! This is why we moved closer to family...




We had such a great time - thanks for all of the memories!