Blueberry Ever After

Fall is for taking walks...or riding in wagons:

Playing with Nana in the leaves:

And eating Thanksgiving dinner:

Well, Luke didn't eat it so much as look at it, but at least he had fun!

This weekend we are hosting my sister Becky, my brother Matt and his wife Caroline and Caroline's brother Wally for Thanksgiving. We have already told Wally that from now on he'll be referred to as brother-in-law because otherwise it gets too complex to explain and he kind of is one anyway right?

Becky and I started the day out with a 5 mile race that Kathleen and Amy also ran. It was pretty hilly so we definitely earned our dinner! Unfortunately the fried turkey didn't fry all the way through so we had to finish it off in the oven and it wasn't ready to eat until about 5pm. So dinner came later than expected but it was good, which probably has more to do with the beer and sangria we used to entertain ourselves while it was cooking than the actual quality of the food.

Luke is enjoying all of the extra attention he's getting this weekend from our guests and had a great first Thanksgiving Day. We gave him a bite of mashed potatoes that to Jay's great dismay he wholeheartedly rejected. He made the most disgusted of faces, an expression that said: What is this flavorless mush you are trying to force feed me? As if!

Jay, Matt and Luke just went out to brave the Walmart black Friday sales. I am happily resting at home in my warm bed with my coffee, trying to avoid the holiday crazies. Caroline and I may venture out later in the day when those 3amers are safely out of the way though.

Happy Black Friday everyone! :)

Luke modeling his indian headdress project from daycare:

Hanging with Mommy while waiting for the turkey to finish cooking:

Luke finally let Uncle Wally hold him--he was scared of the beard at first but now seems to be enthralled by it:

Uncle Matt didn't even make it as long as Luke did last night. He promptly fell asleep after dinner on the floor around 6pm. Roux took total advantage of having a new cuddle buddy!

For Thanksgiving, Jay and I flew out to fabulous Las Vegas to visit my parents...well, Boulder City to be exact. Check out the view from their backyard, how cool is this?!


My Mom even has two orange trees growing in her yard that had lots of yummy ripe oranges on them. Lucky!


Throughout my parents' neighborhood there are tons of these "watch for sheep" signs. A herd of big horned sheep live up on the mountain behind the neighborhood and every afternoon they make their way down to the playground to munch on some grass and drink some water. Naturally, we had to swing by and check them out.


They'll let you get pretty close if you look nice!

The night before Thanksgiving we all went to a show, "V", at the Planet Hollywood casino on the strip. It was an awesome variety show with all kinds of crazy acts, including this guy: Fast Wally.

We had all kinds of wholesome food like wings, onion rings, burgers and fries at a restaurant the Magnificent Mile shops before the show. Jay enjoyed his one pound double cheeseburger.

Thanksgiving morning, we all got up early and headed down the street to the Hacienda casino so I could run the Boulder City Turkey Trot 11K race. Mom and Jay walked me down to the start line and hung out with me until the race started.

The runners are off!

I think I can, I think I can!

And Jay came back to watch me finish. Here I come around the last bend.

I finished in about 1 hour and 19 minutes, not too bad. And you can start to see the makings of a baby bump in this picture, along with my sweet finisher's medal.

After the race, Jay and I walked back up to the casino to meet Mom & Dad who you can see hitting the penny slots in this photo. We all had a yummy breakfast buffet and then went home to put the turkey in the oven. Dinner was so delicious! I only wish I could have smuggled some of Mom's stuffing home with me. Since we were limited to carry on luggage for this trip, the packing got interesting, but we made it home with all of our stuff, even after hitting the Black Friday sales on the way to the airport. When it comes to shopping and packing I guess we are pros!

Since my Mom and Dad are no longer in NC, Jay and I went to Charlotte this year for Thanksgiving to spend the weekend with Courtney, Greg and Courtney's parents. It was a lot of fun, but the holiday got off to an interesting start. When we arrived at Berry and Susan's house, a big Roto Rooter van was parked in their driveway. Apparently they had been having some plumbing problems in the guest bathroom on Thanksgiving morning so they called to have it looked at and lo and behold, there was a dead squirrel in their pipes! Everyone had a good laugh about this, because Berry has been at war with the squirrels for years now, and they really got one up on him that day! We had a delicious meal after Roto Rooter cleared out, including my new corn casserole recipe which was a hit (see recipe below). And now we all have a great story to tell too!

Corn Casserole

Ingredients:
1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4 oz) can cream style corn
1 (8oz) box of corn muffin mix (Jiffy)
1 c sour cream
1/2 c melted butter
1 - 1 1/2 c shredded cheddar

Directions:
Stir together all ingredients except cheese. Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and top with cheddar. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes and serve warm.