There were not many individual events during the month of November to write about so I thought I would just cram the whole month into one post.
For starters, Troy and I made an executive decision. Christmas music makes us happy, and there is no reason to not start listening to it when you feel like it. No more sneaking it in under the radar before Thanksgiving is over. We started listening unabashedly from early in November. Not that we stopped listening to anything else, but we didn't hide it!
Here's a cute photo of Romney. Her senior year has somehow snuck up on us, and we are thinking about colleges for her. She and I spent a delightful day touring Utah State University, where we not only bumped into our dear friends Mary and Molly, but I was able to show her some memorable places from my own time at USU. This included fraternity row where I accidently flashed my undies to half of the school as I walked to campus on a windy day, and also my scummy little apartment building which miraculously is still standing.
This year's Thanksgiving celebration was supposed to be spent with my side of the family. However, no one was able to gather. Seattle and Maine are just too far and too hard to get to for such a short weekend trip, and Sheri was to spend most of the holiday working in the ER where she is a nurse. It seemed sad to go to St. George for Thanksgiving and not spend time with her as well, even if Peter was available. But since he had Sheri's family to spend Thanksgiving with, we decided to head there the week before, since it was Peter's birthday, Sheri would be around, and also Siena would be performing as Ariel in a cute little production of The Little Mermaid.
I know I've said it before, but I'm so grateful for Peter and for Sheri. My family feels so far away, and they are so present in my life. I love them so much and feel their support all the time.
My gift to Peter was to bring him a cake - my mom's carrot cake recipe, which is Peter's favorite. She called the recipe "The Best Carrot Cake in the World." I've never made it before but guess what. It really is the best carrot cake in the world. We ate big fat squares of it on Friday night, and nibbled on it for the rest of the weekend. Delectable.
Siena is a really good singer. She made a great Ariel, even if her prince was played by a 12 year old. It was a very cute production.
What was strange was that we left Romney home alone for the first time. She had two choir events plus piles of homework. She drives now, and certainly can take care of herself. It was definitely strange to leave her, but I think she loved having the house to herself and feeling independant. We missed her but...I think we had better start getting used to that feeling. Sob.
The following week was Thanksgiving itself. I was so happy that my dear Emily and I could still have our pie day on Wednesday. I still wanted to make the same variety of pies that I normally do, but since we were having such a small gathering (just the four of us plus Troy's mom) I knew we would come nowhere near to eating three whole pies. So I used my trusty 6" pie plates that I bought from Cousin Joe in Spring City. Apple, pumpkin, chocolate. Emily laughs when I do that - who on earth only eats once slice of pie? I don't know, but even with just those tiny things I had a ton of leftovers! No one really wants more than a slice, even the next day.
So yes, we had a tiny turkey day. Just five people! But we all still wanted all the traditional dishes. And I have always wanted to cook the whole meal myself. I got my wish. And I learned something. Even though I'm a really confident cook and feel like I know what I'm doing, have honed my recipes and methods over the years, when you have to do it all and only have one oven, there is going to be a decrease in quality. The turkey...almost perfect. The stuffing....just slightly toasted on the bottom since I put it in under the turkey. The rolls - totally over-risen. Sigh. I love cooking! But it's hard to do a whole Thanksgiving meal on your own. I had fun putting together a nice table in the middle of our living room though!
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