Thanksgiving Holiday Extravaganza!!

Wednesday morning we headed to Jeff and Jami's house.  On our way, we dropped off the U-haul. ;)  Seriously, the pace at which we have lived our lives from the time we accepted the job offer until after the Thanksgiving holiday is just plain insane.

We enjoyed a mostly uneventful drive there, and the kids did really well.  All the way until we were just over an hour from Jami's house and got stuck in stand-still traffic for almost an hour!  The kids went bonkers, I had to go to the bathroom, and Danny...well, Danny hates traffic.  We were all frazzled, but grateful, when we finally made it.  We got to bed as soon as we could.  Thanksgiving preparations were going to begin early!

This Thanksgiving was going to be epic.  The holiday was being joined with the occasions of Lily Mae's baptism and Chance's blessing.  Jeff's sister Nichole was also blessing her little girl, Lucelia.  So the entire Downs clan was gathering for the feast!  Jami and I literally spent hours on the phone during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving planning out the food and table arrangements.  Jami was expecting...wait for it...53  people in her home for Thanksgiving!  And well over half that number would be teenagers and children.  :)  Oh yeah...epic to say the least. :)

We woke up early and finished some of the prep and got the turkeys in the oven.  Once the food prep was done, we started decorating.  There was so much to do!  Everyone needed a name card...

The crayons had to be arranged for the little kids table...

Chance made sure to look adorable at all times...(Isn't he cute?!)

And of course lights needed to be hung on the outdoor umbrella that was brought indoors.  You don't bring in your outdoor furniture at Thanksgiving? :)

But all the hard work was worth it!  Jami's house looked gorgeous!  She really does have a flair for the aesthetic things in life.  Behold...

The Kid's Table (ages 4-10)

Each kid had a place mat that was a page they could color.  What a good idea!

The Teenager's Table

And The Adult's Table (that seated 20 adults comfortably!)

Oops...I just realized that I didn't get a picture of The Little Kid's Table (Ages 2ish-3ish).  It was super cute, though!  The table cloth was butcher paper and each kid had their own crayons so they could color away.  Totally kept them occupied, too!

Well, as beautiful as the house was, Thanksgiving is mostly about the food, right? :)  And the food matched the house!  Over the top, for sure.  We had two Alton Brown roasted turkeys, but Jeff's smoked turkey stole the show.  We had mashed potatoes, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, Caramelized Green Beans (thanks, OBB...total hit again!), rolls, fresh cranberry sauce (thanks again, Alton Brown!), gravy, stuffing, fruit salad, frog eye salad...EVERYTHING!  There was so much food!  Everyone was so excited to get to the grub...

Have you ever seen so many preschool age kids eating so nicely?  All by themselves?  It was a Thanksgiving Miracle! :)

And our John-boy got his very own seat. :)  He loved having all that yummy food at his fingertips!

After we had all eaten more than we needed to, in true American fashion, everyone settled into various conversations in different parts of the house.  We were really fortunate to have such beautiful fall weather in Denver that day, so before and after dinner we were able to spend some time outside.  It made the number of people we had over manageable.

Once our tummies had settled, it was time for pie.  We had some delicious options this year!  We had chocolate cream pies, Lime Desserts, caramel apple pie, cherry pie, and of course pumpkin pie.  The chocolate cream pies were a favorite of the kids.

Then it was time to find something to do while the pie settled. :)

Relaxin' and chillaxin'. :)  

It was a perfect Thanksgiving feast!  The dinner went off without a glitch, and was truly a memorable event!  The crowd slowly dispersed, with the Downs clan headed to respective hotels to prepare for Black Friday.  Danny and I were exhausted, and so headed to bed pretty much as soon as we could round up the kids.

Friday was a particularly special day.  It was the day Lily was being baptized and Chance was being blessed! We scurried around in the morning getting everyone ready and to the church by 10:00.  It was an absolutely beautiful meeting.  Lily asked her Uncle Matt to give the talk on baptism, and he did a great job.  She was then baptized by her dad.  I'm always amazed at how sweet and strong the spirit is at such an important, yet simple, ordinance.  My girls were wide-eyed watching Lily take this important step, and I'm so grateful for her example.  After she was dressed in her beautiful white dress, she had Danny give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  I know that Danny was humbled by this responsibility.  Lily has a tender place in Danny's heart.  Besides being such a sweet girl, she was just a toddler when Danny and I were married.  She would run up and say "Uncle Danny!  Uncle Danny!" when we would visit.  Since we've had our girls, Lily has been such an incredible cousin, friend, and example to our girls.  We love her to pieces!  After Danny's talk (which he did an incredible job on), Lily was confirmed a member of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost.  After her confirmation, the member of the bishopric that was presiding asked Lily to come and bear her testimony.  I will never forget how strong the spirit was, and how completely pure Lily was in her testimony of the gospel.  I was able to watch as her emotions started to get the best of her, as she was overcome by the Spirit.  It was truly incredible.

And if that wasn't enough, we also had the privilege of watching Jeff bless Chance.  I love baby blessings!  I love seeing that tiny baby be surrounded by the power of the priesthood, and the love of good men acting in behalf of our Savior and Heavenly Father.  Jeff gave Chance a beautiful blessing, which was followed by the sweet blessing of Lucelia Jannet Downs.  Once the blessings were finished, we also got to hear Jami bear her testimony.  Jami and I are particularly close, and I loved having the opportunity to hear her testimony.  I also felt Rachel really close throughout the meeting.  With it just being days from the second anniversary of her passing, that was a very sweet feeling.  It was a simply beautiful and memorable meeting.  We concluded with a light lunch and refreshments.  

Once the baptism and blessings were over, everyone scattered to do different things, with some people shopping and some people recovering from the day before on whatever soft surface they could find for their tired bodies.  I'll let you guess which set of people Danny and I were in! :)  In the afternoon, Jeff got a group together to go see "The Muppets" movie, and Claire really wanted to go with Lily.  So...I dragged my tired pregnant self off the couch and went to a movie with my little girl.  And I'm so glad I did!  Claire is at such a fun age, and her disposition lends itself to pure, unadulterated joy and wonder at the simplest things.  She loved the movie, as did I.  It was fun to get some one on one time, especially with how hectic our life had been as of late.

Friday evening, Jeff and Jami planned a family party.  They reserved the Cultural Hall at their church building, and we partied the night away!  There was a ton a food, fantastic music, and even some family movies on the big screen!  Danny and I were absolutely beat, so we took Sophie and Johnny home early and got them in bed.  Claire stayed to play with Lily.  That girl was in heaven.

Saturday was a quieter day.  We mostly just sat around and visited, and it was wonderful!  We watched "Thor" that evening, and called it a night.  Sunday was going to be an early morning with 8:30 am church!  Megan received her Young Womanhood in Recognition award, and Lily was recognized in Sacrament Meeting.  We all enjoyed some nap time after we got home from church, followed by another incredible meal for dinner.  Jeff was dying to try some new meat in his smoker, so we had an amazing brisket with baked potatoes.  Yum!  We watched "Captain America" that evening, and Danny and I packed up and loaded the car.  We had high hopes of leaving really early and getting home at a decent time.  Especially since Danny was leaving back to California early Tuesday morning to finish up some work at Edwards for the week.  However, Johnny had different plans.  That boy screamed for half the night, and Danny and I were without much sleep when morning came.  We slept an extra couple of hours before making our way back to Utah.  We made it home, and not much worse for the wear.

What an incredible trip it was!  While it was something of a sacrifice to make a trip like that literally on the heels of moving, we would gladly do it again.  We wouldn't have missed it for the world!  We're so grateful for our family, and for the restoration of the Gospel which allows us to be with those we love for eternity.  We're grateful for this amazing opportunity to be back in Utah and close to that family we love so much, and in an area that we can provide our growing children with the experiences we want for them.  Danny and I have always recognized the hand of the Lord in our life, and are humbled to see it still.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!