Happy - belated- Thanksgiving!!!

So I'm a little late on this one but I still wanted to get it up for family so they know were didn't lack this Thanksgiving. We really had a lot of fun. We really wanted to make sure that no one was home alone for the holiday this year and because we were stuck in Rexburg the whole time we decided to invite everyone who was stuck with us that wanted to come over to come have Thanksgiving at our place.

It was pretty fun. In all we had 9 people at our place. We had Maryanne, Mike and Derek (I work with Mike and Maryanne - Derek is Mike's brother). We also had Amie and her roommate Chrissy, Amie and Paul's cousin Kyle and then out three some - Paul, Riann and me. It was really neat having that many people there and really having to do it all on our own.

Maryanne took care of all of the side, Amie and Chrissy took care of the smooshed potatoes - as Paul calls them, and we did the meats and desserts. I went a little over board with the desserts but Paul let me buy some spring form pans and I REALLY wanted to use them!!!!

Over all it was lots of fun!!!! We had a good time!!! We really wish everyone could have stayed longer but this really was one of my most favorite Thanksgivings!!! It's been a long time since we've gotten to share one with friends and even though the rest of our family was pretty far away, it was still okay because we had so much fun!!!

Here are some pictures from the great day!!!

This is Kyle out on the dunes. Paul was really aching to get out of the house so I kicked the boys out and had them go play while I cleaned and finished dinner.

Kyle is from Hawaii but is going to school out in Utah, at University of Utah, and he - like most people - couldn't believe something like this was in Idaho. It's pretty po-dunk out here but you can't EVER thank God enough for the beautiful land He created. This place is AMAZING!!!

Paul has been working REALLY hard on his truck over the last few weeks and has been trying to get a few kinks worked out. He was really excited to get it out on the sand. He's been doing a lot of research of the area too and has found some quicker routes to some of the more fun places to play out on the dunes.

This is (left to right) Derek, Maryanne, and Mike. They (Mike and Maryanne) just had their little boy on 11/30. I think our turkey worked some magic on her. It was sooooo good and got her so relaxed she went into labor... 3 days later!!! I told her the turkey would do it!!!

One of Riann's new games is Peek-a-Boo with the chairs. She loves to look under them and often gets stuck trying to crawl through them. I think she was playing with Kyle here. She loved him the minute he walked into the house. She really has a thing for him and Mike and often Derek, the few times she's seen him. It's cute!!! I think she's going to be a handful when she's old enough to date!!!

I swear there's no alcohol in the eggnog. Paul is just showing how much he LOVES it!!! I'm sure Paul wouldn't want me to post this but it was the only picture I had of him that day. He's still the cutest guy I know!!!

Kyle relaxing with a belly full of turkey... and ham!!!

Maryanne, Riann and I eating up our dinner. It was really good. We all (mostly just Maryanne and I) even decided we were going to try a little bit of EVERYTHING this year. There was a lot I think I'll eat again for years to come!!! Riann did a really good job too. She had mashed potatoes, turkey and sweet potato baby food, and she LOVED Maryanne's rolls!!!

Mike and Derek in their matching sweaters. They seemed to have a good time joking in the corner. They are definitely brothers.

Amie and Chrissy. We were SOOOO glad they came this year!!! It was a blast having them with us for most of the long weekend!!!

The turkey and ham all served up!!! It was GOOD!!!

Our dinner!!! Doesn't it look WONDERFUL?!?!?!!! 

Here is everything we had and who made what:

Riann, Paul and I made:
turkey
ham
cranberry sauce
cranberry/strawberry jello

Also... I got really excited about deserts so we also threw together:
plain cheesecake
chocolate cream pie
dutch apple pie
pumpkin pie

Amie and Chrissy made: 
mashed potatoes

Maryanne and her family made:
green bean casserole
yams with marshmallows
Mom's rolls
stuffing
homemade punch<>