Thanksgiving 2015

We had such a fun Thanksgiving!  This year, Heather, Bethany, and Ashley's families all came.  That's 26 people in our four bedroom house.  And it was great!

Everyone arrived on Wednesday, and we started the parties!  Games and visiting, and oh, so much playing with cousins!

On Thursday morning, we sent the men and boys out for some football and joined them later for a little walk/run at the local river trail.

We headed back home to prep the dinner.  Ashley injected one of our turkeys in preparation for the deep frying (the other one was already in the smoker). 

Ben Dilsaver arrived to our party sick with a stomach bug, so he supervised the frying from his bedroom window.  His quarantine plan worked, though, and no one got his sickness!  Thanks for the sacrifice, Ben!

Some people were scared the whole thing would go up in flames, so they watched from the window.

Ashley and I had made some cute Pilgrim necklaces and Indian headdresses, which we put on the kids.

The sisters tried them on, too! (Pilgrims wear straight faces, of course, but I couldn't quite pull it off)

 

The smoked turkey looked beautiful when it came out!  It tasted just as good!

The deep fried turkey was also amazing!  The fried skin was to die for!

I didn't get any good pictures of the group of men and older kids who spent Thanksgiving evening volunteering at the local food bank.  It was a great experience for all.  Norah especially loved it when one of the sweet women they delivered dinner to gave her a hand-knitted winter hat!

The next morning, we headed south to see the New River Gorge.  It wasn't nearly as impressive as it might have been during the fall or summer, but it was still pretty cool!

From there, we headed straight back to Buckhannon because we had rented out the local roller rink!  So fun!  Most of the people had never been roller skating. 
Exhibit A:  Bethany's first few minutes on roller skates were interesting...

After a nice pizza buffet dinner, the couples went on a fun date to the indoor tennis courts at the local college.  I'm not going to say who, but someone was voted most athletic sister...:)

Saturday morning, the sisters went on a fun walk to all of my favorite views.  The men had fun, too, shooting off some rockets Joel and Jack had built.

The kids watched the fun from the trampoline.

In the afternoon, we went to the Elkins YMCA for a little swimming.  So fun!

Afterward, the men and boys headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the BYU game, while the women took the younger kids home.  We played fun games and ate too much fried food that evening.  What else were we supposed to do with all the left over oil from the turkey fry?

The next morning, we managed to get 26 people ready for church and out the door by 8:30.  We also had 3 people prepared to give talks and 3 ready for musical numbers.  And lots of potluck food ready for consumption.

I have to admit, I teared up a few times during sacrament meeting as I thought of how very grateful I am for my dear sisters and their good husbands.  What a wonderful Thanksgiving it was!