Thanksgiving and a Birthday

Well, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year! We did miss our families, but we got together with some great friends (who are our family our here!) to celebrate. We had about 20 people or so. It was a fun day full of food and games. I made my first-ever turkey! It was a 20 pound bird that was deeeelicious - if I do say so myself! I didn't think to get a picture of it until it was already being carved. It pretty much fell right off the bone! YAY! I kept having nightmares of the scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the turkey looked fantastic on the outside, but when they went to carve it...it was all dry and nasty inside! Thankfully we avoided such a scene. I also made sweet potatoes, a HUGE amount of mashed potatoes and a pumpkin cheesecake. Mmmmmmm.
After our food had settled, we headed out to the backyard for a competitive game of croquette. Go Orange Team! Here we are gearing up for the big game.

An action shot - it is blurry because I was moving at breakneck speed. Ok, maybe the photographer just wasn't that great. (Sorry Dani!)

Hanging out during the game!

The three Thanksgiving day Chefs (me, Dani and Leah). We made all the food to feed everybody!

A few days later we got to celebrate my birthday! I think it was the first time I didn't get to spend it with my family. Missed you Shauna! We put up the Christmas tree and headed out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. YUM!

My super sweet boys playing around.

Here is Mike trying to show Mason the tree...

At the Cheesecake Factory!! Mom and Mason wait for a table. Can you hear our tummies growling!!

Full bellies!

Here was my piece of Cheesecake. It has been a tradition for as long as I can remember to have red velvet cake for my birthday. I didn't think I would have that option - but the Cheesecake Factory just came out with a new Cheesecake. A RED VELVET cheesecake! It had cheesecake and layers of red velvet with cream cheese icing. SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD!! Way to go Cheesecake Factory for keeping the tradition alive.

The Cabrero Family pic - while Mason tries to get ahold of Dad's drink. That's his new favorite thing. Grab ANYTHING that looks like it belongs to another person.

It was a great holiday!! We are anxiously counting down the days until Christmas. We will see some of you very soon!!!!