How long does it take to cook a 45 pound turkey?

My mom decided to grow her own turkeys this year. She started with 6 poults (a baby turkey) in May and they grew and grew. Unfortunately 2 died somewhere along the way, maybe the sat on each other or drowned, so that left 4.
The day of Thanksgiving I had to work, so my family graciously agreed to celebrate on Saturday. Brian and my mom had fun with the turkeys. They had to slaughter two turkeys, pluck and prepare and get them all ready to cook. What a job. I'm sorry I missed it. :)

Here is the turkey, all cleaned and ready for stuffing. 45 pounds!! A bit large, I agree. But, it fit in the oven (see the picture below) and cooked for about 12 hours.


We had plenty of leftovers...

New Traditions!

This year, Brian and I and my mom all decided to throw some money together and rent a house at Black Butte, a resort about 8 miles from Sisters, Oregon. So, instead of buying Christmas presents for my sister's kids, we are all staying up in the snow for a few nights!! It was a great idea and was a lot of fun! The first day we got there it was pretty nasty, rainy out. But then God brought the SNOW! We woke up to find a fresh coat of snow the next day. And of course we played most of the day.


Above is a picture of the great room in the house. A really comfortable room, complete with a big enough table for 8 (we had 9 in our group) and a fireplace. And televisions in every bedroom! Not that we needed that.
Below is the morning of snow. I love snow and really miss being in Juneau were it is a more common occurance than in Portland, OR.


A picture of the "Black Butte" a small hill that can be climbed. It was a pretty spectacular day! Complete with blue sky and everything. Who knew there was a tornado coming on in Aumsville, OR, only 10 miles from my mom's home.


Sledding fun! Of course we found a hill on the golf course that worked just perfectly for our needs. Brian and the boys all decided to pile on and go down the hill together.


There were a few houses and trees with Christmas lights and I thought they looked so pretty with the snow!

Vegas Fun!

Welcome to Las Vegas, a trip with Brian's family. It was Sarah's 21st birthday and mine was a week prior. Thanks Karen for getting us all there!! To start it off was a jelly bean statue of liberty.


Wandering down the strip with Brian and who should we run into but Chrys and her new husband Terry from JUNEAU, Alaska!! Wow. On their honeymoon also. That was fun to see them and talk to them for a few minutes.

Into the Venetian!! Just like you are stepping into Italy. We were headed to dinner and then THe Blue Man Group!


Sarah and Rodd with a Blue Man.

Karen, me and Brian in front of the Sphinx, or the Luxor Hotel/Casino. Funny because the Sphinx is in Cairo and not Luxor, thanks Emily for living in Egypt so I could go there!

The Aquarium at Mandalay Bay Casino, pretty fun to watch sharks swim all around you.



You determine the look on Brian's face. I think he looks like he is confused, but some think he was bored. We didn't do too well on these machines, won a few dollars, lost a few dollars. Not successful.


The Price is Right!! The Las Vegas edition. Sadly, none of our group got to go up front.

From the left, Rodd (Sarah's boyfriend), Sarah, Karen, and Brian.

New York, New York, and yes we did go on the roller coaster. It was pretty awesome. Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs the whole ride. I wasn't quite sure if I should laugh at her or be frightened for her. :) But we all made it through.

The Excaliber Casino and Hotel. Amazing looking, like they all do!! Vegas is eye candy. Have I mentioned that before??


Inside Paris! casino, yes this in inside...Pretty cool looking.

Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage is also a fun place to visit. And the weather wasn't too hot, so all the big cats were moving around some. Except for the big tigers, they were lazy, lazy. Sleeping away.


Brian just loves llamas. I had to take this for him.

The lions were just huge! So amazing to see them up so close and have them be so active for once!!

Plus there were two new tiger cubs. We had a blast watching them play with a pumpkin and fight/play with each other. Even got to hear a few growls! Yikes! Not quite so cute when they sound so large and mean!!



The fountain at The Bellagio is by far my favorite thing in Vegas. It is free to watch, occurs every 30 minutes or so and lasts for abotu 2-3 minutes with a few select songs. The first song we say was The Pink Panther song and was awesome!!


Lions at the MGM casino, another FREE thing to do in Vegas!!

Red Rock Canyon, Thanks to our friend Chrys, she told us about this place, only 20 minutes from Vegas! Ahh, what a nice QUIET place to go after being on the strip.



Brian, trying his hand at rock climbing...

I always seem to catch Brian napping somewhere. And the moon just happened to be out and in the right spot.

Last night on the strip! One more picture of the craziness! Overall it was a fun trip, but probably not one we will duplicate again in the near future. Vegas is an overwhelming city of ways to serve yourself. It's all about YOU in Vegas.

Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins has been something I've done for as long as I can remember. Every year I get to carve at least one pumpkin. Usually it is more than one, and this year in particular we had a lot to carve!!




Here is Hailey getting her fill of pumpkin!

Everyone was able to carve their own, except for Gwynie; not quite old enough to wield a knife. Actually as you can tell by the bottom picture we each carved a couple. Below is a picture of Jeremiah with his cute skeleton sweatshirt.


All, lite up. My favorite part. It takes quite a bit of organization to get them all set up with the appropriate lighting. It was a fun night. Not quite like last year when Noah and Isaac ran into each other and ended up in the ER getting stitches. We decided not to play freeze tag in the dark this year. :)