November 08

In this photo, we're hanging out at M&D's, getting ready for dominoes (cuz I wanted something different than a card game). Sam had just set up a domino rally, Melanie was trying to help daddy put up another one, but knocked it down. This is the mini aftermath of that.

So for the month of November, I still don't remember what happened. Yes, there was Thanksgiving. We spent the Sunday prior to T-day at Sam's grandparents' house. It was his Grandma's birthday. Lucky for me, that meant that I could be with my family on Thanksgiving. His grandpa is good and all, but his grandpa's turkey dinner is NOTHING compared to my dad's. I hope we figure out how to do a smoked turkey before it's ever too late. Dad says it's easy, we just need to find the 10 hours (or so) to spend with him to find out how it's done. Anyway, so grandma Hinkson was down for Thanksgiving, and coincidentally, Billy & Jillian's sealing. Yeah, that was a busy week, as the memory is coming back to me.

So grandma H was down, and we totally planned the menu. Now, I don't recall every thanksgiving dinner, but I don't think we've ever actually sat down and planned a menu. This year, we did. We had the usual turkey, mashed potatoes, and the infamous butterhorns. I don't think Mom will ever forget to make butterhorns again (since that one time several years ago when we all complained about not having any--we Coleman's hardly forget things like that). The neat thing we had this time was mashed sweet potatoes. Yes, they were from a box (thanks to Betty Crocker), but with the embellishments Kristen made, they were fantastic. Just enough for everyone too...since Billy & Jillian, Bob & Emily, and Becky & Gary/fam, weren't there. It sure seemed like a skimpy Thanksgiving without so much family around. It was smaller than our regular Sunday dinners. The odd thing was that we had pineapple upside-down cake as one of our desserts. It's not often that we have something other than pie for dessert for T-day, so this was strange. It must have been a pregnancy thing for me, because I think I was the only one who ate a piece that day, and the rest was eaten on the following Sunday, I think.

Billy & Jillian's sealing the next day had the rest of the family together, though still without Becky & Gary (they'd gone to the Bailey's annual Branson T-day trip). Billy & Jillian were sad that they weren't there, but Billy had been forewarned. If Becky hadn't been pregnant with Scarlett last year, Becky & Gary wouldn't have been at their wedding either. Anyway, so Grandma got to be there for their sealing, which was fantastic. It was neat to be in the temple with so much family, as it should be. Afterwards, my family was trying to take pictures like crazy, and Jillian's family didn't make such a big deal of it. It was weird to me. So, yeah, it's not a traditional WEDDING-wedding, but it's still just as important. Her family did still help set up a reception luncheon thing, but they weren't around for any special day photo shoot. Billy & Jilly are broke anyway, so it's not like they had a professional photographer, fancy dress, or anything. I guess I'm just saying that her family could have acted more like it was a special day, rather than just showing up for the sealing and food. (But, with her extended family that did come down, I didn't see Billy for another week and a half because they were spending so much time with her family, so maybe they did do some celebrating?)

So yeah, grandma was in town, we had a great thanksgiving, and billy & jillian got sealed. Yay!