Turkey Phases 2 & 3

So after having put my precarious aluminum roasting pan full of turkey in the oven on top of a cookie sheet, we waited 4 hours and then it came time to see if my plan had worked and if we were actually able to remove the turkey from the oven to take the tinfoil off.. teehee.. it worked! yay! So this is our turkey still needing 1 hour of crispifying!

I was a little worried at this point that we would end up with a Christmas Vacation turkey because the thermometer seemed to already be reading the temperature that indicates the turkey is ready.. :S But somehow miraculously 1 hour later it read 170 degrees again haha and the turkey was crispy and done!

And then Ian got to do the honors of carving his very first turkey!

And we had all the usual fixings to go along, Ian said it tasted just like we were at my parents for Thanksgiving aww..

And we were all excited to eat it but my picture taking skills were not up to snuff...

And the finished product was delicious and the turkey was moist yum!

And then after we ate too much food we watched a movie and it was very relaxing :) After all of the trauma of preparing a turkey I think I will most likely do this all over again whenever the occasion arises :)

Hope everyone had a relaxing thanksgiving weekend!

With love.

Turkey Phase 1

Have you ever felt braver when you are alone? I sometimes do.. not obviously in actually dangerous situations but just day to day things that seem more possible if I don't have anyone to fall back on. This morning I had one of those moments. I did not know that preparing a turkey is not for the faint of heart. YIKES! I got up at 7 (and Ian is still sleeping) to put the turkey in the oven.. my first (maybe my last haha depending on how it turns out!). I had set an alarm but didn't even need it I was so excited I woke up 5 minutes before I was supposed to. It feels like Christmas here but it's not but just to know it's a holiday is exciting enough!

So... brave me I put the turkey into the sink and rip off the wrapping... and what is THAT! haha all the giblets and neck and stuff I knew they were in there and I knew I would be getting them out but yuck. If Ian hadn't of been sleeping I would have been out of there so fast haha... So being super brave I grab the tongs and fish them out cause I am not getting my hands all up in there... who knows if I will get them back. And the website told me to rinse and wipe out the cavity. haha. I rinsed it but hopefully nothing bad will come of not wiping it out. It looked clean enough and no water was running out anymore. I am all for meat. I eat meat pretty much everyday but I am spoiled. The meat I eat doesn't actually look like an animal. And although a cooked turkey looks like an animal, a raw turkey looks more like an animal. With a raw gaping hole where all it's insides used to be, and the legs that just kept flapping about. I thought I was going to rip one off:

And what are those? It's ribs? Ok so I know this all sounds ridiculous, I am 26 after all. Have seen my mom at least deal with the turkey after it comes out of the oven haha I realized that I don't think I ever saw her prepare it. So after handling it ever so gently so as not to get my hand up in somewhere I didn't want my hand, (that 15 pound turkey was awkward when it was all wet and limbs flailing about!) I think I did a pretty good job of preparing it!

Now some other problems... We didn't have a roaster so we got one of those disposable aluminum ones and then I realized it said you had to support the bottom when you take it out of the oven and so I put a cookie sheet underneath ha! We will see.. now I just pray none of us gets injured taking it out of the oven. And isn't it always the case that you run out of something just when you need it most... like foil. I had to take the foil off my pie to have enough for this whole thing because I just didn't feel like heading out to Safeway at 7am and it wouldn't of even been open.

Well.. I guess I will keep you posted as to how it turns out. My tummy is growling now so I should probably eat some breakfast.

With love.

Thanksgiving

As I was baking pumpkin pie and making my Mom's famous sweet potato stuff I started thinking about Thanksgiving. And am glad that it is a time not only to eat delicious food but also to ponder all the things that one is thankful for and since I am not always diligent in letting people know how thankful I am for them I figured it was time to break out of my blog slumber and let you all know.

Just thinking about all the people and things I am thankful for makes my heart swell up so big I feel tears coming to my eyes. It is a little strange not being surrounded by large amounts of family this year for this thanksgiving weekend but I am thankful to have my family here (Ian) and also that Caleb can come and celebrate with us!

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband Ian and all that he does for me and with me. I am thankful that I can say I love him even more than I did the day we got married and I loved him quite a lot even then :) I am thankful for my parents who have always been there for me and I am thankful that they showed me what it was to be in a loving relationship and that I can call them my friends. I am thankful for my two beautiful sisters. They are always full of wise advise and laughter and are always willing to listen to me if I need to cry or vent. I am thankful of their friendship and all their love. I am thankful for my parents-in-law who have accepted me wholeheartedly into their family. I am thankful for my brothers-in-law who also have accepted me as their own little sister (and big sister in one instance). I am thankful for my adorable nieces and ruggedly handsome nephew. I am so thankful that they are healthy and thriving and hope I will come to know them well. I am also thankful for my parents parents my Grandparents! They raised up such wonderful people to be my mom and dad. I know we are not all close but I want you all to know that you are always in my thoughts and prayers and I love you so much. I feel so blessed to have you in my life :)

I am thankful also for my beautiful lady friends here in Calgary. You are all wonderful in so many different ways and mean so much to me.

I am thankful for a steady job, health, a roof over my head: (Here are some pictures... I was planning on waiting till our paintings went up but that might not actually ever happen :S):

And because I can NEVER get these pictures right.... I am also thankful for the beautiful purse I got for my birthday which no one has seen yet:

And now our much more functional spare room:

And our "master suite" haha:

The bathroom (essential!):

Our living room/dining room/huge window that brings in tons of light:

Our kitchen (with very small area for doing dishes ...) :

And our laundry room with tons of storage YAY!:

So that's the little tour of the house that I am thankful to be living in!

And last but definitely not least... I am thankful that God is so good. He is so good.

Psalm 118: 24 "This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118: 29 "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."

Enough said. I love you all.

With love.