It's almost eatin' time...

Dean doing who-knows-what on the counter and I got the back of Julie's head.

Look at sweet little Lily. She would seriously rock out her bouncy walker thingy. Seriously, like she would head bang and everything. It was hilarious to watch.

Look at that beautiful golden brown color on the turkey. Perfection.

Dean and I pausing for a Thanksgiving Day picture.

Yuck!!! Just yuck!!!...

I openly admit that I would rather stick a dull butterknife in my eye than take out all the innards from a turkey and stuff it with stuffing. There is just something so nasty about shoving my hands in a dark slimy dead bird. Maybe I'm afraid that it is going to suddenly jump up and become the Thanksgiving poltergeist and do the can-can all over my perfect greenbean casserole before chasing Dean and I around the house with a butcher knife. So instead, I would rather take my chances with the Thanksgiving Jennie-O turkey loaf I had once as a child. (money was a little tight that year) At least a turkey loaf doesn't have legs to chase you around on.

But as a show of good faith to my sweet Dean, I took my chances with the poltergeist and did the final stuffing of stuffing into the 20 pound bird. Here are pictures to prove it...

Notice the whole block of butcher knives a foot away from my hand at all times in case I had to bring that bird to its' knees if it jumped out of the pan.

Yuck!! And I didn't even have my hand all the way shoved in there.

I'm thinking, "I love my husband, I love my husband, I love my husband..."

I DID IT!

What a turkey!

The bird waiting to be prepped...

Dean grossing me out by pretending that he is going to eat the liver and heart. He eventually did eat them after it was cooked, and even had our friend Jeff try a bite. Sickos. Dean actually likes the taste but Jeff didn't think it was too yummy.

Dean enjoying ripping things out of the turkey a little too much. He was supposed to have been born in the 1800's so that he could do this on a weekly basis, killing the turkey and all, but I wasn't willing to be born in an age that had no running water, no electricity, and no anesthesia so Dean decided that he loved me so much that he was willing to not be a pioneer or a mountain man.

Gettin' things a goin'...

Dean shredding a stalk of celery to go in the homemade stuffing...

Awww, what a sweet boy...

We are still so incredibly in love after 2 years of marriage...

...so much that it even makes Dean cry.

Ok, I lie. He was cutting an onion and his eyes wattered up pretty good.

The finished product...

I put up 2 pictures of the tree and 2 pictures of the entertainment center because the lighting was totally different on each. If you enlarge the pictures you can actually see the details...

Ornaments ornaments everywhere...

Dean and I have had our tree up for a week but we only just put the ornaments on it on Sunday. Life was just too busy this past week.

Anyways, we had a blast putting them up, but the best part was unwrapping them and reminiscing about where where we bought them and when. Almost every ornament we have has special meaning behind it so it is so fun taking a trip down memory lane.

Dean and I have a tradition that we've done ever since the first year we were dating. We buy a Pottery Barn frame ornament with the year monogrammed on it, and we put in a picture of us that we've taken at some point that year that represents a significant events in our lives. For instance, our 2004 ornament has a picture of us on a date since that was the year that we started dating. 2005 ornament has a picture of our wedding. 2006 has a picture of Palmer since Dean started chiropractic school that year. 2007 will have a picture of Dean and I infront of a Capri College of Massage Therapy sign since I started massage therapy school this year. One day after we've been married for 40 or so years, we'll just have a tree that just has frame ornaments on it that our kids and grandkids can look at and see the changes over the years and will bring back many happy memories.

Also, every year we buy a dove ornament. We love hunting around for the 'the one' dove ornament that speaks to us before Christmas, but sometimes it finds us. And like the frame ornaments, one day we'll just have a tree with litle doves all over it. As most people know, doves symbolize peace and Dean and I felt impressed from the get go to have doves be the Christmas symbol for our marriage.

Hmmmm, where to put it?...

I was having a hard time deciding where to place our little boy-and-girl-snowman-in-a-stocking ornament. Dean and I bought that on our honeymoon in Leavenworth, WA and had them write our wedding anniv on it so we hold it very sacred.

Here? Right here honey? Alright! I love it!

Just for funsies. After we decorated our tree I decided I wanted to do a 100 piece puzzle of the USA to celebrate. Probably a little known fact about me... I LOVE 100-250 piece puzzles. I won't do any that are less than 100 pieces because it's way too easy, and I won't do any that are more than 250 pieces because it takes too long and I prefer do a puzzle in one sitting. Oh, and I can't stand doing puzzles that are nature scenery or paintings or something that that.

Another attempt at baking...

This past Sunday I had the world's biggest hankering for cookies so I pulled out the family cookbook, and found a recipe for peanut butter cookies that looked delicious. If you've read our previous posts, you know that I admit that I am not Suzy-Bake-A-Lot and most of my attempts turn out in a charred oversweetened disaster. Well, I am pleased to say that all of my cookies except 1 batch turned our wonderful on Sunday. Dean and I munched on them all night long and were in peanut butter cookie heaven. So at least I know there is still some hope for me baking-wise.

Going into the oven...

That's right baby, they turned out all peanut buttery kinds of wonderful...

1. That is probably one of the most unflattering pictures of me in history.

2. I wasn't really licking them. Don't worry. That'd be gross.

3. Why are my eyelids so pink?

It's kind of blurry, but oh well. Dean was in cookie heaven.