Turkey Day!

This year we were lucky enough to get two Thanksgivings. We started off at Grandma and Grandpa Brown’s house the Sunday before and boy did we have a feast! My Grandma Brown is seriously an AMAZING cook and absolutely loves doing it. Every time we go over for a family party, Christmas, New Years or any event in between, you could feed an army with her food. It was fun to finally get to spend a Thanksgiving with the Brown family and I hope this becomes a yearly tradition. I will happily enjoy two Thanksgiving feasts every year!!!

My cute Grandma and IMike mashing some potatoes!My mom's yummy turkey and her shocked and surprised face!

Nate and ArelieKris making a missionary project for TysonCousin timeLook at that spread, and that was only half of it!Take One
Take Two, Aaron is a special soldier :)
Wednesday night we headed down to our annual Thanksgiving destination, St. George. This year it was just my mom, Rod, Mike and I and we had a great time on the ride down as well as in our condo. Isn’t that right “my friend”? Thanksgiving morning we woke up early and began making the rolls and noodles and then headed over to the annual Seegmiller Thanksgiving 5K. My mom and Rod started this about 5 years ago and it’s a fun way to see everyone and get some exercise for the day. We then spent the rest of the day gorging ourselves and hanging out with the fam and of course watching the Seegmiller Talent Show. I love the traditions we as a family have and that we still all get together for Thanksgiving. It keeps us all close and I hope we continue the yearly get together for many years to come. I didn’t take ANY pictures from the Seegmiller family Thanksgiving so instead here is a recipe for the rolls I made. They got rave reviews and were super easy!

Butter Rolls

1 Tablespoon instant or quick rising yeast
1 Tablespoon Sugar
½ cup warm water
½ cup cooking oil
1 cup warm water
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
5 cups flour
¾ teaspoon salt
butter, melted

In a large bowl, soak yeast and sugar in ½ cup warm water. Combine oil and 1 cup warm water. Stir into yeast mix. Add sugar, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. Mix with mixer. Add salt and 3 cups flour. Mix well with a big spoon. Cover and let rise three hours.

Roll out on a well floured- surface, about ½ inch thick. Cut with a pizza cutter, fold over and place in a pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Bruse the inside and top of rolls with butter if desired. Let rise ½ hour. Bake at 350-375 degrees for 20 minutes or until brown on top.

I like to cut mine out with a biscuit cutter, dip one end in butter and then fold in half because that’s how Grandma Seegmiller did it but whatever works for you!

Friday Mike and I decided to venture out on Black Friday, a tradition Sariah and I started a few years ago. Sariah didn’t make it down to St. George this year (such a bummer!) so I dragged Mike with me and surprisingly he was a great sport. I think it’s because he loves good deals as much as I love shopping. If you have never done Black Friday, it’s an interesting but fun experience and as the years go by, I learn more and more about how to get the biggest bang for our buck.

We started off at Wal-Mart (they always have the best deals and offer home and electronics) hoping to get a laptop I desperately need for work, but got there a bit too late and missed out on it. My mom needed some things for my brothers and I needed some kitchen items so we stayed and shopped. I ended up with a crock pot, an electric hand mixer, 2 Pyrex pie tins, a card table, a Pyrex 9x13 pan with a cover and carrying kit all for under $60.00! Although we spent an hour in line checking out (Wal-Mart was NOT organized well) it didn’t damper our bargain spirits and we headed over to Target. Once we got to Target we decided not to brave the line that wrapped around the entire store and ditched it for Best Buy, hoping to find a laptop there.

Best Buy was busy but extremely well organized so we jumped into the line for computers hoping to get lucky and find a laptop. To our surprise, we found out two laptops we wanted. I guess Best Buy hands out tickets for their “hot” items and if they are not used by noon on Friday, they allow you to purchase the items that are left at their Black Friday price. The only downside is you have to wait in line since it is first come first serve. Mike and I really wanted this one laptop that was “ticketed” but decided to buy our back-up laptop just in case they ran out before we got to the counter, knowing we could return it. After buying the back-up laptop and a computer monitor for our desk top ($99.00!) I braved the line and waited an hour and a half until noon came around crossing my fingers that people wouldn’t redeem their tickets. We ended up lucking out and getting the laptop we really wanted! Whoopie! I am anxiously awaiting Christmas so I can finally use it and can feel it starting at me from underneath the tree everyday! I can’t wait until I can finally work from home!

We had a really successful Black Friday this year, so much so that we couldn’t fit all the stuff I bought in the car home and had to get Donnie and Dee to take some back for us (thanks guys!). I seriously can’t wait until I have kids and can go shopping for them because it’s such a rush to find a great deal and know you can give so much without completely breaking the bank!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday too! Now onto Christmas festivities!