I have many, many things to be thankful for this year. I would list them all but I would probably forget something so I will tell you about one that sticks out in my mind. My family. I am thankful for my wonderful wife and children. They are everything to me and I would not be who I am today without them in my life. I am also thankful for my parents and siblings. My family, as some of you may know, has gone through some tough trials with health in the past few years and this year was no exception. Specifically, and most recently, my sister having a heart attack (actually 2). If there is a bright side to this happening to her it would have to be first off that she is doing fine now, second that it was a wakeup call to all my siblings that we need to do what it takes so we hopefully won’t have similar issues, and third that it motivates me to eat healthier and exercise. It was a wakeup call to me to say the least. Thankfully everyone has pulled through their ailments thus far.

I am also thankful for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner my wife, children and I put together today. It was the first time we had cooked a turkey, and the first time we did everything all on our own. It was fun and extremely exhausting at the same time, but I am proud to say that everything was very good. Not knowing the first thing about cooking a turkey we looked up recipe after recipe and put together a plan. Pretty much we did everything we could do to make our turkey as moist and delicious as possible. We soaked it in a herb brine overnight, we used a herb butter to slather on the outside of the turkey, we injected olive oil and herbs inside the turkey and we used a cooking bag to seal in the moisture. Sounds overkill right? but man was it moist and delicious. Heck everything was delicious and everything homemade.

Wait what was I saying before about eating healthier?

The Bird

Home made mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and chives.

Linkin not wanting to try new things and sticking with a roll. Stinker.

Shawn’s craft project turkey for our centerpiece. Very cool and I love the eyes.