Thanksgiving 2013, Part II

Let's get this wrapped up, shall we? I think it is as ridiculous as you do that it has taken me this long to write about Thanksgiving. I mean, Christmas is only next week...

CHOPPED
The most fun activity (in my opinion) that we did at the cabin was a family Chopped competition. Have you seen the show? If not, do yourself a favor and watch it (or at least read up on it, here). Carlie, Che', and I planned out all the details ahead of time and bought the secret ingredients. Carlie played the host and with her little helpers divided up the ingredients. We had 12 people participate, so we drew teams of two. Three teams competed in the appetizer round (we also drew for which round you competed in) and three teams competed in the entree round. The winner of each of those two rounds went on to the dessert round. It was hilarious, competitive, disgusting, and all around fun. I highly recommend this at your next family function as well!

We had the following secret ingredients:
Appetizer round: Pesto basil sausage, canned sardines in oil, and aloe vera water
Entree round: Seaweed, eggplant, and leg of lamb
Dessert: Gouda cheese, peach nectar, and gingerbread cookies

Carlie, Ryen, and Avery hiding in the laundry room to make the secret baskets

Some crazy cooking action

The judges- the three sisters and the honorary judge (Grandma). Apparently Mari Ann is not buying whatever someone is trying to sell her in that picture on the left.

And...the teams. Landon and Barb (who won the whole thing! You would never have guessed based on Landon's approach in the appetizer round. He took the sausage and added whatever he could find as a coating and grilled it-- i mean he must have had at least 20 different things with his sausage. Sick!), Lynn and Cortney, Che' and Natassia (winners of the entree round- but they got chopped in the dessert round), Jennifer and Emilee, Tim and I -we failed miserably in the appetizer round-- though it looked very pretty if I do say so myself. The judges said it tasted nasty and that is what matters. :(  and Mikey and Neil. 

 Good times, good times. New annual tradition? I think so.

Thanksgiving Day:
Devin's brother and his wife are nice enough to host whoever wants to come from the Perry clan each year for Thanksgiving Day. It is always a good time and the kids enjoy running around and wreaking havoc (good thing it was a decent day and Shane and Marcene have a lot of room to run around outside!). I really failed to take a lot of pictures here, but I am blaming that on chasing after three kids myself. Devin had to work that day...bummer. Here are the few pictures I did get:  

Brynlee and Hals showed up in the same shirt! The last time we saw Alisa and kids, Brylee and Flor were wearing the same shirt. We must have the same good sense of style in kids clothes. :)

Dinner time- yum yum! The food was super good. I love Thanksgiving food- probably one of my favorite meals. So twice in one week was extra awesome. 

Playing outside without coats even! 

Flor had a good time bouncing on the trampoline and that is a good way to keep her occupied...so win/win for me!

And, yes, hate us all you want, but devin and I went shopping that evening. We got almost 100% of our shopping done where we hadn't done any before that night, so I'd say it was a win. We were gone until the wee hours of the morning. Luckily, Devin's parents were nice enough to let us put our kids to bed at their house so that we could go. Devin had to work the next morning at 5 am too, so I think he may have gotten 2 hours or sleep that night. Yikes. What a good sport to go with me though! 

Well....now that that is done. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!