Seven on Sunday: Week 26

It's taken me some time to recover from a crazy week in San Diego, but better than never!!!

Day 1: Sunday--Family pictures day!! This was totally last minute because our other photographer had to cancel because of the rain and we couldn't find a date to reschedule! So we ended up with a Sunday photo session at at 12:30--Sarah's nap time. Lovely. An hour and three meltdowns later we somehow pulled together and there may be one or two salvageable pictures.  Maybe.

Day 2: Monday--We were leaving for San Diego on Tuesday and on Monday I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold. Ugh. So I whipped up a bowl of quick and easy homemade Pho in about 15 minutes flat. It hit the spot :) (but didn't cure me, I'm still sick!!)

Day 3: Tuesday--They're ready to go!! They got into their PJs and about 7pm we headed to Fresno for the first leg of our trip to San Diego!

Day 4: Wednesday--San Diego bound!! What a crazy trip that we'll remember forever.

They were troopers, waking up at 5:30am to leave!

Nothing says "road trip" like a stop at Burger King. Ugh. I looked for an hour for an In and Out and when I finally found one, I missed the exit. By this time everyone was ravenous, so Burger King it was!

After about 7 hours, we finally arrived in San Diego and the cousins were reunited again!!!!

They all joined the Polar Bear Club with Auntie Jen Jen! FREEZING!!!

Day 5: Thursday--Thanksgiving Day!! This was a FULL DAY of family, food, wine and chaos!!

We started the morning by cheering on Auntie Jenna in the 10k Turkey Trot!

Followed by lots of family pictures...

The 5 siblings:

 The 5 siblings and spouses: (and tiny photo bombers!!)

The cousins! Sarah's hair??! Really??

EVERYONE!!!

D

Day 6: Friday--Friday was my big girl's 9th birthday!!!! Last year in single digits :( For her birthday, we went to the San Diego Zoo, stayed in a hotel downtown and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a freakishly LONG day but I know this birthday was very special to her because she was surrounded by her extended family. It was truly her "dream" birthday!!

Zoo Fun! The SD zoo is overwhelming! I almost think it was too big--at least for little kids!

Zoo Buddies :)

Birthday Dinner

Day 7: Saturday--Our last day in beautiful San Diego! We headed to Coronado Island in the morning--a place I have ALWAYS wanted to visit! Next time we are definitely staying longer!! The beach is gorgeous!

Those are just a few of the highlights from our crazy Thanksgiving Week!!! Cheers to this week being a little more normal!!! :)

Thankful

Since I am sure everyone in knee deep making or anticipating eating their Thanksgiving faves, in lieu of Recipe Wednesday, I decided it would be a good time to acknowledge some of the things I am thankful for. I can't list them all, because there is not enough time or space to possibly list ALL of the blessings I have in my life. Instead, here are are few things that are immediate "Chart Toppers" along with just some day to day things I love that make my life great :)

Please don't judge me when I don't list ALLL the "serious" stuff like food, water, health, shelter, etc...yes, I get it. I thank God for those things everyday. All of those things are "givens" in my book. So here we go...

#1: Our Church: St. Dominic Church is an extremely special place to my entire family. It's amazing at what has happened, the emotions that I have felt in the pews of this church--my baptism, all of the kid's baptisms, seeing my oldest kid go to Kindergarten, our 10 year "wedding," heartache at two funerals, utter joy watching the kids perform at the Christmas program, reconciliation,...and just the sense of peace I feel (almost) every Sunday morning when I go through the doors of this place--no matter how cranky I was a half hour earlier wrestling the kids into their Sunday clothes. This church and the community has been transforming to my family and me. I am thankful for St. Dominic Church.

#2: My Family. This is one of those "givens" that top everyone's "thankful" list. However, I am taking it a step further to say that I am thankful for my ENTIRE family...including cousins, steps, in laws, aunts/uncles..and everyone in between. I have quite an extended family and although we are all flawed in our own ways, ~ the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts (or whatever it was Aristotle said). Simply put, when we are together, we're awesome and it works. I'm thankful for my family, near and far.

#3: Coffee. Yes, this is one of those "everyday" thankfuls. I wake up every morning around 5am. My days are spent either working at the kid's school or running around on a zillion and one errands, chasing Sarah, making sure laundry in done, teeth are brushed, lunches are packed, homework is done, tests are studied for, projects complete, forms filled out, Drs. appointments on time, PTA meetings attended, vacations planned, grocery lists made, dinner cooked, workouts complete. Yes. I am thankful for coffee. A lot of it.

#4: Jeans. I love all kinds of clothing items but if I had to chose, I'd live in jeans every. single. day. Couldn't live without them :)

 

#5: Pinterest: Hardly any recipe I try, activity I do or outfit I wear hasn't somehow originated back to Pinterest. LOL! It's a lifesaver. Pinterest has saved my butt many times--some random searches: "recipes to feed large groups" "best holiday cocktails", "easy Halloween crafts", "alphabet learning activities", "beige sweater outfits." The list goes on. I am thankful for Pinterest.

There is my non-complete list, but it will have to do for now because I just left CHURCH for the annual Thanksgiving prayer service, and we are heading to see my crazy FAMILY, we'll be driving for 9 hours so I'll need COFFEE, I'll be wearing JEANS on the drive and I'll be doing a PINTEREST search before I leave for "fun activities for crazy kids in the car."

Have a wonderful holiday, friends!!

XO ~ Casey

Recipe Wednesday: Perfect Mashed Potatoes

 

Happy Wednesday! My favorite holiday of the year is just over a week away! I'm looking forward to "tying on the feedbag" as Scott's family would say! I really can't think of a better day of the year--spending time with family, eating, drinking, and reflecting on the abundance of blessings we have in our life...well, I actually think I do this pretty much EVERY DAY, but I like having a holiday totally dedicated to this :)

Big dinners like this are not complete without mashed potatoes in my opinion! I look forward to mashed potatoes and gravy the most, I think!! One problem--I CANNOT STAND peeling, cutting, boiling and mashing the potatoes on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. It's not hard or a lot of work, but when you have 50 other dishes going and people in your house, it's not the most fun thing :)

A few years back I discovered this recipe for mashed potatoes from Pioneer Woman that you can MAKE AHEAD OF TIME!! No way! I had no idea you could even do that!! I was skeptical thinking they might be gluey or dry but honestly, they are the best mashed potatoes I've ever had!

And just so there is no mistake--there is absolutely NO calorie counting on Thanksgiving Day!!

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
**Makes a big 4 quart baking dish of potatoes, you can easily half the recipe

5lbs Yukon Gold or regular old Russet potatoes
1 stick of butter, softened
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
3/4 to 1 cup of heavy cream or half and half
1 teaspoon of Lawry's seasoning salt
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Plenty of black pepper

1. Spray a 4 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Peel potatoes and cut into large chunks and dump them (carefully) into the boiling water. Boil until fork tender-- about 20 minutes or so.

3. Drain potatoes and return them to the pan. Mash them for a minute or so WITHOUT adding any other ingredients!! This is a key step!!! Mashing them by themselves allows the steam to escape so you are not left with gluey potatoes.

4. After a minute or so of mashing, add remaining ingredients and mash until they are creamy. Check seasonings-- add more salt or pepper if needed (try not to eat the whole pan). You can also add more cream here if you like creamier potatoes.

5. Spread potatoes in the baking dish and dot with butter. (At this point you can cover the pan with foil and refrigerate overnight).

6. Bake for about 20-30 minutes until heated through.

Voila! Perfectly creamy, rich, non-gluey potatoes...and you didn't even have to break a sweat on Thanksgiving Day!  You're welcome :)

Have a GREAT holiday!! I will leave you with my favorite quote of the season: "It's not happy people who are thankful, it's thankful people who are happy." :)

Happy Turkey Day ~

XO ~ Casey