Thanksgiving and My Birthday!

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Can't believe it already came and went, and Christmas is just around the corner! Well Jake and I had a great Thanksgiving day at his parent's house in Centerville with the rest of the fam. I started off the day by making my mom's yummy blueberry jello salad and 2 pies. I was proud of my della robia pie that I'm holding, cuz it came out just right! It's kind of a weird pie, made with apples, maraschino cherries, chopped dates and walnuts, but when it's baked it tastes like apple cherry pie. It was always my favorite pie that my mom made for Thanksgiving. Yum! And we also made an oreo pudding pie for the kiddies.
I went to my work for just an hour during the day, to say Happy Thanksgiving to the residents and to eat the yummy feast with them that our chef made. It was delicious, and I enjoyed getting two meals! Then my brother, Nathan, drove up from Provo and came with us to the Yospe's for our evening feast with the family. There was lots more good food, games, visiting, and Grandma Yospe even made Nathan and I sing together. haha. We sang "Silent Night/Peace Peace" that our family always sings on Christmas Eve when we go Christmas Carolling. It was a great time to be all together, and I'm grateful to have such wonderful family!!

Jake and I were feeling frisky, so we actually got up at 3:30 the next morning to go Black Friday shopping! We got to Kohl's right as they were opening the doors for the huge line of people (and ran into my visiting teacher and neighbor), and we got some good purchases including a new bedding set, yay! While Jake was standing in line for an hour and a half (bless his heart), I ran to Walmart right when they let the crowds loose, and grabbed the one thing we wanted there: a pre-lit 6.5 ft. Christmas tree for $25. I thought I'd have to fight for one, but turns out they weren't the hot item that day, and I just picked one up and lugged it through the fighting crowds and shopping cart traffic jams to get to a dang register. I drove back to Kohl's with enough time to get back in line with Jake...haha...and buy our things, and then we came home and slept for a couple more hours before I had to go in for a full day of work. I wouldn't really recommend it...my eyes burned and I was SO tired all day long, but hey, it was an adventure to remember!

The next night, we visited the Temple Square lights which were beautiful as always, and enjoyed watching Nora's Christmas Gift in the visitors center. It always brings in the Christmas spirit!
And then on Monday, December 1, we celebrated my 26th Birthday! Geezo, I'm gettin up there. It was a good day...everyone at work was really nice and gave me flowers, cards, a little surprise party with the residents and a birthday cake. Then Jake took me out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, a classic favorite of mine mostly because of the big yummy rolls! We got a cactus blossom, as you can see, which is ridiculously saturated in fat but pretty dang good!


I opened some presents at dinner that my mom had sent, including some really cute girlie pink clothes for the babe! (Overall I got some wonderful gifts from Jake, his parents and mine- everything I had said I could use, including a new watch, cozy body pillow & maternity clothes!)
And this is a horrible picture, but they actually made me get on the saddle while everyone shouted a rousing Texas Roadhouse "Yeeeehawwwww!". I didn't care, they gave me free ice cream for it. And then after dinner, Jake actually took me to see the movie, "Twilight"! haha...not his first choice, but he actually liked it, and I loved it! It was just what I had hoped, after reading the books, and was a great ending to a good day. Thanks Jakey for a wonderful birthday!