Just wanted to let you know that we picked up Luke at the Charlotte airport last night. He brought his 19-month-old husky, Rimsky, with him. Thanks so much for your prayers for his safe travel!
We heard from Allison on Wednesday that he was on his way in. Apparently he needed to make several stops to make sure that the pooch was well taken care of along the way. Glad all is well and enjoy having all the kids under one roof; I've only resently understood how precious those moments really are.
Susie, I hope that y'all made it back safely. I never heard anyone say anything about whether y'all had arrived home or not last night at services. I still have your workbook, but I just wanted to let you know that we didn't finish the whole lesson on Sunday. We only covered Jesus and Nicodemus, and had begun to discuss the Samaritan woman when we ran out of time. I really like that book though. It is laid out really well. Hope to see you Sunday!!
Thank you. Glad that you had a good vacation/reunion! It sounded like it was going to be lots of fun (and not too much sleeping)! Hope you found some time to relax and rest! Lord willing, I'll see you tomorrow! :)
I am so excited for you and Michael!!! I hope you are feeling better...missed your and your voice Wed night (singing night). Michael said you lost your voice due to a bad cold!! Get well soon. Again so happy for yall!
Thanksgiving, that is! I think I enjoy Thanksgiving more than Christmas. It sounds like many of you are getting geared up for a wonderful day of feasting and giving thanks with family and friends.
I'm VERY thankful that Tyler and Allison will be coming home for a few days. Plus we'll get to have our niece and another FC student (from Italy) join us! Luke is still in Alaska BUT (and I'm almost afraid to put this in writing for fear it won't happen!) he is making plans to come back home in December!! But more about that in another post after we're sure of his plans.
I've been getting out my traditional recipes but have been pondering trying some new recipes. My turkey is always very disappointing, so I'll probably try a new turkey recipe. Have any of you ever brined a turkey? I may try that. It's supposed to make it more moist. Please let me know if you have a really reliable way of fixing your turkey. But we HAVE to have broccoli-rice casserole and homemade cloverleaf dinner rolls per Allison's request (and I agree!). Tyler has requested an apple pie, a cherry pie, a pecan pie (because he says it looks good), a pumpkin pie (because it's Thanksgiving), and a buttermilk pie (because he hasn't had one in a long time)! Good thing I love to bake! I usually prepare sweet potatoes with a recipe from my sister-in-law, Jerilyn, that always turns out great.
AFter Thanksgiving, I'll have it made because Lorenzo has requested that he take over the kitchen to prepare an Italian meal for us. And Allison would like to take over for another meal. Isn't it great to have adult "kids" around?
Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Susie
Have you ever tried using one of the oven roaster bags? I did one year and it turned out really good! I have always wanted to try brined but it looks like a lot of work and with everything else to cook..... whew! Your dinner sounds divine. Krisite made a buttermilk pie and said it was so good, I am hoping she will make it when she comes here for Thanksgiving. So glad your kids are coming home!
I've used the bag ^^ method for years and the turkey is always so moist and good. We're going to have a line up of pies, too, and my very-simple-and-moist-gotta-have-or-my-son-may-not-come-dressing. Your company sounds like a fun crew! Enjoy!
Yummy! I'm very excited about Thanksgiving, well except I won't be with any of my family. I'll be with my spiritual family and I'm looking forward to that!
What is Buttermilk Pie? I've never heard of it. Maybe you will send me the recipe if you have time. It might be fun to try something new.
Also, when we have a large turkey, we flip it half way through the cooking time. It usually helps it be more moist! All the juices from the dark meat run down to the usually dry breast.
I'm going to try out the new "oven" Mike bought for me. It's sort of like a huge crock pot. Ribs cooked in it are out of this world tender and tasty. I brined my turkey last year and it was good. I saw a tip on TV years ago..roast the turkey with the breast side down and the juices will run through the white meat making it more tender and juicy. I've tried it and it was good, don't really know that it made that much difference.
What about that sweet potato recipe? Brian has requested sweet potato casserole, which we have every year. I plan to make pumpkin pie, chocolate pie with meringue...GREAT...it's in the FC cookbook, lime or lemon pie, possibly a cake.
Have a great Thanksgiving with your family. Allison is such a sweetie. She wrote me a letter some time back and I was tickled pink to get it. Good luck on that turkey. I would like to not have turkey this year but guess I will because we are SUPPOSED to. Love to all of you. Hope Texas isn't too hard on us on TG day. Our football team leaves a lot to be desired.
Sounds delicious! Enjoy your family. I love Thanksgiving, too! I have brined a turkey, or at least a turkey breast, but I can't remember much about it. It seems like it was moister.
My oldest is in Florida and he hasn't been home in almost 6 years. I am almost ready to rope him and his family in for a bit. That is just WAY too long.
Sounds delectable. We're simplifying this year since we'll be at mom and dad's and I don't want to drag a ton of food and I really don't want mom to be killing herself in the kitchen. Also, we'll be missing Payton and Nathan (in Austin for the game), Shelley :), Griffin and Christie (with her folks.)
I brined the turkey last year for the first time, and Darci declared that I should be the official Turkey Baker from then on. However, my grandma is insisting on having everyone over to her house this year and she wants to cook the turkey, so I guess I'm off the hook for this year. I didn't have a container big enough, so I actually brined mine in a turkey oven bag. It was definitely a hit with my family. Happy (early) Turkey Day!
Enjoy! We are having Thanksgiving with one other American that was raised in Scotland and the rest Scottish. They love our Thanksgiving. (and they are doing the Turkey!)
I haven't read the above suggestions, but I highly recommend the large, turkey browning bag that I think Reynolds makes. My turkey may not look like a Norman Rockwell painting, but it's extremely juicy and tender. Good luck.
And, no I have never tried the brine thing. Let me know how that works, should you experiment with it!
Oh, and last year we bought (at Lowe's) one of those turkey fryers and it is now my favorite!!! Let me know if you decide to do that sometime, and I'll give you a few pointers.
Well, if you should buy a fryer, invest in the sturdiest one, as it will be the safest. We happen to have an extra fridge now in the garage, so Keith strains the oil each time after it has cooled and puts it back in the original container. We have plenty of room to store it in that extra fridge and we have been told the oil will keep a long time for re-using if we do it this way. Keith also uses the fryer for fish fries when we have lots of family/friends over to share our catches. Let me know what you decide to do. I know it will be delicious.
Brandon's fiance's dad smokes their turkey each year, but has always had trouble getting it done in a day. So, now they only buy the turkey breasts and finish them in the oven. We have lots of trouble with our smoker, so Keith has never tried a turkey on it. Wow, this is a lot of nothing I have typed!
I know that Shelley is really looking forward to coming to South Carolina for the holiday. She really does love that area and I thank you for having her, if she can't come home we are "thankful" that she is spending the time with family. Hope that the December event really does take place (I don't want to jinx it so I'll refer to it as "the event").
I couldn't answer your luggage question the last time. We just went to Wal-Mart and bought the cheap stuff. One good thing is those bags that allow you to squeeze out all the air and compress bulky items like sweaters into a very small space. The real secret is packing extremely light!
While Allison was home for fall break, we got to have a wonderful mother/daughter day enjoying fall colors, scenic mountain roads, and an apple orchard. (Unfortunately, Mike had to go on a business trip, so he missed out!)
We started our day by dropping Mike off at the Columbia airport. Then we drove a couple of hours north to Hendersonville, NC, where the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains begin. So beautiful! There are a bunch of apple orchards in the area. Wish I had known that when our kids were small!
We picked a bushel of apples from a variety of trees all over the orchard - jonagolds, cameos, fuji, granny smith, etc. Freshly picked apples are so crisp, juicy, and flavorful! I've been making apple butter from them, too. Yummmm!
After having a quick lunch, we drove west through Brevard and then south, across the SC state line, to Caesar's Head state park. We had planned to hike around a bit, but as we approached the highest point and pulled into the visitor's center, this is what we saw!
Driving into a cloud of thick, soupy fog is pretty cool, but a bit creepy when you're driving on a winding, mountain road! We continued on down the road to Table Rock state park which is at a lower elevation.
Next, we drove to Greenville where we shopped at Target, ate supper at Cracker Barrel, and just generally killed time until . . .
We met a very tired Tyler at the Greenville airport. He was returning from a job interview in Ohio. We sat out in the car and visited for a couple of hours. Tyler and Allison were so glad to see each other - even if it was just a quick airport visit! Allie and I got back home at 1:30 a.m.! A very long day, but filled with special memories!
Beautiful! Mother/daughter days are so special.
We were in some fog on winding mountain roads as well. We drove up to Townsend, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg Thursday of last week and back on Friday. It was late...dark, rainy and foggy on the way home...flying trip!
Sounds and looks like ya'll had a wonderful time. I appreciated Allison letting me stay the night while in Florida. It was good to see the girls in their element!
Sounds like a wonderful time! Even though the fog was creepy, it's a great picture! I thought that you wrote you ate at 'Super Cracker Barrel' and was quite perplexed, but, reread 'supper'!!!
What are you doing with the apples now? pies, applesauce?....
What a wonderful day. Your photos are calendar quality, and the kids are so handsome. I can't wait to see everyone. I hope Tyler's interview went well.
What absolutely gorgeous pictures. We don't get Fall around here. We are surrounded mostly with very, very tall pines that stay green year round.
James has made plans for Thanksgiving, I think. I believe he's going to some family with a friend. The friend is from OK. The family lives somewhere in FL. Thanks for the invitation.
While we were in Brevard, we went to the parkway and that's where all the pictures are from. We went to Devil's Courtyard, a Tomb one, can't remember the whole name, and I think Looking Glass Falls. The colors were just awesome.
We are all going to have so much fun! Dorthy even commented in one email that she doesn't know why we haven't done this already. We may have to put this on the calendar, maybe every other year.
Wow! What a wonderful time! I love NC/SC this time of year! We were going to get apples and make apple butter while we were in NC, but we didn't have enough time.
Yes we really had fun doing the party for the girls here.
I missed this post somehow. Those are great pictures of the changing leaves; greater still of the daughter!! Thanks for your comments, Sue. I do appreciate it!
Please email me (email address on my home page) a dedication, thought or scripture that you would like put on the dedication page of the cookbook. We are also encluding camp directors etc. Thanks.
Hey Susan, I think I told you on the message I left you that I'd be there Sunday but we're going to be going to Charlotte this weekend and will be there for church there...we might be there Sunday night but it just depends. We miss you guys though, we need to get together sometime.
I am learning to bake homemade bread without refined white flour and I am so excited! I would for sure invite you if you were here! Enjoy your beautiful day!
Voice studio is when all the vocal students from the same teacher get together and sing their prepared songs. I didn't have one prepared so I didn't have to go this time. I'll have to go soon though.
I completely agree that there needs to be accountability in the paying back of loans...and I heartily agree that the news and all these politics are wearisome and I'm getting pretty sick of it all.
I forgot to tell you that I did ask the class this morning if there was something that they would like to study, but they came up with no ideas. They are not as strong on their books of the Bible as I think they should be, so we have been reciting the books and also playing speed games when we have a few minutes left at the end of class. I just call out a verse and whoever finds it first reads the verse. They are pretty competitive, so they enjoy that. Good luck, and thanks for jumping right in and taking a class!! See you Wed. night for singing, Lord willing. :)
Thanks for your prayers, I really appreciate that. I'm thinking that I might have to move from a plate to a platter! But, "this too shall pass"... If I can only get through a few months of torture, then I think it will all be worth it. :)
How are you keeping yourself busy? I'm trying to get on some kind of routine! I decided to start exercising at home with a dvd and that will help me get in a routine!
When the kids were little, I used to dedicate one day for laundry, but, with just Dennis and I, we have a load about every 2-3 days!
I am trying to study more and I'm able to attend some home studies with Dennis. I do like that very much!
Love those colors!!! Got your message, Susie. Be looking for an email from me soon. I finally got my blog working. Check out the slideshow of my boys when you get an opportunity. Love ya.
Thanks for thinking about me today! Are you going to be able to make it Dorthy's at the end of this month? I certainly understand if you can't. Aren't you trying to get a trip in to see your parents about that same time? This would probably put too much into a short time slot. Love you!
Oh thank you Susie!!!!! I really look forward to seeing you and it wouldn't be the same without you. You always seem to be there right when I need you most. Love you!
We are going to the apple orchard in Hendersonville too! I think it will be Sunday afternoon. We are at F&K's right now but are leaving today for Brevard. We will be back here Monday and Tuesday. I KNOW you will enjoy having Allison home. She is so sweet!
