Thanksgiving and more!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and spent some quality time with your family and friends! I know that I did and I loved having some time off from work just to enjoy this time!

Being a teacher, we had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off, which was amazing! Wednesday I was able to get ready since we were hosting dinner on Thursday!

First on the agenda, was a workout! I went to the gym for a good 80 minutes on the elliptical!

Then it was time to come home and get started on food prep! I made an apple pie... homemade crust and all for a healthy dessert!! :)

I also cleaned the house from top to bottom! Or as best as I could! Then I did a lot of the cutting of veggies and got the stuffing (well, dressing) made, minus the baking part of it.

I had to wash and cut lots of stuff... here are the brussel sprouts with some carrots and parsnips! I added some rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic with oil and then roasted!

Then it was onto the stuffing... apple cranberry stuffing!I sauteed the celery and onions first, then added the chopped apples and craisins.  The next day I baked it (with wheat bread!)!

Thursday morning Mr. JAB wanted to do the turkey himself, so I taught him how to cook it! (He did a great job!)

Here's the bird pre-roasting. We cooked it in my great-grandmother's roaster in the oven.  I love that I was given this heirloom! Even though I don't eat meat, it was special knowing that her many years of cooking are added to our dinner too! (Turkey prepped with veggies, orange slices, bell seasoning, olive oil, and butter.)
Once the bird was in the oven it was time to run!
I got in about 8.5 miles in 65 minutes, then showered up before cooking the remainder of the dishes!
We set the table... (JAB had bought me/ the table flowers!)

Then we sat down for about 20 minutes before our guests arrived!

Just around 2:30 we sat down to dine with my in-laws and aunt!  On the menu: spinach salad, rolls, cranberry sauce, turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and squash cassarole made by my MIL, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, corn, and stuffing!

We cleaned up and rested before dessert.  I was so full and tired I forgot to take a picture! I enjoyed the apple pie.  There was also a peanut butter cup pie, coffee cake, and pumpkin pie! We were joined by my parents and sister, as well as my SIL and her fam... it was a full and fun house!

A great end to the evening came with a nice Pat's victory!! ( We were too tired to stay up for the whole game though!)

Thanksgiving day 2 came Friday when I made the husband his favorite...turkey pie!

I used the leftover turkey, veggies, and gravy!

Ready for the oven!!

My legs were tired on Saturday, so I took it easy with an elliptical workout,  and then the day was spent with my sister!  My bro is getting married next summer, so we had to go bridesmaid dress shopping!

Not the best fit!

Finally, Sunday was a day of running, working out, work, and rest!

I started it off with a 6 mile run to break in my new shoes!

 6 sweaty miles at the gym!

 New Asics 2170s-- they're discounting this model, what will I do?

It felt good to run in new shoes, although they are still a little stiff!

And now sadly, as always, vacations come to an end-- but I have another exciting vacation coming up in about a month... so work hard until then!

As I said before, it was great to enjoy this Thanksgiving with my "old" family and "new" family.  This was our first year married for Thanksgiving, so it's nice knowing that I have officially added so many wonderful people into my lives.

Already looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season!!! (But first things first, 4 weeks of work before we get there!)