Gratitude
Compared to other Thanksgiving Day holidays this one seemed more satisfying or fulfilling, forgive the pun, probably because I feel greater gratitude for the bounteous blessings I enjoy on a daily basis. I love life, and I love living my life.
I enjoyed time with all my family members; except Steven’s family who went to Beaver this year to spend the holiday with Jessica’s parents. I had many interesting and stimulating conversations with various family members.
Clay Pigeons
We began our Thanksgiving Holiday 2013 Thursday morning on an outing to Spanish Fork Canyon to shoot some of our firearms; as has become one of our yearly Thanksgiving Day customs. Doug, James, Alyse, Wesley, and I had a great time shooting handguns, rifles, and a shotgun. The boys did well hitting the clay pigeons and Alyse is a pretty good shot too. All in all, we probably fired over 300 rounds and after an hour or so decided to head for home.
While we were out shooting firearms, Erin and Kenzie helped the grandkids make paper turkeys with marsh-mellows and candy to highlight the turkey’s features. They also made custom t-shirts with acrylics that displayed their hand-print to represent a turkey. The t-shirts and paper turkeys turned out quite well and the grandkids had a lot of fun making them.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving dinner was served at about 2:00 pm and everything prepared was delicious. Doug decided to deep-fry one of the turkeys and actually got it right this time… it was delicious! Jill set the table with a Pilgrim motif and paper turkeys served as place settings. As usual, I ate more than I had planned on. The highlight of the dinner, however, was a surprise announcement by Nash. He let everyone know that Doug and Erin are expecting a new baby this coming July!
Provo Canyon
Friday morning Jill and I went for a bike ride down Provo Canyon’s bike path. We began at Vivian Park and ended up at the parking lot at the bottom of the canyon. All in all, it turned out to be approximately a seven-mile ride. Also, it was bitter cold at first but started to warm-up as the sun came out from behind the mountains. The scenery was spectacular. We took some pictures and had a good conversation while on our ride. We dropped our bikes off at Bingham Cyclery on the way home to get our yearly tune-up on them… since this is the last ride this year.
After we had got home, Jill started decorating for Christmas. Everyone pitched in and helped out. On Friday evening Jill and the kids took the grandkids to see the Parade of Lights. I stayed home to work on my blog/journal.
The Museum
In addition, on Saturday we went with Doug and his family to the BYU Museum of Art to view “Sacred Gifts” a religious painting exhibit featuring Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann, and Frans Schwartz. “These paintings have never before been out of the Oratory… and they will not be loaned again,” said Frederiksborg Castle. This collection was an inspiring exhibit and Jill even told me she enjoyed it… she doesn’t usually “do” art museums. After a visit to the art museum, we all went to Brick Oven (my favorite local pizza joint) for some salad and pizza. It was a fun and enjoyable outing with the family. I always enjoy visiting the BYU Museum of Art.
This has been a memorable Thanksgiving holiday and so I have assembled some pictures in a video slideshow to remember it years from now. Accompanying music is Rocky Mountain Way by Joe Walsh.
Thanksgiving Holiday 2013
Works Cited
Music – Walsh, J. (1997). Rocky Mountain Way [Joe Walsh]. Joe Walsh’s Greatest Hits – Little Did He Know… [MP3 file]. MCA Records.
