Family visit --my side of Thanksgiving, and links to our current favorite pies.

My sister and her family came up to see the snow. I think they came to see us a little too, but luckily we had some great snow in November for her boys to go snowboarding on. I was fighting off a cold, but rested up all week so I could bring my kids up to Park City to hang out at the condo they rented for the week. I packed up all of my snow gear --snowshoes, microspikes, gaiters, etc. so we could have some snowy fun too.

My sister's friend knew about a resort up at the top of Deer Valley that was beautiful, so she guided us up there. There were employees milling around, but their runs weren't open yet, so they told us to just have at it. That was nice. I hate getting yelled at!

 It was so sunny, and here at the top of the mountain, it was like we were right inside the bright blue sky. 

Pretty steep in places, but fun anyway.

 Back at the resort, we attended a caramel apple making class.

Right. Lots of academics going on here. The kids had fun though.

We watched a little movie together, and I limped myself home to prep for our Thanksgiving meal the next day.

 Really happy at how the table turned out this year. I was inspired by soap. My neighbor makes soap, and Jeff bought a bunch of bars for us. The one he got for himself was a pretty copper color, and he placed it on a blue willow saucer next to our sink. I loved those colors together, so did the table based on that. 

The food was amazing. My family always kicks in big time. 

 I always have a hard time catching dinner while it's being eaten, but at least I got people before they left the table. I feel like we all get along. I suppose that's rare in a big family, but it's heaven for me. I'm so grateful.

 I caught almost everyone still at the table.

 These cousins together were so dang cute. 

Got to tell you about the pies. Every year for I don't know how many years, I've tried to do new pies --something we haven't tried before. This time I thought --forget it. I'm doing our favorites. Here they are, in order of popularity (kind of ):

1. Chocolate covered pretzel pie: I was bugged when originally told to make this for one Thanksgiving, thinking with a pretzel crust, this was a tacky pie. But...oh my goodness this is good. Not worth being a snob about! 

2. Pumpkin cheesecake: never fails, is never tricky, this is a good quality recipe. Cheesecake is always popular, and you have to have pumpkin something, so this does the trick!

3. Sour cream apple pie. This recipe says four or five large apples, but I'd say four if they are large. I did five this year, and it didn't set up all the way, and the apple slices were a bit undercooked. Still a great pie for all of that. I've gotten some rave reviews of this one.

4. Nutmeg Maple Cream Pie. OK, I have to admit, this is just my favorite. A New York Times Cooking recipe, I think people like it, but I love it. It's a custard made with a reduced real maple syrup, and heavy cream. What's not to like? 

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