Speaking of photographs, Luis ordered our family Christmas gift this weekend which is an HD video camera. The camera also takes still photos. These blurry mostrosoties will soon be coming to a hi-def end.
On to Thanksgiving...
We hosted the Cruz clan as well as Yaya and Papa Ron this year for Thanksgiving. The kids were excited to see the abuelos...
Siena started in early on the food. No keeping a growing girls hunger at bay.
Yaya was a big help. She has a better idea than I do how to organize these affairs. I was only in charge of the bird which was responsibility enough.
I take my responsibilities very seriously. There was brine. There were aromatics. There was juicy, tasty bird. And there were no leftovers for us.
Papa Ron, as family patriarch, was the designated turkey carver.
Yaya divulged the secrets to making gravey to me. There's flour, turkey juice...
A dancing Siena...
And some other tasty stuff.
Mason shows off his loose lower tooth.
Luis and his honeybaked ham.
Papa Ron and Luis, in dinner table pose.
Another Siena photo special. The many faces of Papa Ron.
Cruz cousins - from left Mason, Siena, Kendra, Trystin, and Andre.
Do these boys have fun together?!?
Siena photo special - Tio Joel with baby Trystin.
While its hard to top Turkey Day, the Torlands gave it a good go on Saturday with a big kumla dinner! The official kumla recipe comes from the blue Grandma Torland cookbook. There's even a shot of a big bowl of kumla on the cover!
The recipe book may be dated 1978 but the recipe dates back closer to the depression era. Last night though, it was a 2009 edition, course with very few changes.
Potatoes are the key kumla ingredient. Auntie Joanne tackles the grinding duties.
The bowl of ground up potatoes.
While its hard to top Turkey Day, the Torlands gave it a good go on Saturday with a big kumla dinner! The official kumla recipe comes from the blue Grandma Torland cookbook. There's even a shot of a big bowl of kumla on the cover!
The recipe book may be dated 1978 but the recipe dates back closer to the depression era. Last night though, it was a 2009 edition, course with very few changes.
Potatoes are the key kumla ingredient. Auntie Joanne tackles the grinding duties.
The bowl of ground up potatoes.
We only had to add 26 cups of flour to this mixture. Plus a little salt.
There's some good starch. Apparently this is dad's duty to dispose of.
Nevermind. Its a joint scraping effort. Who knew that potatoes could be such a chore when ground.
The other key component to kumla...suet. If you don't know what that is, look it up. We do pick out the chunks before taking a bite though.
Filling the bags...scoop kumla...scoop kumla plus suet...scoop kumla...etc. Note that the family vegetarians eat a kumla version with butter instead of suet.
Siena's big appetite precludes her from being able to wait until dinner to start eating. Nuts are needed.
Checking on the boiling product...
Mason may be more interested in getting his finger in the cake frosting.
Another Siena shot. Just be happy I didn't include the other 100 pictures she took of things like shoes, chairs, ceilings, herself...
Luis sneaks a slice of pizza before dinner. He did try a thin slice of kumla and apparently didn't hate it.
Yaya and the kids play some games before the hungry group arrives.
Waiting for kumla...Tyson, Amanda, Travis, and Luis. For those who may not be from this side of the family, Amanda and Travis are my cousins. Tyson is Amanda's boyfriend. If you don't know who Luis is, this may not be the blog for you.
The Grandparents...Bessie and Art.
And the youngest of the family...little Aurora (Rory). Rory is my cousin Jay B's daughter.
Chelsey may hire one of the inmates she's currently teaching to bust my kneecaps for posting this picture. I blame the camera. At least she and her hubby Matt were able to come to this kumla gathering.
Here's Heidi with Mr. Berren and Pops Bruce.
A kumla log is born.
The newly birthed log. Its a big one!
Even the kids are on board with the feast! They love kumla!
A Siena self-portrait.
We also celebrated Grandpa Art's 93rd birthday. Note the candles...30 + 3 + 60... Siena helped with the candle blowing duties.
After dinner was a serious game with Texas Hold-em. The stakes...cheez its and pretzels.
Tyson came close to cleaning me out. I staged a nice comeback until my husband called by bluff and cleaned me out. Never play poker with your spouse. They know all of your tells.
Saturday was a big day for another reason...Mason lost his first tooth!!! Its been loose for a while now, with the new tooth trying to push the old one out of the way. With one easy tug from dad though, out it finally came!
Last night, the Tooth Fairy paid Mason a visit - taking his tooth and leaving him $$ under his pillow. The Tooth Fairy did have to make an unplanned trip to the local mini-mart to make change first though.
Mason quickly spent his precious $5 on 4 special cars that he picked out this afternoon. Maybe this losing tooth thing isn't so bad. 
Here's us with the finished product. The ribbon hair is a little rasta and some of the glue on the candy decor still needs to dry, but we're proud of our efforts. Note that we had to include our name on it as it is to be displayed outside of Mason's classroom.
And here, for the first time, exclusive video coverage of a kumla birthing. A tough one at that.
There's some good starch. Apparently this is dad's duty to dispose of.
Nevermind. Its a joint scraping effort. Who knew that potatoes could be such a chore when ground.
The other key component to kumla...suet. If you don't know what that is, look it up. We do pick out the chunks before taking a bite though.
Filling the bags...scoop kumla...scoop kumla plus suet...scoop kumla...etc. Note that the family vegetarians eat a kumla version with butter instead of suet.
Siena's big appetite precludes her from being able to wait until dinner to start eating. Nuts are needed.
Checking on the boiling product...
Mason may be more interested in getting his finger in the cake frosting.
Another Siena shot. Just be happy I didn't include the other 100 pictures she took of things like shoes, chairs, ceilings, herself...
Luis sneaks a slice of pizza before dinner. He did try a thin slice of kumla and apparently didn't hate it.
Yaya and the kids play some games before the hungry group arrives.
Waiting for kumla...Tyson, Amanda, Travis, and Luis. For those who may not be from this side of the family, Amanda and Travis are my cousins. Tyson is Amanda's boyfriend. If you don't know who Luis is, this may not be the blog for you.
The Grandparents...Bessie and Art.
And the youngest of the family...little Aurora (Rory). Rory is my cousin Jay B's daughter.
Chelsey may hire one of the inmates she's currently teaching to bust my kneecaps for posting this picture. I blame the camera. At least she and her hubby Matt were able to come to this kumla gathering.
Here's Heidi with Mr. Berren and Pops Bruce.
A kumla log is born.
The newly birthed log. Its a big one!
Even the kids are on board with the feast! They love kumla!
A Siena self-portrait.
We also celebrated Grandpa Art's 93rd birthday. Note the candles...30 + 3 + 60... Siena helped with the candle blowing duties.
After dinner was a serious game with Texas Hold-em. The stakes...cheez its and pretzels.
Tyson came close to cleaning me out. I staged a nice comeback until my husband called by bluff and cleaned me out. Never play poker with your spouse. They know all of your tells.
Saturday was a big day for another reason...Mason lost his first tooth!!! Its been loose for a while now, with the new tooth trying to push the old one out of the way. With one easy tug from dad though, out it finally came!
Last night, the Tooth Fairy paid Mason a visit - taking his tooth and leaving him $$ under his pillow. The Tooth Fairy did have to make an unplanned trip to the local mini-mart to make change first though.
Mason quickly spent his precious $5 on 4 special cars that he picked out this afternoon. Maybe this losing tooth thing isn't so bad.We had a family art project to work on this afternoon for Mason's school. A snowman was sorely in need of decorations and we were just the family to help!
Here's us with the finished product. The ribbon hair is a little rasta and some of the glue on the candy decor still needs to dry, but we're proud of our efforts. Note that we had to include our name on it as it is to be displayed outside of Mason's classroom. 
And here, for the first time, exclusive video coverage of a kumla birthing. A tough one at that.
