Though we enjoyed our quiet Christmas at home, just our little family, we really missed being with the rest of Cori's family. Fortunately, we were able to spend the rest of our holiday break with them in Utah.
We feel like our time with them gets more and more precious. Our family group continues to grow and we are spreading out a little more. Ray's current battle with cancer definitely makes us value the time together. He and Sandy are bravely facing so much right now. It was incredibly good of them to open their house to ALL of us. The children played together all day. Then, after bedtime, the adults played late. We all took turns cooking for the group and ate ourselves silly. I totally hit the jackpot marrying into this group.
On the last day we were all together, we met down at Peteetneet Academy and Museum in Spanish Fork for some group shots. It was fun to show our kids where Cori and some of his brothers and sisters went to kindergarten.
We need to add someone to make it an even 30!
The ladies are a little out numbered. We like it that way.
Bedtime routine with the children is always fun in this crowd. We had hymns and scripture charades for FHE, and Grandma's milkshakes and chapters out of the Book of Mormon on other nights. Grace and Grant got to sleep fireside in the basement all week and loved it. All us parents were super motivated because there was Scum, Robo Rally, Settlers, Scrabble, Blokus, and The Farming Game to play once little ones were alseep.
We spent an evening up in Salt Lake with Randy and his partner Mondo. It is always so good to catch up and spend time with them. And Grace was especially enthralled this visit because she got to meet Gunner and Daisy, who are Grandpa and Mondo's dogs. Damien and Danielle were up there with their crew that night as well and we had fun chatting and watching the kids play. And, if I ever wonder what Cori will look like in the years from now, all I have to do is look at his father.
We went for a hay ride (down in Salem?). It was a perfectly chilly afternoon for the outing. Before the ride, we visited all the farm animals including the SMELLIEST pigs I have ever encountered. Seeing the snow in the mountains made us so happy. We were disappointed not to have snow in the foothills and in the valley though. Good thing my Lands End order containing all new snow clothes for the children, guaranteed to arrive by Christmas, didn't arrive until we had already left on our trip... I was livid. Bad form, Lands End. Bad form. But Mother Nature spared you some of my wrath. Cory and Britt brought down an extra jacket for Grant which I forgot to bring along on this particular venture (PHX brain!) and so he wore one of Gracie's old coats that we found in the back of the 4Runner.
Nice face warmer Ethan! We think Joshua wears it better. :)
Grant is loving this jacket.
Stink eye from Eden.
We miss the mountains.
Gracie was ready to bring this puppy home. Many thanks to Ray for so many of the pictures in this whole post, including this one of Grace. It captures so much of her, I think.
Some of us took it a Cougar basketball game. Hard to refuse $1 tickets!
The cousins all got along really well. Especially considering our number. Jacob is quite the pied piper with his younger male cousins for sure.
We spent one afternoon letting all the children run wild in the Church gym. We played all kinds of games involving all kinds of balls. A solid half an hour was spent with the little kids chasing Jacob's remote controlled cars.
That night at the Church, Cory and Brittany blessed their newest addition, Macaleb. Afterwords, we had soup and salad with some of Cory's family in the cultural hall. There was a stage and Grace knew her place. She and Sydni put on no less than three productions, co-starring Jacob and other cousins, with Ashton as stage manager manning the curtains.
We got to visit Peteetneet a second time to check out their annual train show. Grace, Sydni and Courtni followed the trains around and around until it was time to go.
New Year's eve, we put together a fun sequence of events for the children who were still in town and awake. We had a countdown (at 9:30) and did a little balloon drop. Each child had to find the balloon with his/her name on it and then pop it to find their prize - $1.
Then we had a little sky show outside. Cori bought some REAL fireworks. Everyone was very entertained, firework lighters and watchers alike. Once munchkins were in bed and asleep, the rest of us, who were not suffering from the stomach bug that swept through the camp, moved onto phase II of the evening. This involved eating more food, playing aces while watching The Music Man, eating caramel apple pie and eggnog cheesecake, taking a quick break at the stroke of twelve to watch the ball drop, give a toast, and kiss our sweethearts, and then play more aces. 2012 is off to a fantastic start. Minus the stomach bug, that is.
We always get to go out and do fun things when we get together. But my favorite times are the quiet one's at Ray and Sandy's house. Saying family prayers, reading books, talking in the kitchen, working and playing shoulder to shoulder.
