On Tuesday evening we headed over to my parents house. We love coming between Christmas and New Years because we get to see so much family. My Brother, his wife and 3 kids as well as my Sister, her husband and 4 kids were all staying there. That made for a total of 19 people staying there. For N8 and I we had 6 people in the bedroom I grew up in. Me in a twin, N8 on a bottom bunk, Bud on the top bunk, Emma & Mo on the floor and Henry in the pack and play! I should have taken a picture, but didn't.
We did however take TONS of pictures of everything else. Sorry for the picture heavy post, but it's hard to want to leave anything out!
The kids always look forward to going in the "hot pool" while visiting.
The next morning a group headed off on a hike. They met up with my other brother's family as well.
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| Eva & Emma |
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| Maya & Emma |
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| Emma |
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| Mark |
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| Casey |
After the hike we all met up at Joe's Farm Grill. It has been featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive ins & Dives!
We also got to meet another nephew that we hadn't been able to met yet~Samuel!!
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| N8 and Samuel |
On Thursday we headed out ice skating. It's funny we go to Phoenix and ice skate, but the kids loved it and did awesome, especially with the help of older cousins!
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| Mark & Eva |
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| Bridget & Lydia |
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| All of the Ice Skaters! |
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| Spencer & Henry |
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| Maya |
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| Bus |
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| Taylor & Mo |
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| Emma & Naomi |
On Friday we headed a little north to my sister's house for our Pre-New Years celebration!! We do this each year and it's something we look forward to. This year there wasn't snow, which the kids were hoping for, but we kept busy!!
Another hike:
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| Casey, Taylor, Ray, Bridget & Spencer |
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| The hikers reached the top! |
That evening we had a gingerbread house making competition!
It's always a great time to visit and just enjoy each others company.
My mom showing off her new Kindle Fire:
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| Mom working on the smoked turkey |
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| Lucy & Samuel |
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| Henry enjoying a ride in the doll stroller |
On Saturday morning while some of the men and older kids when shooting I had a craft for people to make. I had bow & arrows made from Popsicle stick and q-tips as well as wooden puzzles to paint:
We headed back down to the Valley for the evening to my brother's house.
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| Henry enjoying the swings~thanks cousin Erika!! |
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| Many games of Settlers of Catan were played! |
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| Kyoko made some awesome Indian Fry Bread for New Years Eve dinner! |
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| Just Dance 3 |
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| Uncle Paul became the favorite uncle by letting the kids light the fireworks! |
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| Naomi & Erika did Casey's hair and make up for the dance. |
We always have a great time visiting and seeing everyone. It makes me wish that we lived closer so we could see everyone more often. But then I wonder if it would loose the fun we have of doing it less often. These times are especially special now as my mom continues her battle with cancer. We grateful that she was feeling well enough to have us there and continue to have faith that she will be with us for many more Christmas seasons to come.
For this blog I had a goal of posting at least 100 posts for the year on this blog. This post is the last of the year an comes in at 105. I plan to continue updating our families adventures for 2012.
Happy New Year!!