The first to arrive were Ryan's family from Las Vegas. They got in really really late on Sunday night. On Monday our children were still in school, so Ryan worked from our house and Monica and their children went to Idaho Falls to visit family.
On Tuesday we let our children skip school (the school district added on Monday and Tuesday of that week after school already started, so some of the teachers even said that attending was optional) and Ryan and Monica were kind enough to babysit while Rebecca and I attended the temple. Our children LOVED playing with their cousins all day long. Tyler's family came right before dinner on Tuesday. That night we had pizza and watched Boss Baby. Then all of the kids just slept together in our main downstairs room. The adults got in a couples game of Ticket to Ride. Right at the very end Ryan and Monica had a couple extra trains that they wanted to get rid of so they blocked the route that we were going to complete on the very next turn. Rebecca said it reminded her of playing games growing up and how strategic Ryan always was.
Some of the nights were pretty wild with them all downstairs, but it was fun to hear them talking and playing with each other.
On Wednesday a few of us went for an early morning hike. The weather was super nice, like in the 60s. Trenton's family arrived in the late morning - so that made it so all of her siblings were here. There were a total of 24 of us in the house. Since it was so nice in the afternoon we went to the park for a game of kickball. We also did a little bit of food prep that day. In the evening Hye Won made us a feast of curry and homemade potstickers. It was delicious. That night the adults played reverse charades, One Night Werewolf (which is a lot like Mafia), and The Great Dalmuti.
Thursday we mainly just played games, cooked, and ate. We had a salad, a sweet potato souffle, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, ham, and turkey. Then for dessert we had pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate pie, raspberry pie, and oatmeal pie. It sounds like a lot of food (and dessert), but it was amazing how quickly it actually went.
Later that afternoon we did Skype with Rebecca's parents. They had sent clothes for all of the grandchildren that were made at the school that they teach at on their mission. We also tried to do some big group pictures of everyone. We had the children watch Home Alone that night and we played some more games after they went to bed.
On Friday it was a little rainy. Some of us went out to do some Black Friday shopping, but for most of the day we were just in doors. We celebrated Mackenzi's birthday that evening with pizza, cupcakes, and watching Kung Fu Panda 2. Saturday was mainly just everyone packing and leaving. We did celebrate Theodore's birthday before everyone left. Since it was his first birthday his parents lined up a bunch of objects and had him crawl to get one that would represent his future profession. Like his brother he chose the ball.
It was great to have everyone from her family here. It is always fun to celebrate the holidays with family around. We have so much to be thankful for, particularly our great family relationships and our testimonies of Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment