a full house in November — the beginning of “catch up week”

All these cousins were pretty delighted to be together.  It was fun to have the first batch here on a Sunday and have them come to church with us…then Family Home Evening together.

And the party just kept growing and never stopped.  Our cul-de-sac has never been so full and appreciated.

Loved having each family trickle in one-by-one.  These grandkids were pretty excited when Grammie arrived:

Eli and his family traveled the furthest (from NYC), and they were the last ones to arrive.

Eli came right in and did a back flip on the trampoline and somehow fell and skinned his nose…which made for quite a grand entrance.  Ha!

There were non-stop GAMES in the game room:

At night there were lots of group games.

Here’s a little snippet of “fruit basket:”

SWIMMING…We heated the hot tub, and it was also quite unusually warm so these kids were turned into prunes by the time they packed up to leave….all day:

 …into the night:

We also swam at my brother Josh’s house one day in his community pool and these kids were sure delighted.

We also did a lot of HIKING.  Sometimes just the girls:

 Check out where we ended up below…see those teeny people on top of that cliff?

 I love that hike.

We hiked with everyone one time too:

 I mean, we gotta show them the beauty of the desert, right?

We were pretty excited when Elle trickled in…

Aside from Thanksgiving itself, there was a LOT of cooking going on…lots of loading up the fridge and then emptying it and then filling it again.  My mom is dreamy to have in the kitchen with you.

 These girls are pretty dreamy as well…

The kids did a little cooking themselves…making s’mores around the fire.

…with this team of amazing family helpers:

 Then on to Thanksgiving dinner all crowded into the kitchen to make that beautiful meal happen.

 All the details bout Thanksgiving back HERE.

 Yoga workouts:

We stole Elle away for lunch one day so we could get her to ourselves…so much swirling around at the house we weren’t going to get a word in edgewise without that and I loved it.

We also had an adult dinner and dessert out on the town.

 I talked a little about it before, but man, I love the conversations we have together.

The one that night was all about the “language” of the gospel and unconditional love.  It’s a night I want to always remember.

There were so many little side conversations too.

 I love seeing things like Elle and my brother Noah standing there on the right below, talking about something or other.  I’m so grateful for the influence my parents and siblings have on my children.

I loved it.

I also loved that Eli was willing to make his famous Japanese curry he makes at Bear Lake every year and we all devour.

Temple visits were pretty awesome…

One more hike with the moms:

 Dave took the teenagers out on the boat one day.

That is the only picture I got…but they also sent this one which was sweet because they know this is my favorite mountain in all of the desert and we get to see it every time we leave the lake:

These three girls “the babes” as they are called in their “grandchildren group” made all kinds of their own fun:

The boys did some great bike rides too…wish I had pictures of everyone!

Claire tried to pass on her talent of baking flatbread to Zara 🙂

Love.

HA!

It says “If I see my door open I will never let you in my room again.”  Oh man, that girl is a pistol sometimes.

My parents slept on an air mattress in the laundry room that night.

It was a full-on party.

So much gratitude for all those people we get to be related to…

Woo hoo!