Monday, December 1, 2008

An Arizona Thanksgiving!

Ok I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last blogged! After you see this post you will see why I have been putting it off. I am warning you this post contains MAJOR picture overload! Over Thanksgiving we went to Arizona for 12 days! It was crazy but so much fun. Here is our 12 day journey! On Sunday we went and saw Uncle Spencer talk in church and then everyone came back to Mimi's and Papa's house to eat and hang out. Mimi bought all of these wigs and the kids loved them! Here is our little punk rocker and Swedish princess!


Claire and Camree, all the little cousins love each other like crazy! Can you tell?
We had many picnics out in the backyard enjoying the nice weather. Kyson and Grace had to eat on this little table. It was so small we had to put all of their food on one plate. Too cute!
Lily, Kyson, Carlee, Jack and Grace eating fruit snacks that Mimi gave them.
Lily and Kyson
Later that day Kyson, Grace and Jack were in the backyard digging in the dirt. Kyson and Grace were covered in dirt from head to toe! We had to stick them in the bath to clean them up.
Kyson whacked his cheek on a chair and gave himself a little shiner!
Off to feed the animals! This is one of Kyson's favorite things to do while he is at Mimi's and Papa's house.


Camree decided to join right in this trip. She would get so excited when the horse would take her carrot.
On Tuesday my sister- in- law took, pictures with Santa! I am so glad that we got to benefit from her talents! It was actually pretty funny, I was her little helper and would make a fool of myself to get the kids to smile. Here is sweet little Camree waiting for her turn with Santa!
This is one of the pictures that she took of the kids together. Turned out soo cute especially since we started out with Camree screaming bloody murder! We stuck her on Rob's knee, gave her a candy cane and what do you know we got a half smile!
We all had turns with kitchen duty. That day you were in charge of keeping the kitchen clean and making dinner. Jr did it all by himself, made yummy chicken enchiladas and looked good doing it even wearing that beautiful apron!
Dave, Matt and Rob.
The next morning Kyson, Jack, Grace and Camree all helped Mimi decorate the tree for our Christmas party that night!

The older grand kids all lined up waiting for the Christmas program to begin.
Camree with her famous "cheese" smile.
Every year for the Chrismas program we all draw parts and act out the nativity scene together. This year my husband was the handsome Gangster Inn Keeper!
Kyson was Joseph and Camree was a Shepard.
Kristie, Claire and I were the angels.
Uncle Spencer was Mary. Here are Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus.
Here is the whole crew! We decided that next year we will have to separate the parts into female and male parts because it was kind of hard to take uncle Spencer as Mary seriously.
Kyson helped lead us through Jingle Bells.
For our part of the program we sang Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
Camree all dolled up in some of her presents. The hat was made by aunt Lara and the tutu was made by aunt Kristie. Benefiting once again from my sister in laws.
Happy Thanksgiving! I know it is kind of weird that we had our Christmas party before Thanksgiving but that was the only time we could fit it in. Rob was in charge of frying the turkey and got a little help from his Dad.
Here is our attempt at a family picture right before dinner. The whole gang. There are 11 grandchildren all 5 and under. Total craziness but so much fun!
Rob carving the Turkey. I don't know why but he gets stuck with this task every year. He must be good at it.
Grace, Carlee, Kyson and Jack all eating on one of the little kid tables.
Friday morning Kyson, Jack and Grace all helped Mimi make sugar cookies to take around to some friends. The kids had a blast.


Saturday we went swimming at aunt Auburn's and uncle Dave's. Well actually we went hot tubbing but their hot tub is so big you can pretty much call it swimming. The kid's didn't want get out they had so much fun.
Lily
This is Camree jumping in! Don't you just want to squeeze those thighs!
Grace
Kyson
It is time to feed the animals again. Kyson is ready with his carrots. After Alice's blessing and dinner on Sunday we all went on a family walk to feed the animals.
Camree wasn't even afraid of this huge horse!
Kyson and Jack, two little buddies.
On Monday we went to the Kings, my sister in laws friends, to ride the ponies and play with a puppy.
Kyson loved this little puppy. He asked if we could trade in our big dog for this one, but if we decided that we didn't like this one then he wanted his big dog back.
Kyson on the pony.
Camree wasn't as excited as her brother.
Even Mimi gave the pony a try!
This looks like a loving cousin picture but actually Kyson is trying to steal the puppy away from Jack. Kyson kept asking Jack for a turn and Jack kept saying,"No I'm not done yet." In which Kyson replied,"Your done when I say your done!" Oh we laughed about that one!
The Three Amigos. These three were tied at the hip all trip. They hadn't see eachother for a year and were so happy to be together. You wouldn't know it by the pictures because everytime we told them to pose for a picture Grace would run away and hide. We caught her this time before she could run.
That night we went and saw the lights at the Temple. They were so pretty and I have to tell you it is so nice seeing the lights in 60 degree weather rather than freezing!
The three wisemen.

Mimi and Papa with all of the grandkids that went.
My sister in law Lara and me. Yes this is the sister in law that makes me everything! We have a tradition to take a picture with her on my lap because 2 years ago I had to go see the lights in a wheel chair because I was put on bed rest while I was pregnant with Camree. She sat on my lap while I was in the wheele chair for a picture and the rest is history! We are dorks! Now we think we need a picture every year.
My other sister in law Kristie joined in the fun. And yes she makes me stuff too!





With all of the craziness we even had time to get family pictures taken. My sister in law Lara took them for us. They turned out sooo cute! Here are a few of my favorites.





We had such a fun trip! Even though it was so good to spend time with family we were ready to come home and get back to our regular schedule. 12 days is a long time to be gone. It is also way too much to blog about at once!

10 comments:

Susanne said...

Okay those family pictures are the best ever!!!!! I am so jealous that you have a sister in law like that!!!

Marni said...

It looks like you guys had tons of fun. Those family pictures are do adorable! The close ups of the kids...so cute.

Kristi said...

THAT is an impressive post. I'm still too scared to try to post about it all... And for the record, Spencer and I just celebrated our 4th anniversary, it's time to spell my name correctly. :o) Hee hee...

Kelie said...

your family pictures are darling! looks like you had a great holiday! send me your email so I can invite you to our blog:
k2as@msn.com

Chris & Breanne Coccimiglio said...

I Loved all the pics. it wasn't too much. Those kind of post are my favorite. Your kids are pretty stinking cute! :)

Anne said...

I love the pictures (the family ones are so cute!) It was a lot of fun to see you guys and see how big your kiddos are getting.

Carma Lee said...

We did have fun didn't we! I told Papa we need to start a book of quotes by Kyson; we chuckled again about his remarks and the one last year, "They fricken locked me down here!" Kids do say the darndest things! Can't wait 'til you come again!!!

J.R. said...

"You're done when I say you're done!" hahahaha :) That is hillarious!

I loved seeing all the pics and reading your comments. That was a fun trip.

I do have to correct one thing though. I didn't make dinner all by myself. I had an awesome helper, thanks again for your help :)

Grant and Alli said...

Those are such cute pics! I love em all..Looks like you had a great time:)

Emilee said...

those are great family pics! everything looks so fun! happy late birthday! we do need to get together someday! vegas? we are IN!