We showed up on Tuesday night to start getting ready for everyone else who wouldn't be there until the next day. Amanda rode up with us, which was fun for the boys. Christian and Jonathon made pumpkin pies, Andrew and I did two cherry pies, and Jonathon and I worked on some amazing rolls.
On Wednesday, most of the family started to arrive. Mom and Dad H. went to Costco to buy all the food for our Thanksgiving party. Then Nathan and Emily arrived Wednesday evening. We hadn't seen them in a long time, so it was so fun to catch up. Their youngest baby, Reed, was born in July, and we had never even seen him. He was darling, and we all loved holding Reed. Hyrum loved being a big boy that got to hold a baby. I also loved getting my "baby fill." Reed didn't sleep well at night, so Nathan and Emily were exhausted. I offered to take Reed in the early mornings so that they could get some more sleep. I really loved snuggling him each morning.
On Thanksgiving morning, we had a Turkey Trot down our country road. Several of the siblings ran a couple of miles, and the rest of us went on a hayride. It was freezing cold and windy, like usual, but the kids seemed to have fun anyway. Grandma went on the hayride with the kids, while Grandpa drove the pickup.
Tera, BJ, and Crista weren't able to come until late Thanksgiving night, so we decided to wait until Friday to have our Thanksgiving feast. That meant we spent the rest of Thursday playing games and enjoying the farm. The older "boys" played frisbee, we had a ping pong tournament, and the little boys got to go outside and collect chicken eggs. Hyrum liked showing his cousins how to do it.
Audrey and Christa were awesome at ping pong. There were so many people playing that we never actually crowned a champion, but it probably would have come down to one of them.
Ezra especially loved the farm. Even though it was cold, Ezra always wanted to be outside jumping on the trampoline, looking at the cows, and sitting in the tractors. When the grown-ups finally got cold and wanted to go inside, Ezra started pouting about leaving the tractors. It was so cute. I just had to take a picture of him gazing longingly at the tractors. He is a farm boy at heart!
On Friday morning, we all worked together to prepare our Thanksgiving meal. Christian, Grace, and Andrew made homemade butter out of heavy cream. I had no idea it was so easy to do. You just put a little bit of cream in a jar, put a pinch of salt in it, and then shake, shake, shake. The kids got tired of shaking after a few minutes, so we took turns. Within about 10 minutes, we had beautiful fresh butter that tasted delicious! We had it on rolls for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Our Thanksgiving meal was amazingly delicious! It is so fun to have new members of the family because they bring their own family traditions. Audrey made some yummy "frog-eye" salad and cranberry relish. I'd never had those before, and I loved them! Dad H. carved the turkey while everyone talked about what they were thankful for. All together, we had 25 people there, and amazingly, everyone got their own bed. My parents' house was set up perfectly to host such a big Thanksgiving. We were so grateful for their generosity so that we could all be together.
After our Thanksgiving meal, we rested for a bit, and then headed to Uncle Mike's pool. We have been there tons of times with my family, but it was fun to take Jonathon's family there. They loved it! It was nice and warm, and everyone had a blast doing dives, going down the water slide, and playing basketball. Christian and Andrew jumped right in without hesitation and swam around like little fish for the whole two hours. I was so proud of them! Crista and the little kids loved sitting in the hot tub. They gathered around her and talked her ear off. She was so cute with them.
The game of water basketball got pretty intense. Everyone was very competitive and were diving and splashing all over. Good times were had by all!
After swimming, Mom and Dad H. babysat ALL the kids while Jonathon's siblings and their spouses got to go to a movie. It is starting to be a lot of kids! We went and saw "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." It was so much fun to go with everyone and to be child-free for an evening. The movie was awesome too. I was worried that it would be another disappointment, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It is definitely for an older audience than the majority of the Harry Potter movies, but it perfectly duplicated the magic and feel of the wizarding world that I enjoy so much.
Saturday morning was our own little version of Christmas. Since we wouldn't be together for Christmas, we exchanged gifts then. All the cousins drew names for who they would give a gift to. It was fun to see them excited to give the gift that they had chosen. We worked together to make a "Spot It" game for Grace and Leah as well as Candy Gram cards. Leah was so excited about the candy. It was pretty funny to hear her exclaiming in joy over the card. And as usual, Grandpa and Grandma gave all the kids such fun toys. The siblings/spouses all exchanged gifts as well. Emily gave me an Advent Calendar. I have wanted one forever, so it was perfect. Jonathon got an Amazon gift card. You can never go wrong with an Amazon card as far too much of our money goes there :)
In our spare time, there was lots more games and baby snuggling. My brother, Matt, even came by and gave tractor rides to anyone that wanted one. The little boys were in heaven.
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| New baby, Evelyn |
1 comment:
Your family reunions always sound so wonderful. How perfect that you were all able to go to your parents' house! Sounds like it was a lovely Thanksgiving.
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