Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was awesome this year!  We spent it at my mom and dad's.  We've only done that once since we've been married because we usually just stay home.  ALL of my 6 siblings and their families were there, excluding 1 brother-in-law.  We wished he could have been there too.  It is super rare that we all spend a holiday together. My family is scattered all around so we don't see some of them very much.  If it weren't for family reunions we would practically never see them.  We are scattered in Colorado, California, Idaho and Utah. When we all get together it is lively and loud.  The kids play while the adults talk the hours away.  We talk and talk and talk and I love it! 

Here is a picture of my mom and dad with all of their grandkids...every.last.one!  Ages range from 1ish-19

 

A picture of my parents and all their kids.  I love my family so much.  My siblings are awesome and sometimes my heart hurts that I can't see them more often.  We have such a good time when we are together.  We can talk and laugh and joke but we can also have deep, doctrinal, spiritual conversations.  During this trip we had a night were we were all hanging out in the kitchen.  It seems to be the regular gathering place.  We've had conversations there for hours.  Anyways, one night we had an awesome gospel discussion that brought some of us to tears.  The spirit was super strong and my heart swelled with gratitude for my family and the love we share.  To be able to have moments like that just strengthen our eternal bond.  When I think of my family I think of the scripture,

"...therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord."

Alma 17:2

My dad wanted to get as many people on this rock in his backyard as he could.  It's a pretty big rock and he got pretty close.

 



These nieces of mine love, love the little kids.  They make great babysitters!  Here my sister Marisha with the perfect photo bomb.  The picture below was caught on my sister Kristina's cell phone.  The picture below that, taken by me, was the end result.  Hilarious!!  We laughed so hard when my sister saw this picture later as she was browsing through her phone.

My niece Hannah...she is always happy. :)

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.  My brother and his family, the first of us to leave, where almost headed out the door and my parents gathered us for a family prayer.  All the kids, grandkids and in-laws, minus the one, were there. It was a special experience. :)

Having some fun.  My mom's cousin is a turkey farmer in Utah.  If you've ever eaten a Norbest turkey, chances are you might have eaten one of his.  This family is salt of the earth.  Some of the hardest workers you'll see and stalwarts in the gospel.  They have gone through some pretty traumatic things in their lives but remain firm in the gospel and live life with lots of laughter and love.  I admire them for that.  We decided to go and help them gather the turkeys to get from one turkey shed to another.  They were graduating one step closer to their demise.  With so many kids I don't know how helpful we were.  Maybe more of a hinder than a help.  They were good sports letting us city slickers help. ;)  The kids loved it!

Running to head into the shed.

Kellen with his cousin Trent.

More cousins.

Chatting while we wait to head over to ride the horses.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  My beautiful sister in law Laurie and her daughter Tayler riding horses at the farm.  They have horses at home in California so they actually knew what they were doing, unlike the rest of us.

Tayler giving Kaleb a ride. 

It was a great vacation!