Monday, December 29, 2014

The End of November in Pictures

I am so behind in writing Family Letters, I figured I would just present our past 6 weeks in pictures--they're worth a thousand words, right? And the camera captures moments better than my tired brain, I'm afraid. So here's the end of November...
James built a bird house in Cub Scouts. He brought it home to paint,
and we will find a post for it come springtime.
One of November's MAJOR events was Adeline's 13th birthday! We officially have a TEENAGER in our home and so far it's pretty awesome. To celebrate, Dad made a special breakfast and we gave her some gifts, then in the evening we had the Petrys and the Joneses over for dinner and the girls watched their fangirl shows while the parents hung out upstairs. It was a pretty fun day and we are so grateful this girl came to our family.
Tardis Magnet! I told her to put it on her locker,
but she wants to put it on my van.

Sibling loves on birthday morning

Birthday Dinner 11.21:
Ava P, Heidi, Eden and Jeanette J, Addie, and Isabel P.

Eden and Izzi look on as Addie cuts her cake

Beautiful Maxfield Parrish skies over our valley on 11.22--
the photos really don't do it justice. It was breathtaking, and not in the Seinfeld way.

Livingston Peak on 11.22
 
James and his cub scout pack had archery lessons on Saturday 11.22.
James loved it!
Curtis, James, Zane, and William- Cub Scouts having yogurt after archery
We planned to go to Utah for Thanksgiving Dinner with my family and a weekend with Bucherts for Ma & Pa Buchert's 50th Anniversary celebration. We had planned to leave on Wednesday afternoon, but a blizzard was blowing in, so we hurried up and packed and left early on Tuesday to miss the storm. We went all the way over to Butte to stay on the interstates and arrived in Pocatello at just the right time to have dinner at Café Rio and visit with Papa Jim.
We introduced Ammon to his grandpa for the first time on
Tuesday 11.25 at Café Rio.

We arrived safely at Nana's house in Herriman late Tuesday.
We woke up and started TG preparations and my brother Michael and his
family came over to play. We met our niece Autumn for the first time
(she was born 18 days before Ammon). This is Autumn, Jamie, and Heidi

Emmalyn, Autumn, Ammon, and Niles at Nana's

James at Nana's

Niles at Nana's

Ammon at Nana's

Aunt Abby with Emmalyn, Autumn, and Niles

Ammon and Autumn, Niles and Emmalyn

Daddy took Niles and James to the dinosaur museum
while Mommy and Nana were cooking.

James playing at the water table

Raawwwr!

Niles at the water table

James and dino

Niles, Daddy, and dino

Niles at the Dino Dig at the museum
On Thursday, 11.27, we had Thanksgiving Dinner at Nana's Clubhouse with my brother Will's family, my brother Sam's family, my sister Jill's family, and my brother Mike's family.
My gorgeous and ageless SIL, Kristen and nephew Owen (Sam's)


My mom and baby sister, Abby
--the family Spoons (as Papa Bill would say)--
Nana did an amazing job planning, preparing, and hosting
a nice holiday this year!

Belle, Addie, and Ally with Rich & Ammon during TG

Owen and James are best cousin buds

James and Owen with Jack and Spencer
(Jamie's son, Sam's son, Jill's son, and Will's son)

My cute brothers, Sam and Willy. Willy is holding Mike's baby Autumn.

Daddy and Ammon
After dinner and some chill family time, Kristen organized a stealth shopping brigade to score some major Black Friday deals. This sounds to me like a panic attack waiting to happen, so Sam and I stayed home with our kids and our anxiety and our spouses successfully raided Walmart. They took Addie and Abby along as their shopping minions.
Addie waiting dutifully by her post.

Kristen waiting to score some 80% discounted legos.
When Rich posted this on facebook his captions said, "Kristen explaining to the other
ladies how she will cut them if they take her legos." This is hilarious if you know
Kristen--she's so polite, she wouldn't hurt a fly. I have no idea how she survived Black Friday.

While Kristen and Rich were shopping, my cousin Joe stopped by
 to introduce us to his fiancée, Annalisa. They are in school together in Ephraim (Snow College)
and she is delightful.

Ammon fell asleep on Uncle Sammy

Ammon loved playing with Niles and Gavin
(Niles is 15 days younger than Gavin)

The feeling was mutual. The big funny joke between Niles and Gavin was saying,
"Hi, Santa Lyn!" to Ammon or to each other. They would laugh and laugh for ages.
 It was hilarious to watch them.
The perfect ending to any Thanksgiving:
watching CHRISTMAS VACATION

Addie with her "Kid Aunt" Abby
On Friday I took my mom to IKEA, I took Addie to In-N-Out Burger, then in the afternoon we headed to Provo to hang out with all the Buchert kids and get ready for the parents' anniversary party. It was fun to see Heidi again so soon and spend time with all 5 of her kids visiting from New York. Anna was home from Hawaii with her new little Tenzin, and I finally met Rob and Georgia's little Moxie (they adopted her in September; they were there for her birth!). I caught up with Martin and his growing-up kids, and Jeanne and Chris, too. I met Johanna's sweet little Elliot for the first time, too. It was a wonderful reunion!
Addie, Me, Heidi, Johanna, and my silly Heidi at the Anniversary Party.

Two Heidis

Niles with Buchert/Egans in the background

Then SATURDAY 11.29...
Nana made yummy food for Ammon

And he had a chocolate cookie for dessert (11.29)

My 3 big kids stayed the night with their cousins at Uncle Drew's on Friday night after the Buchert Party. When we picked them up, the girls had made this cake for their cousin party Saturday night...so CUTE!

Heidi, Niles, and Jack in Petersen's backyard.

 
Niles with Cousin Ben's football gear

Saturday morning we went back to Provo for Ruthie Egan's baptism
(Ruthie is Heidi's youngest).
This is me and Lily, Heidi's 2nd (of 4) daughter. She is 14 and lovely.

Me, Lily, Jeanne, and Anna's baby Tenzin after Ruthie's baptism

The baptism was kind of a reunion of college friends, too...
Rich and me (from Montana), Tracy and Burton Holmes (From Tucson AZ),
Todd and Heidi Egan (from Seneca Falls NY), and Becca and Martin Buchert (from SLC)
Tracy, Heidi, and I were all roommates after my mission--but before Erin--
 and Martin came home from his mission and met Becca
 around that same time. It was so nice to be together again!
(and 4 of us have turned into 24 of us! I love that!)

We picked up the kids from Petersens and there was a leaf fight happening.

Later on Saturday, Rich took the kids and their cousins to Cabela's in Lehi

Heidi had been sick since our drive down to Utah--she had no symptoms but a high fever and it ended up stretching out for 10 days before the docs finally figured out she had a kidney infection. Anyway, she missed TG dinner and most of the fun, but for about 20 miraculous hours, Tylenol allowed her to enjoy some cousin time, Friday night to Saturday afternoon.
Here she is with the fish at Cabela's. She sure loves her cousin Jack!

Saturday night, Ally and Addie had a combined birthday party at Nana's Saturday night.
(it was one week after Addie's birthday and one week before Ally's)
Addie made ceasar salad and bowtie pasta alfredo and they ate the Tardis cake.

Even Owen and James joined in the fun.

Niles, James, Maeby, and Ben having cake

Gavin and Niles playing with Nana's cars.

Melanie, Addie, Ally, and Liam

Addie and Ally with their birthday cake

Me with my awesome nephew Owen
(Uncle Willy is next to us)

Seriously love this guy!

...see?

Things got a little crazy when I wanted a picture with my brothers...

Spencer (willy's), Me, Owen (Sam's), Maeby (Willy's), Willy, Niles (mine), Sam,
James behind Sam (he's mine, too), and Gavin (Sam's).
So three siblings with six of our eleven kids.

Spencer and me

Niles crashed HARD!

COUSIN LOVES!
Ally hugging Spencer goodbye.

Two Cousins--Liam and Addie-- and their crazy Aunt Abby
The Post and Layton cousins went home form the cousin party, but Ally and Isabelle stayed to sleepover with Abby, Addie, and Heidi. Sunday morning Drew picked them up and we headed home around 9am. It was a nice trip and a beautiful drive, though we got some snow on the way.
The Wasatch Mountains near Brigham City on our drive home 11.30.

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...