Thanksgiving Week

We went to Doug's parent's house an hour outside of Vegas for Thanksgiving. All of his 7 brothers and sisters were there with they're spouses and children. There were a lot of people! We had so much fun spending time together. It was the first time everyone was together in several years. I love seeing how well the cousins get along even though they don't see each other very often. It makes us want to live closer to them all :). We drove all the way there. We stopped at my sister's house in Portland and stayed there for a day, then drove to Doug's brother's house in Sacramento, which is about a 12 hour drive. Then we went to a hotel near Sandy Valley, where Doug's parents live, which took us about 9 or 10 hours. We stayed a week then did that drive again. The kids did really well in the car 3 of the long days. The last day was pretty bad, and I didn't think we'd ever get home. But we did. Kenzie cried a lot on the way home, and so did Jordan. Plus Jordan was sick and threw up twice. But all that driving was worth it. We had a lot of fun. The boys loved playing with their cousins. Mackenzie loved being held a ton. Doug and I loved playing games with his brothers and sisters and their spouses. We just had fun being together. I have a ton of pictures from the week and narrowed it down some. There are still a love of pictures. Sorry if you get bored :) Jordan, Jackson, Alyssa, Ashton, Carinn. The first evening we were at grandma's house the kids played the animal game. They each took turns pretending to be an animal and the others would guess which animal they thought the person was being. Jackson loved this game. He would get so excited when they would guess. It was cute to see the kids trying to be different animals.

I think this is pretty much the cutest picture ever. She is smiling so much nowadays. It's fun.

Jackson helped grandma make enchiladas.

Joan, Doug's mom, watched our kids, along with Doug's brother's and his sister's kids so we could go on a triple date. We brought Mackenzie and Doug's sister, Candis, brought their baby. So we left Joan with 8 kids. She said everything went well when we were gone. I was worried about Jordan, but she said he was fine. We had a lot of fun on our date. We were going to go bowling, but the bowling alley was going close for a couple hours about a half hour after we got there so we decided to go see New Moon instead. I was nervous about taking Kenzie in the movie because we've never taken a baby to the movies, but she did amazingly well. She slept the entire time in her car seat. After the movie we went to the Bellagio and walked around and then went to see the water show. Thanks for watching the kids, Joan!

The picture is of Doug and I with a troll tree.

Here's the Bellagio. A smaller version of it. Jack was looking at these pictures with me and when he saw this picture he said "conference!' I guess he thought it was the Conference Center.

Doug and I with the water show behind us.

Brian, Tina, Candis, and Ryan outside the water show.

Doug and I with the fake Eiffel Tower. Too bad we didn't take a picture with the fake Space Needle too. :)

Alyssa, Jackson, and Avery

This is Carinn. Jackson saw this picture and thought it was him, then Jordan, then Ashton. I told him it's Carinn and he said in his baby talk voice "oh, it's Carinn when she was a baby." I guess he thinks she looks really young in the picture.

Avery and Jordan coloring.

Jackson, Carinn, Isaac, Mckay, Brooklyn, and Avery eating dinner. Not Thanksgiving dinner though. I don't have any pictures of that meal.

Eva, Grandma, and Mackenzie. Eva is 3 months older than Mackenzie.

Carinn and Jackson. These two became good friend while they were together. Jackson still talks about her. Just yesterday he was telling me that he would get to see her and his other cousins in the summer. Then he said "Carinn's so cute. I love Carinn." They were always asking about each other and wanting to play together.

The oldest three cousins, Toria, Whitney, and Dylan. Dylan leaves for his mission at the end of this month.

grandma and grandpa. We had family pictures taken while we were there. I might post some of those pictures later. But I might not.

This is some of the family. We had a Thanksgiving program. We all went around and said what we were thankful for after Grandma and Grandpa talked a little bit. Jackson was excited for his turn. But I never heard what he said because Mackenzie was crying. Although I did hear him finish like he just shared his testimony.

Eva

Lauren and Anna put Jackson up in a thigh stand. I guess we have another cheerleader in the family :)

Doug helping Jackson shoot an arrow.

Anna shooting one with Lauren watching. We were having a long distance shooting contest.

Doug, Anna, Shayla, Preston, and Lauren watching after Preston's turn.

Xavier with his bow.

Me and Doug.

Mckay.

Lauren loved holding Mackenzie. She wanted to do it all the time.

We had a little Christmas party and the kids did a talent show during it. X did some pretty amazing break dancing. He can even spin on his head.

While we were having fun during the party one of Santa's elves delivered some presents on the doorstep for each of kids. Each child received a pair of jammies.

Our kids got cute matching ones. Mackenzie's is pink but other than that it's the same.

All the grandkids. Damon, Shayla, Dylan, Hunter, Toria, Whitney, Ashton, Lauren, Mackenzie, Daisy, Carson, Brooklyn, Preston, X, Landon, Anna, Eva, Alyssa, Carinn, Avery, Jackson, Jordan, Isaac, Mckay.

After the picture taking, the kids had a fashion show. Jackson showed off his muscles during it.
The boys on the long drive home.