Crazy Christmas Family Reunion in Idaho

The time finally came for our big family reunion. On Wednesday, the 19th, we headed up to SLC to meet with our family that was flying in from the east coast. It was so good to see them. On the way to Idaho though, Jason was pretty sick and wasn't breathing properly. We got off on the nearest exits and Keith, Blaine, and Chris gave him a priesthood blessing. Kerri decided to take our car and head back to Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital. So that was a crazy start to our reunion! 

We finally made it to Idaho with cranky kids who were sleepy and tired from being in the car. Surprising Grandmom and Pop Pop was such a neat experience. Their living room was full of people and they just had the biggest smiles on their faces. It was so great. 

The next day, all the guys helped install a new door for Pop Pop's shed (his Christmas gift). Blaine was decked out to stay warm! 

The whole trip felt like it happened super fast. I barely remember the order of things that happened so here are some pictures of all the fun we had! 

The cousins played Monopoly Deal endlessly. There were times where I had to be a referee. That game never fails to bring up some contention!

We ate all the yummy food that Aunt Jan prepared. She did such a good job. There was always more than enough food and something for everyone. I was so impressed with her meal planning! And, as always, it was delicious. She also set up the garage with heaters and tables and that's where everybody ate all their meals! 

We got to bond a little more Trey. He is such a cutie. At first, he wasn't crazy about all the new faces, but he warmed up to Blaine pretty well!

We celebrated Chris' birthday with a cake and some treats. 

We went to Aunt Jan's ward Christmas breakfast. The food was great and they were so nice to allow 40+ people to crash their party. The primary did a small musical number and half of the kids that made of the primary were ours. 

Blaine loved chasing Tieg around. He is so fast!
He ran a 1 mile fun run in November. He's 2, turning 3 in February. 

Arranging all the sleeping arrangements was a big headache for Aunt Jan, but Uncle Lynn's brother offered for us to stay at their family's little cabin that they use when family comes into town. It was so cute! It was also close to Aunt Jan's house. It had a very western feel. The bathrooms were gorgeous as well as the kitchen. I wish I would've taken more pictures of the inside!

After being in the hospital for 3 days, Kerri and Jason finally joined us on Saturday. Jason is such a trooper. He is such a smiley, happy baby. 

I got to hang out a little bit with Mr. Tieg. He is so cute. I wish I had more time to hang out with each family individually! I felt like I just got small teeny tiny bit of time with everybody. 

Keith brought Scrapple from back east. I tried it for the first time. It was OK. I thought I was going to like it more. I don't know if I'll ever want to eat it again, but I'm glad I tried it. 

We did some more knitting. Almost all the women learned how to knit those scarves that Aunt Jan, Grandmom and I did during Thanksgiving. I made one and gave it to Kim, (who was sick with bronchitis and had to go to Urgent Care) and did not knit. Those scarves were a big hit! Demery even tried it and did a great job!

One day, Aunt Jan's friend closed down her tumbling gym for all of us to go and play. The kids had a blast. I'm sure it was fun for them to run around with all their cousins without any limits!

Tyson loved crawling under Aidan's bridge, over and over again. 

Not a good pic but these were most of the kids. 

Christmas Eve, we all got together in the garage for some games and for Grandmom to read the birth of Christ to us. We had a White Elephant gift exchange, which was a lot of fun thanks to Stace. I ended up with some thick mens socks and Chris was nice enough and let Blaine keep his original gift of Idaho Huckleberry Syrup. 

Grandmom did a great job at reading the story of the birth of Christ, even though she was probably exhausted and so overwhelmed from all the craziness of having everybody over. Surprisingly, the kids stayed quiet for a good portion of it. 

Christmas morning, we stayed at the cabin to open some gifts. Blaine got me new running shoes, a cute shirt and some leopard tights that I wanted. I was a bad wife this year and only gave him things in his stocking. I kept on asking him what he wanted and he said he didn't want anything! I didn't want to waste money on a gift he didn't want. But I'll make it up to him on Valentine's Day! It was fun to be with family and watch the kids open their gifts. It had a different feeling from our Delawarean Christmas, but it was still fun. 

Being the girly-girl that she is, Chase put on all the accessories from a gift set that she got. She had some heels on too, but we were too late to take a picture before her mom made her change. She is too cute. She is such a girl. She loves all things bling and pink. 

I loved seeing these guys again. I miss having them so close to us. It was crazy to see how much they've grown. I love talking to Miles about anything and everything. He is so open! Tyson was very sick the whole trip but he was still so sweet with me. He gave me kisses and hugs whenever I asked for them (and I asked a lot!). I spent some time teaching them how to play Mario Kart on the Wii and it was so much fun. Miles kept on saying how fun it was and how he was going "wicked fast." Tyson just kept on shouting "woohoo!" I love these boys! 

So that was our trip. The Saturday that we were all there, we took this family picture. I love how it turned out. Katie did a great job! We love having a photographer in the family. She even photoshopped Jeff in! Jeff is currently deployed and was the only family member who couldn't make it. It's crazy to see how big our family is and how fast it grows! We were also able to meet Race, Brock and Mitzi's newest baby. He is so cute! Kevin made it to Idaho as well, and I think everybody really enjoyed having him there. We are happy about the new additions to our family and are excited for the many more to come! It was so great to be with everybody during this special holiday. I don't know if or when this will ever happen again, but I hope we make family reunions a tradition in our family!