Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Time for Family -Time to Prepare!

What a magical and hectic holiday we had at Thanksgiving. We celebrated Tday on Tuesday and a mini-Christmas on Thursday! The children and their families began arriving on Saturday and by Sunday evening, everyone was accounted for! Autumn, after sadly announcing that she could not get home, showed up at the door yelling "surprise", and indeed we were!! What a treat! With nine grandbabies, three of whom are under 8 months and the oldest is nine...you can well imagine the fun and chaos we enjoyed! Here are a few highlights!


Aden Brown, nicknamed "The Fuss" belongs to Ammon and Ailene. 
He is completely adorable!
He sucks on his lower lip, reminding me of Kelsey!


Plenty of opportunities to entertain little ones. Ammon reads to Micah and Becky's kids,
Cosette, Caleb and Eden


 Caleb, our newest edition, nicknamed, "The Cheeks" was a roly poly hit and I do not doubt that many germs were transmitted on those kissable cheeks of his...fortunately he was not the one who came down with a flu bug!


 Rebecca is looking lovely as her cute hairstyle matches that of The Fuss. 
She was a trooper, as our gang can be pretty boisterous!


The Fuss and Cheeks enjoyed hanging out together and competing for attention!


 Ariel and Autumn love to pose for the camera....we were all so happy to see her!!!


Micah and Cheeks, taking a short snooze! After two beautiful girls, 
Micah is glad to have a boy to torment! HA!


 Haven holds Liora and The Fuss and Cheeks join in. Dulcinea decided to photo bomb, but we are always happy to see her sweet face! Liora is the oldest of the babies, and so petite, cuddly and easy-going. Those boy cousins may prove to be a handful!


 Dan and his girl Sandra took a few minutes to go through the Brown Family photos...
he wanted to be sure that she knew he had always been this cute!


 Grandpa Doyle had fun with the antics of the little people. 
Eden, grandpa, Julian and Little T all chillin'!


 "Christmas" morning is pj heaven with excitement for all!!


 Matthias and Dulcinea enjoyed making ornaments and playing with clay.


Noble chilling at the table for gluttons, an activity which we all took part in!

Well, the mob has dispersed and after two days of cleaning, we are now focusing on getting things in order to leave on our mission to the Pacific Area and live in Auckland, New Zealand for 18 months. It is hard to leave family, but there is no doubt that the Lord will bless and care for each of them in our absence! Flying to SLC on Dec 12 and leaving for NZ on Dec 21...so here is hoping that you all have a wonderful holiday and a fantastic 2014!!!

(This blog will be on hold until our return, but a mission blog will replace it in January)