Rebels

It's no secret that this family is big into the UNLV Rebels bball team. Well they played SUU in Nov so it was a great opportunity to get fabulous seats and go see them play for less too.

 The seats don't get much better than this!

 We met Hayden & Megan there as well as Dave and Bear and Josh.

After the game was over it was pretty fun to see the Rebel bus parked out front. The team had a rough night but we still enjoyed watching them.

Pickle Ball Party

We ordered our own pickle ball equipment and it got here just in time for Thanksgiving. Thank goodness because we had some fun planned.

 We went down to the middle school tennis courts because they had the fewest big cracks and laid out a pickle ball court using the last of our blue painters tape.

 We all took turns sitting out for a bit because there were 7 of us.

Basically we are not professional at this by any means but it sure was fun. I can't believe how bad I really am but it didn't matter it was still fun. After our pickle ball party it was time to head out. Now it was time to say goodbye to Christina who decided she better get back to Provo and beat the storm coming. Then we drove in to Vegas with 2 cars because there were 6 of us and went to Panda Express before going to a movie. Hayden and Megan had never been to a luxury theater so we went to the one in Henderson. We saw Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them together. Not my fave but it was still fun to go together. Right after the movie we headed over to the airport and had to drop Jeff and Rachel off for their red eye flight home. We didn't envy them one bit. Over night flights are so miserable! So then it was 4. By the time we got home it was straight to bed. After church the next morning it was time for Hayden & Megan to go home as well. I don't know if stretching out the good byes is better or worse but they were all gone in the twinkling of an eye. Thank goodness Ashley's family are still in Logandale and haven't left us! It was a super fun holiday. We tried to pull out all the stops because we knew we weren't going to be seeing Jeff & Rachel at Christmas. We partied hard then before we knew it it was time to start getting ready for Christmas!!

Happy Birthday Rees

Saturday was here before we knew it and it all started with Rees' birthday. We were all invited to the Comeau's for a yummy birthday breakfast. They made us lemon pancakes and fruit and muffins and all sorts of yumminess. Seriously divine. After we had all feasted we had some time to laze around and visit and of course open presents!

 Seriously how many kids read the cards?

 Rees had a helper or two

Time ot put those star wars toys models together and play with them.

It was a great birthday party and I am in shock that Rees is nine! He's the best kid and we are so happy he's part of our family.

Family Chocolate Tasting

After our hike we had another fun activity planned after we chilled for a bit. 

We taste tested so much chocolate. We taught the kids how to feel it and smell it and snap it and guess the other notes like fruit in each kind. I told them where it was from and we went from there.

The best quote of the night and maybe the year goes to Cooper. When asked what was his favorite kind he just blurted out"I didn't get a stick!" He apparently didn't get an orange stick. So funny. That's our comment for pretty much everything now.

It was a super fun night for everyone. 

We ate lots of chocolate and even had tons of leftovers. Maybe a new tradition?

Hiking the Valley of Fire

Friday was a great day to go outside. It was cool but not cold. Nice and sunny too. Mike Lewis was in town and joined us for our hike. It was great to catch up and get some exercise too.

 It's fair to say Ashley's boys loved the hike!

 Christina was Dane's buddy

 The other two boys just spent most of the time hanging out with everyone.

It was so nice to get out for awhile and enjoy each others company and the  beautiful scenery.

The Valley of Fire just never seems to get old.

Family Time

We did lots of fun things during the Thanksgiving break. 

 Shay was the life of the dance party!

 Games were played by one and all.

 Made some fun little turkeys with the Grand kids. They are quite the artists!

 Protecting yourself at all costs!

We always enjoy a good snowball fight. It just never gets old.

Thanksgiving Day

 Dinner was at 1:30 but family started coming just a bit earlier. We ended up with 29 I think altogether. It all went really really well considering how many people that is in our not so huge house. Everyone helped with food assignments too which was great. We visited some while I finished up dinner for a few minutes then we all trouped outside for a family picture session. It was really the best chance for us to get everyone together.

 We gathered around the pistachio tree because it was just so pretty. Charlie was in charge of our photo session. I didn't want to hire anyone to come on Thanksgiving day so we had him do the honors. Unfortunately the settings were wrong so they were over exposed but I've tried to adjust them enough here so you can see us much better. It's a huge group to contain and make work but all in all we got some great pictures. Thanks Chuck!

 Grandpa & Grandma with the grands and great grands!

 It wasn't a nice warm day but it was in the low 60's so we went for it outside. The wind had kicked up that morning so Mendis built a make shift structure to wrap some plastic around so the wind was kept out. It was really helpful. The food was great and we all ate ourselves silly.

 We spent lots of time hanging out together as a family and just visiting. We also set up horseshoes, corn hole and basketball for everyone to entertain themselves. They used it all so it was a good thing.

 We had football going too. On the TV and flag football outside.

It was a great day. After we all feasted on pie and cleaned up, the day was pretty much gone. We really enjoyed hosting everyone and now next year is going to seem like a pathetic little gathering after this!