Our Thanksgiving Family Reunion

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We were blessed to have all of our family, and my mom, together for an entire week! That is quite an accomplishment and definitely made for some fun times. It all started with Kylie's baptism. As I mentioned in the last post, Michael, Mallory and Madie were not planning to arrive until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. But they surprised us and arrived during the baptism service, which we were so excited about! Holly, Claire and Ethan arrived Nov 17, and Jeff and my Mom arrived on Nov 19. We made some very happy memories and this is a very LONG blog post, which explains why it has taken me so long to post it - I've been too overwhelmed to do it! But here it is.....all of our fun times we had.

CABIN

On Nov 21, right after church, we drove up to our cabin to spend a night up there. Since we are selling it, this will probably be the last time the Boyers and Michael & Mallory will be able to use it. Tyler also brought his girls up. Tiffany and BJ and Shannon & kids weren't able to go.

Isn't Aunt Mallory fun? The kids love her! Here is Grandma Clark holding Madie

Mallory, Kylie and Madie playing ring around the rosie
Ethan, Nana, Claire and Sadie playing 'Don't Eat Pete"
Claire, Ethan, Kylie, Lexi playing 'Don't Eat Pete"
Sadie and Ethan became buddies. They even shared the air mattress - they were each at one end of it and their feet were in the middle. They are so cute together!

More fun memories of the cabin!

PHOENIX ZOO LIGHTS

BJ and Shannon hooked us up with $5 tickets to Zoo Lights, which was great. We went for Family Home Evening on Monday night. It was a beautiful evening.

Here we all are at the zoo, except for Tyler, who had to work. However, on the way to the zoo, he told us that he was on the side of the road by the zoo with his police car, so we were able to see him in action. We wish he could have joined us, but this was fun for the kids......

Especially Claire, who wants to be a police officer like Uncle Ty!

SHOOTING

On Tuesday, some of the family went with Tyler to shoot some of his guns and guess who was there? Claire, of course.

Tyler and Michael scope it out.

and Jeff shows Ethan how to shoot

BOWLING & ETHAN'S ACCIDENT

Later that evening Tiffany hooked us up with some free bowling passes for ALL OF US. I love free! We got 3 lanes and turned one into a kids lane and the kids had a blast. They did really well! The adults had a lot of fun too. Grandma was a good sport to go along with us everywhere!

Ethan was having such a great time until he dropped the bowling ball on his thumb, almost severing it. Poor Ethan! Prepare for some graphic pictures below.

OWIE, Ethan! They took him to the emergency room and waited forever to see what they were going to do with him. The hand surgeon wasn't available, but told the attending doctor that he should stay overnight in the hospital and they transferred him to St. Joe's Hospital. In the meantime, Bryan and I and Claire took them food and a change of clothes and Jeff and Bryan gave Ethan a blessing. Ethan was so brave throughout the whole ordeal. Long story short, the next afternoon, they finally took him into surgery, put a pin in the thumb, stitched it up and after he had recovered from the surgery, they finally let him go home.

Since Tyler had to work on Thanksgiving Day and BJ and Shannon and kids were going to be with Shannon's family, we had decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night so everyone could be there. When all of this was happening with Ethan, we went ahead with our plans, never dreaming it would take so long at the hospital, but it did take a long time and Holly, Jeff and Ethan missed our Thanksgiving dinner. It was so sad. However, they did come just as we were starting our dessert, so the evening wasn't all lost. We're just glad Ethan was okay and we wish him a very speedy recovery.

RANDOM PICTURES

Claire pulling Madie in the wagon.

I absolutely love this picture! Ethan and Sam are our only grandsons and they were born on the same day - 2 hours apart. Aren't they so cute in this picture?

Holly bonding with Madie

We let Madie open her Christmas present early. We gave her a dog pillow pet, which she loves.

THANKSGIVING DAY 2010

Before Tyler went to work and BJ & Shannon left for Glendale, we had family pictures taken at Val Vista Lakes, Gilbert, AZ. The sun was very bright as you can probably tell from our squinty eyes, but I think they turned out very well, considering.

Cutest grandkids EVER!

Ethan, Sam, Sadie, Papa & Madie, Claire, Kylie, Nana, Lexi, Brodi

Bryan and I with our 4 wonderful kids

Grandma Clark, Karen, Michael and Madie - 4 generations!

Grandma Clark, Karen, Holly and Claire - 4 generations!

Grandma Clark, Kylie, Karen, Sadie, Tyler and Lexi - 4 generations!

(Note - BJ's kids were done with pictures, so we didn't get them)

BASS PRO SHOP

Since we had our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night instead of on Thanksgiving Day, we had the day free to relax and do what we wanted. Tiffany told us that Santa would be at Bass Pro Shop and they had crafts and fun things for the kids to do, so away we went! When we got there, we were about the only ones in the store - it got busy later, but we loved it while we had the place to ourselves. We missed Sam and Brodi, who were at their other grandparent's house.

The rest of the pictures will be in my next post. I accidentally deleted them. Here is a pictures of the kids eating their smores. Bass Pro provided free smores and hot chocolate! Again, I love free!

Thanks, Bass Pro Shop!

VISIT TO UNCLE TYLER'S WORK

This was probably the highlight of Claire's trip! She always wanted to be a firefighter, but I think after seeing Tyler in his police uniform and all the SWAT equipment, she has changed her mind and now wants to be a police officer. Tyler was nice enough to give us a tour of the police department and the kids LOVED IT!

Brodi's Temple Sealing

BJ and Shannon were able to adopt this beautiful little girl - Brodi Michelle Watkins back in July. They knew that a lot of family would be here for Thanksgiving, so they waited to have the sealing so we could all be there. It was beautiful! Doesn't Brodi look like a little doll. This was a very special event in our family and we're so happy to have Brodi a part of our family forever.

ALL ABOARD!

For Christmas this year, we gave all of our family a ticket for Polar Express in Williams, AZ.

It was so much fun and definitely worth every penny.

Just look at the happy faces and you'll see for yourself! I got matching pajamas for the kids and for the adults and I made everyone wear them on Polar Express - I know - I'm so MEAN! The guys weren't too happy about that, but I think when they saw some men wearing footed pajamas on the train, they didn't feel so picked on.

Thanks, everyone for humoring me!

The cousins are waiting to get on the train.

Here we all are waiting for the train to arrive. It was FREEZING! I think I had 5 layers on!

My camera wasn't working, so I got all of these pictures from my kids blogs.

I'm glad they all took tons of pictures.

Madie is not quite sure about that guy in the red suit, but she did love her bell.

Holly and Claire enjoying their hot chocolate and cookie.

Nana and Papa with Madie and Ethan.

Mal, Madie and Sadie

Jeff, Ethan, BJ & Brodi (I love Brodi's expression!)

See? Madie loves her bell so much, she's chewing on it.

BJ and Sam. We were especially excited for Sam to go on Polar Express. He talkes about trains ALL THE TIME and all he wanted for Christmas was to go on Polar Express and get a bell.

All of us stayed at a Marriott in Williams, so we didn't have to travel home after the train ride. It was a very fun adventure and some great memories.

Claire's Birthday
Claire turned 6 years old on Nov 27. We had a little family birthday party for her before they took off for the airport to go back to Iowa. We had so much pie left over from Thanksgiving that instead of a birthday cake, she had birthday pie! We love you, Claire and we're so glad you were able to be with us on your special day!

And then, sad to say, it was time for everyong to go home. My mom actually didn't go to Polar Express with us. She left after Brodi's sealing and spent some time with my nephew Brady and his family. Michael and Mallory left from Williams, AZ for their long drive home to California. Holly, Jeff, Claire and Ethan left for the airport after the birthday party and then our house was too quiet. I felt like we already had our Christmas! For me, it was the best week of the whole year and I'm so thankful for my family and the fun times we have together.

Kylie's Baptism

Our oldest granddaughter, Kylie, was baptized on Nov 20. It was a great day and it's very hard to believe that she is that old already. Kylie is a very obedient, sweet girl and is such a great example to her younger sisters and cousins. Since she is the oldest of our grandchildren, all of her cousins will always be looking to her as an example and I know she will set a great one. We love you, Kylie and are so proud of you!

All of our familiy was able to be there for the baptism. Michael, Mallory and Madie surprised us in the middle of the service and walked in - 3 days earlier than expected! That was a wonderful surprise and everybody who was 'in on it' received the exact reaction they expected and hoped for from me - many tears of joy!

New Year's Resolution!

Just like everyone else, my goal for this year is to be better about blogging! I can't believe it has been almost 3 months since I last blogged - I have so much to blog about, I don't know where to begin. So maybe I'll just have to start....tomorrow!

Oh, and one more thing.....

I laughed when these pictures came across my computer when I downloaded my Iowa pictures. Ethan loves to use my camera and I knew he took a lot of pictures with it - these are just a few surprises I got. I have no idea when he lined up these cards and took pictures of them. My favorite one, however, is the last one. Good thing we have a picture of the green balloon sitting quietly on the couch!

I LOVE YOU, ETHAN!

Karen's trip to Iowa

Okay, so are you ready for picture overload? I had to take a lot of pictures of Claire and Ethan for this blog because I don't get to see them very often and post pictures of them! I had a fabulous trip to Iowa in September, so now I can document the trip on this blog. First of all, when I left Arizona, the temperature was HOT - triple digits and by September, we're all very ready to be done with the hot weather. Iowa was BEAUTIFUL and most of the time the temperature was in the 70's. I wanted to be outside as much as possible to soak it in before going back to more hot weather.I brought Claire and Ethan new puzzles and here they are putting them together. I actually had a little surprise for them each day I was there. It was fun for me and for them!
Here is Claire modeling her Halloween costume.

Ethan goes sooooo fast on this little bike - it's very amazing! When it got dark, Holly rigged Claire and Ethan's bikes with a flashlight on the handlebars and we went for a night ride (we walked and the kids rode). We couldn't keep up with them, but the kids were great at stopping at each corner to wait for us to catch up.

Claire is super fast on her scooter too.

Here's Holly. After Claire came home from school, we enjoyed sitting out on the front lawn. I meant to get a picture of Claire getting off the school bus - her bus stop is just past the mailbox in the background of this picture, so Claire doesn't have very far to go.

Claire is reading her book to Ethan and me.

Ethan decided it was time to mow the grass.

The first night I arrived, there were 2 events. The first one was Ethan's soccer game. He is on the sideline in this picture trying to decide if he wants to play. I begged and bribed him, but it was a no-go. However, he did play for a few minutes the next week - too bad I missed it!

The other event was Claire's fall festival at school. They had games, food and it gave me a chance to see Claire's desk and classroom.

The next night was free carousel ride night at the mall. So Holly and I each took a turn getting dizzy on the carousel. They have an ice skating rink in their mall and it just so happened that the Hawkeyes were playing a hockey game that night, so we got some dinner and watched the game.

Holly, Ethan and I were able to go eat school lunch with Claire. It was fun to see her at school - she is very obedient! They have a no talking rule in the halls, so she had to remind me a couple of times to be quiet.We got to watch her play at lunch recess for a little while.

And then it was time to line up to go back to class. As soon as she heard the bell, she immediately ran over and got in line. She didn't want to be late.

After Claire got home from school, we went to Wilson's Apple Orchard. Claire, Ethan & I are enjoying some delicious apples. You can pick them and eat them for free. They also have delicious apple turnovers that they sell there. Ummmm. Delicious!

Holly, Claire and Ethan are ready with their basket to pick some apples.

They also sell pumpkins at the orchard. We couldn't resist the pumpkin picture!

There is a very quaint German town named Amana that is pretty close to Holly & Jeff's house. We spent a couple of hours walking through the shops and enjoying the atmosphere. It was a beautiful day. We missed Claire, but we were glad our little buddy, Ethan, was with us.

Speaking of Ethan, isn't this a cute picture of him with his bottle of root beer?

Later that afternoon, when Claire got home from school, Holly had a meeting, so I dropped her off at the meeting and the kids and I went to a park where I got some cute pictures of them.

........then we went to Claire's dance lessons and I was able to watch her dance through a very small crack in the curtains while we waited for her.

The next day while Claire was at school, we took Ethan to a gymnastics place that they open up to the public at lunch time.

Ethan had fun jumping in the foam pit, jumping on the trampoline, etc.

And then that night was Claire's soccer game. She did a great job at her game and is quite an agressive little player. I was proud of her.

The next morning it was time for me to go home. As you can see, it was a wonderful week. I just realized I didn't get one picture of Jeff. Sorry, Jeff! He was gone to a conference for the first couple of days I was there, and then he was home in the evenings, but my camera wasn't out much in the evenings. I had such a fun time and enjoyed Holly's good cooking, playing with Claire and Ethan, playing games with Holly & Jeff in the evening and everything else about being there. I decided September is definitely the month to visit Iowa!