Rod, and Eric with Marv and The BIRD!
Me and Clark... Clark has always been a favorite of mine... that is if I had favorites.... :)
Ricky and Jeff discussing the foreign policy. Or something like that.
Andrea and Audry were so helpful with the tables and dinner prep.
Olivia and Leah
Me, Angela and Carol Ann
The cousins in the loft. They love this hang out spot!
Carving time. See the big bandages on his wrist... long story!
These four had so much fun together. They bigger 3 are really close in age and they did such a good job of letting Leah play with them and including her.
Jared decided to shake the cider and quickly found out why we don't normally do that.
Enough food??? Hmmm.... 
The smallish kids table.
The mediumish kids table.
And the biggish kids table.
More big kids.
Eric and Carol Ann
Angela and Jeff
Kiera and Ricky
Grandma with Sondra (a friend at LOP)
Rod and Ruth
Jeff and Diana... OK, in retrospect I should have picked a different picture. Diana smiled beautifully in all the pictures, but Jeff would either close his eyes or look away, so by the time he looked, she was done. Sorry Di, you deserve a better one.
This is a cool picture on Grandma's wall. I forget who it is.
Back in the other room for fun skits with our teenagers!
And lots more games!!!!!!!!
Ok, Clark actually fell asleep here! This was too funny.
This is what the living room looked like in the morning.
The foursome in the morning!
With this crowd every meal is a big production! _________________________________________________
Friday's Hike
Rod planned a fun hike for all the cousins. They hike up under the Forest Hill Bridge and had a great time exploring the falls at the dam there.
Shelley is such a wonderful sister and daughter. It was fun when she and her children arrived at the house friday morning. The whole room lit up. No lie. I looked around and there was a smile on every face as she went around the room greeting and giving hugs. She has a special effect on this family for sure! She is just a wonderful person. 
One of the activities of the morning was learning about Zack. Angela had brought pictures and newspaper clippings to share with us what is going on in their neck of the woods. Zack has been in the spotlight in the High School world of the Santa Cruz area. He is a star. The thing that was really neat was to read how the newspaper reported his church and seminary attendance and quoted a teammate stating that he was "the most respected player on the team." So glad to know we have such an amazing young man in our midst! Thanks for sharing Angela, even against Zack's will. :) 
Then Mother broke out the old photo albums. That was a hoot. We all got a good laugh from old styles and past experiences. It was fun to watch the families gather around their parents particular album. There is an album for each sibling and so they each had their own. 
And more games! 
Chad is such a great cousin who will play with any and all ages!!! Shelley planned a fun bithday celebration for Marv that night. We all had fun watching him be emotional as he read the cards and opened presents and learned once again how special he is and how well loved he is by SO many people! 80 years and still kickin!
Shelley and I at the end of the evening.
Shelley and I at the end of the evening. What a fabulous weekend with a fabulous family. We sure love them all and cherish the times we can spend together.
2 comments:
Looks like you had a GREAT Thanksgiving with Rod's family:)
I love the picture of Marv holding up his sign - How great that he could have his 80th birthday with his family all around him - Love it!!!
What a fun weekend!My first thought when I saw so many asleep on the floor was, "How did everyone get ready in the morning"? Looks like between your cabin trip and a family weekend you had a great holiday. Now I will be anxious to see if your Christmas celebrations top your Thanksgiving week.
Post a Comment