Somehow, I missed posting a couple of pictures from the last few weeks.
I went to lunch with Leigh's sweet mom, Malie (pronounced Muh-lee-ay). We had a great time visiting about our cute kids!
And I just love this cute one from last weekend, while they were at Disneyland!
We have had some incredible sunsets lately. This particular day the sky looked like it was on fire. This picture is not as vibrant as the real thing. It was amazing!
Drew asked me to teach him how to make Alfredo sauce. He did a really good job following instructions. It was super yummy!
We had a second go at perming Susanna's hair. Her hair is SO curl resistant that you really couldn't tell that we had done anything to it. The waves immediately fell out.
She did not enjoy sitting for such a long time again with stinky chemicals, but she was a good sport.
This time it came out like she wanted and has a pretty wave to it. Hooray!!!
The ladies of the house played Slamwich together. It was pretty fierce competition. None of them have ever beaten me before. The game involves fast hands to slap the pile of cards played and one of the times, my thumbnail took a chunk out of Sara's hand. She put on a bandage and then the next time my nail cut through the bandage. Then she got a glove for me to wear to protect her poor hand. Sara ended up winning. She was pretty happy about beating me.
After playing the girls all piled in bed with me to snuggle. They are my sweeties!
This year the Alger gang all met up at Grant and Joanna's. There new home is gorgeous and has great gathering areas for our huge family.
These guys all had fun playing Settlers of Catan with two sets of board pieces. It was huge and exciting!
Leah's in-laws joined us this year. They are a fun family and fit right in.
We gathered as many girls as we could find for this one. Such cute cousins!
Susie, Laney, Sara, Rachel, Emily
little Laney, Lydia, Adriana
Olivia, Afton
Talon and Paxton with their new baby Reagan
Jake with Leah's baby Jet
Time flew by so fast that I almost forgot to take pictures. Grandma and Grandpa left before I remembered, so I got these from Natalie and Steve of their little cuties with them.
When we got home, I played Qwirkle with these goofy people. They were hilarious the whole game. It was the most unorganized game of Qwirkle I have ever played. We laughed almost the whole game.
Friday was tons of shopping! Surprisingly, all the places we went were pretty empty. We had great parking and no lines. Sam, Sara and I didn't leave home until just before 9 am. We got everything on our lists and more. We came home after a few hours and ate. Then Sara and I went back out for several more hours. I am done with my Christmas shopping! YAY!!!
Saturday was the Ely gathering. It didn't feel quite the same with Jessi's and Gavin's families being out of town. We still had a great time. Papa, Ben, Aaron, Sam, Josh, Sara, Andrew, Freddy, Daniel, Madi, Justin, Tyson, Lucas and Wilson all went to the temple first. They had a wonderful time together in the Lord's house. It's awesome how many of them are now old enough to go in!
Then we all met up at Gram and Papa's for the festivities. The kids made their "gingerbread" houses first, while the moms finished preparing the food. Dandi kept the frosting coming for everyone.
All of my kids, Daniel and older, paired up with a cousin to help them make their candy creations. My older kids, other than Andrew, do not eat sugar anyhow, so it made sense to help the other kids.
Ryan, Wilson, Freddy, Tyson, Andrew, Lucas and Justin
Madi, Danica, Nan, Emmett, Sara, Dandi, Jonah, and Ella
Laney, Leigh, Susanna, Josh, Nellie and Daniel
Ella, so proud of her train car creation!
Sara and Emmett were partners. He had to have his dinosaurs and train in the picture too. Such a cutie!
This was Ryan and Justin's, complete with a blue swimming pool.
Lucas
Nellie had Daniel helping her. They were so cute working together!
Josh helped Susanna.
And Leigh helped Laney.
They needed pictures of both sided of their creations.
And from the top.
Laney had a pond next to her house.
Freddy helped Wilson.
Tyson, Freddy and Lucas
There was a lot of horsing around with all the boys.
Leigh and Josh were dressed up to go to a wedding reception and accidentally matched, so of course we had to take pictures.
Dinner time!
There was some indoor wrestling, until Grammy told them to take it outside. It was pretty intense, but they said it was all fun. Boys!
Justin and Ryan were doing pretty well taking down Andrew.
Sara and I snuck away for a few minutes to the Goodwill store around the corner. We found the Tardis, for only $59!! Such a deal for traveling through time and space. Sadly, we still did not purchase it.
