Cousin Chaos Continued...

It think we had the best week of 2009 the week that Brad and Lara came. No joke, this year has not been very fun in my opinion--it seems that every enjoyable memory from this year has been tainted by something difficult in the background, except for this week we had from the Saturday before Thanksgiving until the Saturday after. It was the first full week of true vacation for me, and I wasn't even the one on vacation. : ) I love the holidays, and I love family.

Tyson played so hard that when it was all over, he could fall asleep in the most uncomfortable of positions. : ) Poor kid--he misses our cousins & doesn't understand that they live so far away.

Ean with his furtive glance out of the playhouse. Apparently, Ean is Tyson's best friend. That made me laugh, because Ean & Tyson had the most run-ins. They're close enough in age to want to play with all the same toys, and just far enough apart that Tyson realizes he's a little older. So what does Tyson do? He bosses Ean around. Of course, Ean didn't want any of that, so he bit Tyson twice. When it was all said and done, though, Tyson won't stop talking about his cousin Ean.

Isaac & Orrin in the playhouse.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to get a Christmas tree. Here's Tyson & Heber.

My cute baby in his new outfit that Grandma bought him. They don't get any cuter than this, folks!

Karly came with us, so we took this shot with her in it...

Our whole gang for trees. We were lucky to have Stetson with us! He drove us around in a jeep thing--that was fun. This was also Cache's last trip before his mission.

Tyson kept his hands in his pockets the whole time it seemed! He was cracking us up as he trapsed around in the woods with his hands in there to keep warm. He tuckered out in front of our Christmas tree in his Daddy's arms.

After Thanksgiving dinner at Clyde & Jami's, we went to my Aunt Carla's. Tyrel was talking crap, so Mitch showed him who's boss.

Mitch & Tyson in front of the pond, Thanksgiving Day

Shaun and Shay came to have Thanksgiving with us! Two beautiful girls! Shaun and I were touring the gorgeous house when we went out on a balcony and saw some kids in the field with the cows. She said, hey, there's kids out there...wait, that's my daughter. And I said, oh! Wow--wait! That's Tyson! It was so funny to be wondering whose kids they were and then to realize they were ours in the middle of the field scaring the bajeebies out of the cows.

Emmett found his thumb at Grandma Borden's house. Oh, no!

One night Grandma Borden came over to spend time with all her grandsons while Brad & Lara went to the temple. Ean fell asleep right in her arms while everyone watched Bolt.

It's not so silly now to see Santa's sleigh, but you have to realize that when we were at the zoo, it wasn't even Thanksgiving, yet, and the kids thought this would be a great spot for a group shot. We had so much fun that day & by the end of it, I was really glad we went, but it took me a few hours before I felt that way. For the first few hours, I kept wondering what on earth we were thinking to take 7 kids to the zoo ages 6 and under. We didn't even get to see animals until after an hour of being there already. Getting out the door was even a fiasco, as Tyson had the worst blow-out dirty diaper of his life. Of course Emmett had to be nursed by the time we got there, so we had to find a place for the other 6 kids to play & keep happy. THEN they wanted lunch. It was quite the ordeal, but then once all that was over, we were able to tour the zoo successfully. We did one of the loops and it took us about 4 hours, but they had fun, and that's what matters!

Ammon--what a cutie!

Everyone took a bathroom break, and I stayed with the little kids. Tyson kept going over by the monkeys, and I had no idea why he kept going to that one window until I tried to get him to leave and Lara was like, "Oh my gosh, that monkey is right there!" Tyson had about 15 minutes of one on one monkey time while the kids all took a potty break.

Why did we go to the zoo? To climb on trees of course.

Who are those ragamuffins on the giraffe lookout tower? Oh, wait, they're ours!

Aren't they so handsome in their church clothes?

Emmett's baby blessing day was so sweet. It was a special day, and it was like he knew it was a special day for him. He got to be blessed by his Daddy, and his uncles Brad, Brian, Nick, and Mike were in the circle, as well as both Grandpa's and the bishop. It was a sweet baby blessing & we felt the Spirit. Children are truly a gift from God, and they bring a bit of Heaven with them to earth.

These are just a few of the people who came to support us on Emmett's blessing day. It was kind of a whirl wind preparation as we planned it last minute to make sure that it could happen while Brad & Lara were here.

Emmett's first time meeting Great-Grandma Fern.