Thanksgiving Day

One week ago my family started arriving.  Here at the ranch. 

Julie and Drew and their 5 came first, and then Wendy and Andy and their 9.  The next day came Holly and Neal and their 5, and Brian and Marissa and their 2.

Our number for Thanksgiving this year: 36.

We were missing Mom and Dad, who are in Poland serving a mission for our church, of course, and Mark who is in Hawaii, and David and Diane and their 4 who are in Australia.  

I was excited to see everyone.  I LOVE love LOVE my family!  

I was especially excited to meet these 2 handsome fellows:

twin brothers, Luke, who looks just like his mommy (my sister Wendy), and Simon, who looks just like his daddy.

And also to meet this adorable little miss,

Miss Tillie, who is my brother Brian's little one.  

We had 6 new babies born this year, 2 on Weston's side (Asher and Tessa), and 4 on my side (Jakob, Tillie, Simon and Luke).  I have yet to meet Jakob and Tessa.

Thanksgiving day was a gorgeous and fairly warm day.  The men and children played outside while the women cooked.

Julie passing Tillie off to Drew so she could finish the sweet potato pudding.

Julie made personalized napkin holders on their drive up from Utah.

There was also lots of Skyping going on.  With Grammie and Grandad (my folks),

And the brother Markus.

"Look, our earrings match!"

Brian's and Mark's heads become one.

And lots of baby holding.

Whitdawg, Tills and Sadie Bear

When all the food was ready and the tables were set, we smushed together for a picture.  This is everyone except for Andy, Wendy, Ammon and Simon.

All of the kids that were there except Natalie, Ammon and Simon.

on the fence: Whitney, Brendan, Reed, Aidan, Olivia, Spencer, Ethan, Landon, Owen, Brian with Tillie, Sam, Zach, Ezra, Brad, Kate with Zoe, Jiles (with his fork and his teddy bear), and in the front: Aubrey, Karie, Sadie and Luke in the car seat

Owen, Brian and Tillie

Drew and Julie

part of my lot, Jiles, Weston, Zoe, and Spencer

Julie, Zachary, Bradley and Karie

Ezra and Zachary are cousins made from the same mold (and always together - Ezra LOVES Zach, and Zach really looks out for Ezra)

Whitney, Brendan, Reed, Aidan, Olivia, Spencer, Ethan)

Marissa, Neal with Olivia, Whitney, Brendan, Reed, Brain - I mean Brian, Spencer, Ethan

A cute one of blue-eyed Ethan

And of Kate before she got off the fence.

me and my girls. this must be what i look like a lot: carrying a child, a child hanging on me, my camera hanging around my neck

Wait!  Don't forget Wendy and Ammon and Simon.

We never got Andy in there.  He was taking the picture.  I should have traded with him.

And then back inside for the blessing on the food and the feast.

I want to live like this book, by the way.

We made turkey (I did it!  And it turned out tasty!), and gravy, ham, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pudding (my favorite), deviled eggs (my family calls them egg boats), stuffing, green beans, corn casserole, applesauce cinnamon jello, pumpkin bread, a yummy green salad, Mom's orange rolls, bread braid, etc.  It was delicious.

Master chef Holly

Feasting, 

Sorry for the mid-bite shot, Marissa.

 And more baby holding. 

Brian with Luke

Wendy with Simon

 After feasting, and cleaning up, we had our "showcase" talent show/ video sharing.  There were lots of piano numbers, and other cool things like "fast clapping", and little ballet girls, and a couple of videos.  Then the kids (mostly boys) watched Tangled in the library,

Boys sing to Tangled on Thanksgiving from Carrie Beth on Vimeo.

and the adults played games.  Brian and Marissa, Julie and Weston and I stayed up until 2 playing Spot It (and laughing hysterically while doing so) and Dominos.

Here's our video that we did for the Thanksgiving video/talent showcase.

Rancher Deficit Disorder from Carrie Beth on Vimeo.