Last Morning-- Wednesday

 Basically, it was up, eat breakfast, pack up and go.......but we got a few pictures along the way.

Ezri asking for me to take a photo of her
and she actually posed for it.

As our reunion "swag", we gave the kids matching snow hats  (different for the boys and girls) plus a little lego figure.  They were those kind that come in a box in individual packaging and you don't know what one you got until you open it.  They were a big hit, but I had assumed that they were a put together figure.  No, they had to be built and came with additional little pieces of extra stuff.  The kids LOVED them but they took a bit more time to put together than I had thought.

Loading up the cars....Carter with her new hat.

Tosha took this picture of her kids with their lego figures.

We had to shovel off our cars  (well, not me personally) but the roads were clear as we all headed back to the other side of the mountain where they had no snow.

Tosha and family headed back to our house where they were staying (Austen's parents are staying with Michelle's mother in order to help care for her and they have rented their house for the time being so we got them the whole time) Scott and Chantel headed to Thanksgiving with her family.

It had been a great reunion and one that I hope the grandkids cherish.  They all did such a great job with each other and engaging in activities.  They love their Uncle Ben and Aunt Jena and it was great to see their interactions with them as well.  And the snow--IT WAS MAGICAL.  And I am not a fan of the snow personally, but I loved watching their delight in it.

Until the next time, my sweet kids and grandkids (and even though the focus of the reunions are around the grandkids, I love you kids to the moon and beyond.  Thanks for being with us...every one of you.

Day Two- Tuesday

We woke up to a winter wonderland.  It was beautiful outside and since most of us had nowhere to go, it was perfect.  However, Gary had to make a trip down to Ogden to pick up Karla to come up and make a visit.  She had driven to Ogden on Monday and spent the night in a hotel.  She didn't want to drive in the canyon so Gary was our driver.  He kept track of the storm and was able to head out after the snow plows and made it down and back during a break in the storm.

Meanwhile, our crafting projects were just beginning......Tosha brought wreaths for them to decorate.

Always fun to have your cousins watch you play a game....a classic moment that I will treasure.

With the new snow, the kids also headed out to play in the morning as soon as their parents would let them.

The shedding wasn't quite as good with the new layers of wet powered snow, but they worked on making another trail and enjoyed some snowball fights as well.

We then took part in our next activity-- Family Lego Building. All of our grandkids enjoy lego building and many of them LOVE it, so I thought it might be fun to do as families.  Maybe start a new reunion tradition--we will see.

I missed getting many pictures of the completed legos.  Jessica and Elessia's family did a train; Scott and Chantel's family had an Indiana Jones airplane and jeep; and Tosha and Austen's family did a pirate ship and island.

Posing for pictures was not their first priority.  They wanted to play with their new legos.

Karla headed back to Ogden in the early afternoon with a goal to get home before nightfall.  We got a group picture before she left (without us and Scarlett who was taking a nap.) Gary was the driver once again.  The timing was almost perfect except he got caught in the snow storm that hit about 15 minutes before he got back to the house.  Her visit was closely timed with the break between the storms.  We were glad to have her share some time with us and she loved our cute grandchildren, too.

We then made the important chocolate cookie dough which we baked later in the day for snack.

After lunch, it was back outside for more snow play and this time, most of the adults went outside as well (not Gary and I--we accepted our role as the elders and sat this one out."

While we were preparing our Thanksgiving dinner, the kids started working on another craft--bracelets. We had everything from Fruit Loops to string to more fancy Christmas beads. 

Tosha and Scarlett even made matching ones that they both wore.  Here are the ones that Scarlett made.

Tuesday evening we had our "Thanksgiving" dinner together.  We had Honey Baked Ham and Smoked Turkey breast for our meats and many of the other traditional foods with cookies and pies for dessert.

Then Tuesday night, we tried for the first time--Grandkids "Show and Tell"  Participation was optional and a couple of the kids opted out but it was still fun to see them share their talents.

Ezri and Ava each sang a song.
(My picture of Ava didn't turn out.)

Cooper drew a picture.

James shared about taking care of a watermelon
seed he planted and was able to eat a watermelon
from the plant.

Zander danced.

Niki also drew but he copied the picture
on Chantel's shirt.  He did a good job.

We then played Charades and more rounds of Blank Slate.

Bedtime involved me reading to them. I had remembered reading Aesops Fables to my kids when they were little, so I ordered a book to read at the Family Reunion.  These were not the children friendly ones I had read to my kids.  They were closer to the actual fables and some of them are quite harsh.  The older kids remembered reading some of them at school so that made it fun.  We learned some new vocabulary words and enjoyed the illustrations as I tried to soften some of the morals.  Oh, well.  Here are some pictures the kids took during the Tuesday night book reading...

My necklace made by Ezri

Magical moments that fly by so quickly.  I loved reading to my kids and I also love reading to my grandkids.  I hope that someday they will be reading to their own children and remembering these moments as well.

And it is a wrap for Tuesday.

Monday (con't)

This was the Monday afternoon view out the window.  As you can see, not much snow except closer to the house.  The kids were still up for playing in the snow so most of them headed out to play when we got home from the photo shoot.

Niki and Scarlett were good to pull the other kids around on the small plastic sleds they had.

Scarlett and Ezri built a cute bond as the oldest and youngest grandchildren.

Dinner time came soon enough with spaghetti on the menu tonight.

When I asked my kids what their kids remembered or connected with family reunions, we got feedback about a couple of things.  Alex remembered making chocolate chip cookies and Scarlett thought S'mores were a stable.  No fire pit at this rental house, but we decided to cook some in the oven on Monday night.  They were okay but not as fun as cooking them over a fire.

We made many rounds of Blank Slate which is a family favorite at this point. And Monday night, we even played some rounds of Take Five with the "ground ups" while the kids were "heading to bed."  a lengthy process when you are sleeping in a bunk room with your cousins.  Fun was had by all, as they say.

Monday was a wrap at that point.