Giving Thanks.

This year Thanksgiving was a little non-traditional. Dave's mom planned a family reunion at the Kalahari an indoor water-park. Dave's whole family was there including spouses and 9.5 grand kids. What a wonderful time we had. It was nice to see everyone and catch up with everyone. The kids love playing with their cousins. We spent the day riding the waves, surfing, tubing down waterfalls, and lazily making our way down the river. Noah loved being the "big kid" (ie 48 in tall and able to ride all of the slides) and getting to hang out with all of his "cool uncles". My favorite moment was on Friday morning when I told Noah I would take him on the big slides ( so I could try them out) he said okay, but as we were walking we passed Uncle Jeff who is Dave's 21 year old newly returned missionary brother, and most definately much cooler than me. Noah says "hey Jeff do you wanna go ride the slides with me". Jeff said sure and off Noah went. I see how I rate. He he.
Ian loved playing with his cousin Madeline, and Ammon I think had the most fun of all. He went from slide to slide with out stopping and he always had a huge smile on his face. Claire probably had the least amount of fun. Now while she likes water, it was very loud so she preferred hanging out on my hip.
In the evenings after dinner the kids got ready for bed and Grandma pulled out the Grandma box-( her box of treasures from the dollar wall at target) and let all the kids pick a treasure, she did this every night and the kids just loved it. Then it was bed time for the kiddies. The best part about playing in the water all day is that the kids were all tired out. Our kids were asleep both nights by 7:30 or earlier. It was heaven. We then went and played Kitchenopoly the first night (Dave and his siblings made it for their parents)and ate pie! The second night the dads put the kids in bed while the ladies had a baby shower for Dave's sister who is prego. It was so much fun. Then Dave's mom volunteered to watch the sleeping babes while all the "grown-ups" went to the waterpark. That was super fun. It is fun spending time and getting to know the in-laws better when there are no kids around. It gave us a chance to be kids again.!!
After the fun at the Kalahari we drove to our house and ate Fondue ( a kitchen family holiday tradition).
It was a great weekend. We can't wait to see everyone again!
here are a few pics of the weekend

cousins waiting for turkey dinner


Ammon on his way down the slide


kiddies waiting on the bag cart for parents to take them swimming



Fondue party