Thanksgiving!

this year we hosted thanksgiving at our house for the hansen side of the family. it was a blast! there is rarely a dull moment when my family is involved!

this occasion was made possible by kent. i am doing everything i can to keep my head above water just maintaining normal life so he had to do A LOT for this visit and holiday. i'm so grateful i have a husband who is such a gracious host! he is so adorable/hilarious when it comes to stuff like this and i just love it =o]

the best part of this trip, in my opinion, was just how much fun down time we got to have. the cousins played endlessly with only a couple minor meltdowns. with 9 kids ages 7 and younger in one house i would call that a huge success!! 

the utah cousins were so excited to be able to play outside in what must have seemed to them like summer weather!

these two are PERFECT for each other! i am excited to see their relationship continue to blossom as they get older =o]

so much of the fun revolved around the trampoline, (thanks again grandmom and grandad and rodney!!) and no one got hurt for which i am so thankful! 

both the baby boys loved all the extra attention! and i'm so excited for them to continue to grow and join in on even more fun!

i was worried about bedtime being a problem because natalie insisted that they needed to have a cousin sleepover, but each night they were so worn out it was never a problem. here is the whole bunch watching "the wizard of diz". 

i was reminded yet again of how beautiful my sisters are. they not only wear stylish coordinated outfits and do their hair in cute ways, but they are truly beautiful people. i aspire to be like them. between my parents and my sisters and their husbands we have so many good examples to draw from on parenting and marriage relationships. it is amazing to see the different styles and how it can work for different people. i love it!

whenever we get together we try to do some type of service. this time we went and sang at a care center for the elderly. at first i wasn't sure it was going to be the greatest experience, but it turned out to be amazing. i love singing with my family and i feel so much strength and unity when we do. i hope we brought some joy into the lives of those lonely people. it was a spiritual and uplifting time for all of us that is for sure!

the four older cousins got to go to the movies with the hansens- such a blast! it was caleb's first time to the movies and he loved it! they saw "frozen".

the actual thanksgiving dinner was super yummy, but again my favorite part of the holiday isn't the food. here are some pictures from the dinner anyway.

these girls... i love that they all have the same color hair, especially since it looks like all of natalie's siblings will be toe heads...

dishes done and kids in bed... 

apparently our house is the place to be to take family pictures =o] 

can't wait to see this but the whole family version on my wall!

the brother in laws even had a great time playing games each night and getting in some basketball too

here is just some other random pictures from the weekend:

some of the cousins with grammy and grandpa jamie 

caleb's favorite game of "tackle" x3 to include grandpa jamie and uncle derek

jenae being woken up by my children once again lol

many story times with grammy

hanging out with grandpa jamie

catching up on some much needed sleep (i remember always crashing at thanksgiving too!)

i huge THANK YOU to kent and my mom for all their hard work in the kitchen! this was actually on friday night when we had the missionaries over for dinner 

and a huge thank you to everyone who took turns lovingly holding seth so i could work with both hands =o]

a highlight of the trip for me was going to the beach! i'm so happy that we get to be those cousins who live by the beach that everyone wants to come visit =o] get ready for a picture dump!

it was a PERFECT day!

seth hated the wind so....

i wore this ridiculous large yellow towel the entire time. awesome how i look like an enormous yellow whale, right?

and there you have it. our thanksgiving. i give thanks to my heavenly father for a family as wonderful as mine.
THANK YOU all for coming- you are welcome back ANYTIME!!