Thanksgiving

It is my opinion that Thanksgiving really is all about, first, good company, and second, lots of good food. :) So, not wanting to spend our Thanksgiving without family, we headed up to Yakima, Washington this year for some good times with some of the Packard clan. (That's my Mom's family.) We stayed with Mom's sister, Aunt Janene and her husband Uncle Stu and their fabulous family of 8 children (ages 19 years to 3 months). We had a wonderful time learning and playing several new games, (and of course, playin' some of the familiar too...Make-a-Million) making and eating good food and getting to know their family a bit better. We rarely even saw Jemma while we were there because she was off having SOOOO much fun with her new buddy, "Miss Madeline". They were just a year apart, and instant friends. We were so impressed with their family and so grateful for their hospitality. We will definitely be heading to Yakima for future holidays! :)

My cousin Sadie and me keepin' an eye on Carter and the twins, Liza and Abbi (2 1/2 years old and busy as bees) while eating their lunch.

Another shot of the munchkins.

We actually had Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Bennett (my Mom's brother) and Aunt Jenna's. It was fun to see more family, and a little overwhelming to realize how behind I'd gotten on all of their children...they have 8 living children and are expecting #10! They too are a super fun family! We couldn't resist snappin' a shot of Carter in front of this full-wall world map in the "school room" (I believe they home school most of their children).


Here's Jemma with their new puppy. She was very concerned all through dinner that he didn't have a bone to eat. We were piggin' out, why shouldn't he have something to munch on!?! :)

Jemma and cousins (they're actually MY cousins...so that would make them her "first cousins once removed" I believe. :)

Jemma playin' house with new friends...I asked them all their names and now I'm drawin' blanks on all of them except Madeline - she's the one whose face is half covered and is wearing light pink.

Here's a shot of Most of the pies. I counted 18 I think. It was AWESOME!!! I tried a slice of the banana chocolate cream, blueberry creamcheese, and cranberry creamcheese. WOW! They were all StElLaR and I would have gone back for more if I hadn't already had to rubberband my pants! :) (By the way, my Aunt Janene is the one in the orange shirt. I felt like a complete retard when I forgot to get a pic of their family! Lame.)

Brandon with a little desert.

Like I said before, we had a WonDerFul time. It was a super quick trip, but the time was well spent. Thank you Aunt Janene and Uncle Stu for opening your home to us. We LOVED staying with your family and can't wait to come back and see you again.