Marc and Connie made it possible for a few of us to get together at Black Butte and it was so much fun! What a fantastic place for families, swimming, biking, hiking, walking, relaxing, fishing and more. I'd love to share all my favorite photos but it would take forever so here are a few. The top one is all my little helpers, we planned an anniversary party for their parents since they were all married within a month from each other. They were adorable and really kept the secret
It was amazing to me that Connie was willing to do this after just giving birth to Cameron but we tried hard to make it so she could rest a lot. Still she was on the move with us all the time.
The bike races were hilarious! Kellen and Caleb are pros and Justin, Joseph and Easton just learning but they took turns and helped each other.
AWH, here is a chance for me to brag about the skirt I made Carly for her birthday, I love it! It was so fun to make and doesn't she look adorable in it? It got me in the mood to do more sewing.
Erica wasn't sure about any of us and stuck pretty close to her mom but by the end of the week she had warmed up, she is just the cutest. She learned to crawl this week and is almost walking as well.
Baby Cameron never wanted for someone to hold and love him, we were lined up for that job.
These boys are so cute together, this is in the awesome loft room where they all had a bunk bed. We had to pay them to go to sleep each night!
Swimming happened every day with several pools to choose from.
Nature hike first thing in the morning.
Melanie and her family came to visit for a few days and we had such a fun time with them.
Feeding the ducks and fishing.
Miniature golfing
Joshie joined the ranks of the little boy cousins this year and he fits right in. As you can see August has been GREAT so far and I hope the rest of the month will be just as good. We are grateful that we finally got Summer weather and that the garden is finally doing well. Cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, zucchini, potatoes all from the garden last night for dinner. YUM!
Have I mentioned how much we love having Jenni and Michael living here this Summer? Our time is coming to an end but I don't like to think about it yet.
We were very grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with Emily and Steve in Las Vegas this year. Michael and Jennifer were there too and we had a most wonderful time. It took all of us to prepare the meal which was a lot of fun. We gave dad the job of peeling the apples for the pie and he was very good at it, he said it comes from peeling so many potatoes on KP duty in the army.
Em making her delicious pie crusts, we made several batches since we had A LOT of pie, pumpkin, apple, blueberry, cherry and pumpkin cheesecake, all delicious.
We called for help from Michael every time we needed a can opened. Carly never strayed far from Michael, he is great with the kids and they love him.
Easton and I making the crust for the cheese cake.
Here is the whole gang at Nick and Christy's home on Thanksgiving, they were the perfect hosts and we love being with them and their adorable daughters, Regan and Alice. You can't see Jenni's tummy but there are three pregnant bellies right in a row there, it was pretty cute. Christy is due very soon and worked so hard that day taking good care of us and wouldn't let us do any of the work, she is amazing and we appreciated it so much. 
The weather was beautiful all week and Emily took us on a great hike, and to the Cactus Gardens all decorated with Christmas lights and our favorite spot, the Ballagio. Everyone else in town wanted to see the conservatory and light show too, it took us a half hour to get from the parking lot to the street, we enjoyed the time visiting but others weren't as happy, there was a lot of loud horn honking and shouting going on. We went shopping at midnight on Black Friday, the girls are busy here figuring out our plan of action. We were in and out of Kohls in a half hour but not so lucky at Target, we put our items back and left as the line was all around the store. We had great luck at the outlet mall later in the day.
There was a lot of time for games, resting, reading stories and just visiting.
My favorite part of the trip was seeing these two cute pregnant girls and feeling their babies moving all around. So fun and exciting!! A BIG thanks to Em and Steve for inviting us!
I love this time of year and Thanksgiving, I always feel we have so much to be thankful for and that I could never properly express my gratitude. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, can't wait to hear all about it.
Next was our annual visit to another Tigers game and the pumpkin patch with Marc and Darren's families. The weather man said rain but just like last year we were spared and it was warm at the game and beautiful the next day for the kids to pick out their pumpkins. They love being together and made every minute count, besides the football game, the boys had a slumber party, went to Kellen and Caleb's football and soccer games, out to lunch and the pumpkin patch all in 24 hours.
