A wonderfully fun Thanksgiving

Oh our Thanksgiving was a delight.  We actually have cousins that live in the same state as us - a first!  Ben's brother Joe and his family just moved to Littleton about a month ago.  They live about 15 minutes from where Ben's parents' home is at.  So we stayed at the grandparents' home, but had our good share of hanging out at the cousins' home as well!  Besides Miles (and he was around 1 each time), none of my kids have ever gone to their cousin's house.  So it was a big deal.  It's always great staying with grandma Diana and grandpa Jim - so it was an extra bonus to have Joe and Britt and cousins there, too.

We got up there Wednesday evening and everyone just hung out that night.

On Thursday (Ben got to go running with me each morning we where there - awesome!) we did a few things around the house and then went over to see Joe and Britt's new home.  It's such a beautiful home - they found a good one, for sure.  Ben and I got the tour - while our kids ran amok, having a wonderful time!  We went back to Jim and Diana's for Thanksgiving dinner and that was pretty perfect - especially the rolls (which are my favorite part of T. dinner, of course :).

Since the weather was so spring-like, the kids rode their scooters (all 8 of them - the 4-year old to the almost-16 year-old) to a school and played on the crazy rope apparatus.  We had fun watching them.  We got back and then went over to Joe and Britt's for dessert.  Yummy.  Then we put in our Maxwell tradition movie, Jack Frost (the old-school one) and I think everyone enjoyed themselves - but I fell asleep during it . . .

Friday we met up with the cousins at the ice-skating rink around noon.  It was really fun being on skates again!  Jonas apparently fell pretty hard - by the time I came by him some older people were talking with him and told me he fell.  To make a long story short, he forgot all about the fell and may or may not have gotten a slight concussion.  But all was well - just a little weird with Jonas.

After that we went to a park, which is sort of connected to Columbine High School - where Sam (the oldest cousin) goes to school now.  The kids just rode and rode their scooters all around and just had a blast!  We even rode to a park and they played and played and then we had to ride and ride back to the car.  Lucy could definitely hold her own on scootering with everyone else.  :)

Joe and Britt made a yummy dinner for us that night and we enjoyed eating at their home and visiting with each other.  The kids watched the new Muppet movie - I just can't remember that exact name.

On Saturday we went on a hike nearby - it was like 70-degrees or something!  Just crazy.  That was nice.  Diana's sister Gail, from Montana, was in town with her family - including her husband, a few kids, and a grandson.  Some of them stopped in on Saturday evening - as they made their way to the airport to fly back home.  It was fun to see them and have them see/meet our kids and Joe and Britt's kids, too.

Sunday was freezing!  We decided to go to Joe and Britt's ward and it was a chilly 22 degrees as we walked to and ffrom the church.  Brrrr - especially after a 70-degree day!  We enjoyed being with Joe and Britt at their ward.  Our kids all sat behind us and behaved very well, if I do say so myself.  :)

Then we pretty much drove home - which was pretty much uneventful.  Which is a good thing!  But I did visually notice a weight being dropped on Ben as we neared closer and closer to Montrose.  Seriously, his disposition just sort of drooped.  It's a heavy mantel he has been asked to wear.  It's always nice when he gets to hang it up for a few days at least . . . :)

It was a blast of a Thanksgiving.  We are truly blessed in many way - family being one our greatest blessings for sure!

My pictures are from all sorts of sources and so they will just be random and not in any order!

 How many cousins can you get on a see-saw?!  (A few seconds later there was an crash - with sweet Grace (back girl on the left) getting bumped off and Jonas slamming in to the bar.  This was the same day as Jonas' mini-concussion.  It was not his day!

 The kids would start at the top of the switch-back sidewalk and scooter down.  Then they would pick up their scooter, walk up the steps, and do it all over again.  They probably did it like a dozen times!

Finally (for Ben's sake) the kids played some Uno!

 This was a game of Turkey tag - it seemed like they all had fun!

More Turkey tag.

And more - this time with Ben in the game.

Cute ice-skater Lucy.

Uncle Joe helping Lucy out.

Our skating crew - pretty cute!

Our lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

We played some play-do pictionary/sculptionary at Joe and Britts.  The kids really had fun.  My favorite part was that Lucy and Emma won the first 2 times.  Awesome.

Wilson!

Here is Diana, her sister Gail, brother-in-law Tom, Ben (check out the beard he got to grow for a week and a half!) and me.

Grandma Diana and her sister Gail.  Such beautiful ladies.

Aunt Brittany and Grace.  We sure do love them!

Cutie pie Lucy.

Some more uno!

It was a super fantastic weekend.