Thanksgiving with the Souths

Franci and Josh and kids came to our home for Thanksgiving! It was a 13 hour drive for them and we are so grateful they made the trip! All the girls (minus Lucy) shared a room, it was pretty squishy but they were so excited to have a sleep-over together. 

 We took them to the Stonington Borough. We got to the beach just in time to see this beautiful sunset...

so Franci made us kiss for a romantic picture  ;)

 Ellise, Carly, Kaylie and Anna collecting sea glass, rocks and seashells

 On Friday instead of joining in on Black Friday madness, Franci and I went to get a massage in East Greenwich. Afterward we went to Main St. to try and find a quaint little restaurant. We accidentally found Besos Tea House. It was exactly what we were hoping to find - so quaint and pretty! We even had high tea. I'm not big into herbal tea, but it was so yummy and relaxing and the finger foods and desserts were delicious. We were giggling and just so happy to have found this perfect little place.

Niagara Falls, CANADA and Palmyra, NY

Franci and Josh are living in Michigan for a few months and when I found out that we would have family living within a day's drive of us I was pretty excited. We didn't waste any time before planning and executing a road trip to see each other. 

We left on Thursday morning for our ten hour drive to up-state New York - we only stopped once and we didn't even watch a movie (because I couldn't figure out how to make it play on our new mac). Our girls are such good road trippers.

 Aubree does this hilarious face while saying, in a deep voice, "Aubree" - pretty funny!

(I just found this photo on my camera.) Carly taking pictures at the hotel - she posed Aubree and everything.

 The best part of the trip for Aaron and I was to surprise our girls - two times! We surprised them the morning we left to tell them we were going to Niagara Falls and staying in a hotel (the hotel was more exciting than Niagara Falls to them). Then, the next morning we surprised them with COUSINS!!! Franci and Josh and co. met us in Niagara Falls and the girls were all surprised Friday morning to see their cousins at the same hotel as them.

 We went to the Canada side to see the falls. I got my first (adult) passport for the occasion. Niagara Falls was beautiful and I'm glad we got to see it, but it was way better to see Franci and Josh (and Kaylie, Anna, Suzie, and new baby Lucy whom we hadn't met yet).

 Kaylie (8) and Carly (8) - They are just the bestest cousin friends!

Me and Franci - bestest sis-in-law friends

With the falls in the background (which you can't see because it's so misty)

A partial view of the falls

 This bird was seriously posing for everyone - he even lifted up his leg one time in a perfect arabesque. You could tell he was just thinking: "They always love it when I do this." (And I'm pretty sure he thinks in a British accent (even though he's in Canada))

 cutie-patootie

 Anna and Carly

 Ellie and Suzie

 Camile and Aaron - just for the fun of it!

A view of some fall colors (with Franci's fancy camera)

 The nature trail just down the river from the falls. The girls played in the leaves and had a blast!

They were having so much fun that Aubree didn't want to leave - surprise, surprise - she rarely wants to do what Mommy wants her to do. 

 Josh served his mission in up-state NY and would often come to this bar restaurant in Buffalo, NY after district or zone  meetings. This very restaurant is where buffalo wings started.

 Here's our girls in order from youngest to oldest (minus Lucy) - Suzy (3), Aubree (3), Anna (4), Ellie (6), Carly (8), Kaylie (8). I can't even count how many times people would stop me (without seeing Franci or Josh), and with a look of amazement (or terror), ask if all of those girls were mine. (You can tell they're all related.)

 Little girls in my car (I want to eat those toes!)

 Big girls in the other car

 Joseph Smith farm in Palmyra (I wish I had a camera like Franci's!)

A man who was on the tour with us made such a great comment. (He wasn't LDS) "As Americans we need to do better at respecting another's beliefs. If this is real to you and sacred to you, then I need to treat it as something sacred." Not word for word, but it really struck me. Especially now that we are out here making more friends of other faiths, I want our family to focus on the good of other people and their faiths.

 The Sacred Grove

 Hubbies taking pictures of wifys  (Don't mind my wrinkles - I am 30 now)

 Cousin Love

My aunt gave this book to my Mom as a gift when I was younger. Up until the late 90's the Idaho Falls Temple was the temple that my relatives in Wyoming came to. So, if there was a youth temple appointment or a relative getting married we would have a houseful! Of course my brothers and sisters and I would give up our bedrooms and there would be people camped out on couches and on the floor. I LOVED it! It was fun to play with cousins and listen in on adult conversations and just to have a house packed full of people.

This week for us has been the week the relatives came.

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First, the Souths. Josh, Franci (and bun-in-the-oven), Kaylie, Anna, and Suzie. The girls all love each other so much - they say they're long lost sisters. But, just like normal sisters, things get a little dramatic with that many girls under one roof! (It didn't help the stress level that the AC was broken and our thermostat reached 90 degrees on Saturday!)



We cooled down at the swimming pool - all of our girls are little fish! Carly and Kaylie put the life jackets through their legs and looked like little sumo wrestler/swimmers. 



Kaylie and Carly are so similar and truly such good friends.



Anna is two years younger than Ellie, but love, love, loves her so much and wishes Ellie was her big sister.

 Matchy-matchy for church

We also went to Temple Square while they were here and Antelope Island to take a quick dip in the Great Salt Lake.

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Next, the Parsons - Kathy and Leon came the day that Franci left. They only stayed one night, so we only got to see them for a few hours. Leon just got a cochlear implant a few weeks ago (it's an implant that will help him hear again) so they've been coming up for doctor visits.  

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And finally, Sophie and Scotty. Ang, Jimmy, Conner and Kali are in Oregon for a cousin's homecoming. So, we get to have Sophie and Scotty stay with us for four days. Just so you know, four days is a lot of days for me to have FIVE kids!!  But I'm determined to make this a fun and happy adventure for all of us. (And it helps to know that Ang is going to return the favor sometime when Aaron and I decide to go on a vacation together.)

 I tried to get a picture of the kids watching Aaron pull out Carly's loose tooth. It was quite the show - Carly cried and cried for about 5 minutes BEFORE Aaron even pulled it - I wish I had it on video. And this is the 5th tooth she's had pulled! She was so scared, and it was making the other kids nervous too.

Well, it's been over a month since my last post. I feel like I should apologize or say what an awful blogger I am, but honestly, I feel more guilty when I'm posting frequently because it usually means I'm neglecting more important things (cleaning, cooking, running errands and most importantly husband and girls). I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I love keeping in touch with people and seeing what others are up to and also keeping track of what we've been up to by posting on my blog. But I hate it because for me it takes up a lot of time - checking all my friends' blogs, commenting (which I haven't been doing a lot of lately) and updating mine (downloading pictures/videos and typing up a post) I've used up A LOT of valuable time! (By the way, I just got done making this post and it has taken me over 1 1/2 hours (and that doesn't include the time I spent checking other people's blogs)! Pathetic! Just thought I would insert that here to illustrate my point. I can name about 10 things that I could have gotten done in that time!) Plus, after I've gone a while without posting I get all stressed out about what I should post about - if I should catch up on everything or just start with where we're at. I've thought about just giving up the whole blogging thing (at least for awhile) so that I'm not stressing about it. (I know it's not really a big deal anyway, but I think it just boils down to the fact that I feel kind of overwhelmed with life right now! I mean, life is good, but just a little overwhelming.)

Anywho...

We went home for Thanksgiving (spent 1/2 week in Rexburg and the other half in I.F.). This is our family picture - I wish I could download a better quality (Aaron will have to help me with that maybe). All of my siblings and nieces and nephews were home - 15 adults (including Grandpa Johnson) and 17 kids (ages 17 to 7 months) It was busy and fun and loud!

Grandpa horse giving Carly and Ellie a ride. I Love my Dad!

Carly decorating the Christmas tree in their room.

Aubree! :) 10 months old.

Even though this isn't Ellie's "real" smile I still love it, because she smiles like this when she's trying to be sweet.

Franci's girls and our girls at the Treehouse Museum.

Aubree doing what she does best - just bein' cute (and putting random things in her mouth)!

Aaron and the big girls just got back from the library, so we are now going to start our Fun Family Friday Movie Night with "Ella Enchanted".