Giving Thanks

We spent a week in Michigan for Thanksgiving.  This was not our original plan, however when we found out we are to be stationed at Fort Bliss in the new year which is very far from Michigan, we decided to take advantage of our relative (no pun intended) proximity and drive up to Michigan.  The plan evolved even more when Andrew had the whole week off of school for Thanksgiving break and Tyler couldn't get Wednesday off and Grandpa Judd found a cheap plane ticket from Detroit to Atlanta.  Rachel loaded up all the kids and drove up to Atlanta by herself (three and a half hours) and picked up Grandpa and they drove the rest of the eleven hours to arrive in Michigan Saturday night.

The big kids were so excited they behaved SO WELL! We were impressed.  The non-stop movies may have helped too.

Getting McDonald's Happy Meal toys isn't something to frown about either.

The kids were so happy to get to Michigan!

There were tons of toys to play with!

Gigi and Papa meeting the twins for the first time.

Gigi and Melody

Grandma Tuell finished her mission in Portland, Oregon, the week before we came and it was so good to see her too!!

We are proud of you Grandma Tuell for serving a mission!  And speaking of service, she helped Rachel so much at the beginning of the week before everyone else arrived.

Uncle Sammy arrived on Monday.  He is playing McDonalds drive through at the playhouse.

Don't let Uncle Sam's shorts fool you- it was cold! Especially coming from 70 degree weather.

Mommy out for a little walk with the twins.

Grandma Tuell reading bedtime stories with the big kids.  They both slept in Uncle Bennett's room because he and Margaret spent Thanksgiving with her family in Kentucky. 

The kids had a lot of people to read to them! They love listening to stories.

Everyone had a wonderful time playing and hanging out together! Mikayla and Jared came down from college and we of course saw Aunt Kathy and Justice too.

Aunt Camille was super excited to meet her new niece and nephew.

Christian boy loves his Papa so much.

Aunt Kathy and Mikayla with the twins!  They rocked them both to sleep, how sweet.

Grandma arrived from her traveling as well and is always happy to love on her grand babies.

The big boys teaching Andrew how to play football.  Uncle Sam even gave him a BYU football to take home with him.  Andrew has since brought it out to play football with the older neighbor boys here.

Music time

Thanksgiving day came before we knew it!  That was the day Tyler flew in and Grandpa went to pick him up.  We arrived at Mike and Kathy's gorgeous home in the morning while some of the younger people ran the Turkey Trot 5K in Lansing.  Uncle Mike meeting Melody!

It was a beautiful day!  Aunt Kathy decorated her home so festive I had to include some pictures.

She even had the cutest fall terrarium!

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Detroit Lion's football game and even as a non sports watching enthusiast I will admit that game got very exciting at the end.

Daddy is here!! We missed him and were so happy to celebrate Thanksgiving together!

Mike and Kathy set up the most fun play nook ever! The kids were very entertained and had their own space to play.

They also rented a bouncy slide for the day!  The kids LOVED it and Sylvia did not want to stop climbing up and sliding down.  They set it up in the attached garage so Sylvia would come in for short breaks but spent most of her time playing here.  Aunt Kathy also had a station for the kids to make turkeys out of a cookie, chocolate, pretzel, and candy corn.  The glue was frosting.  It was a fun and delicious craft- the kids loved that as well!

Brianne came home for the holiday too! She was in charge of the turkey and it turned out wonderfully!  Tom carved the turkey.

Here is the whole group after everyone arrived!  Before we enjoyed our feast we went around and shared what we are thankful for... it was a touching moment to reflect on our blessings, the most named one was family.  We thank God for our family and for the chance we had to spend that time together and we also thought of all those who were able to join us!

Aunt Cami the turkey trotter with Mellie

Papa with his little buddy

Gigi snuggling with Melody post-meal.

After we ate we all hung out the rest of the day, eating desserts, watching movies and visiting.  Here we are watching Elf- a classic holiday film.  We also watched Dan in Real Life- another family favorite.

The dessert table.  There was Cami's famous carrot cake, Grandma Tuell's pumpkin pies, and Kathy Miller's banana cream pudding to name a few... of course a giant bowl of homemade whipped cream.  We also enjoyed double chocolate banana bread and peanut butter cookies.

 Laughing and visiting with Beth Page, our family friend.

Somehow it turned into wrestle-mania.

The next morning we left bright and early to go to the Detroit Temple.  Jared and Mikayla, Camille and Hunter, Sam, Aunt Kathy and Grandma Tuell did a session while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids so Rachel and Tyler could do sealings.  Five years and three months ago we were here on our wedding day!  The grandparents took the kids to a fun mall.

Earlier in the week Rachel was also able to have a play date with her close friends from high school.  Lacey just had a baby about a month before the twins were born.  Christian, Caleb, and Melody.

It is great to stay in touch and see how much our kids have grown each time we get together.

Lacey's younger sister had a wedding reception Friday night and so we all went to the Jaquette family home where Rachel spent a lot of time during her younger years.  It was a fun party and also great to see her friends!

 Rachel and Lacey with their gaggle of children, excluding Andrew who was too busy playing to join the picture.

Andrew and Sylvia made Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas present this year and were very excited to give it to them.  Andrew's face captures the joy of giving.

Having fun together

Musical Uncle Sam

On our last day in Michigan we went to visit Frankenmuth.  It was a fun little town to explore.

We also visited Bronners- the largest Christmas store in America.  It was pretty crowded and so it was hard to navigate the store with the double stroller.

Christmas is in the air.

Sylvia was Uncle Sammy's buddy.

The family at Frankenmuth!

Rachel, Tyler and the kids started driving Saturday evening and spent the night in a hotel four hours south.  The next morning they were driving through Kentucky when they had the idea of stopping by Margaret's parents' home.  Ten minutes later they were visiting Uncle Bennett and Aunt Margaret!

They got to meet the twins too!  It was a short, unplanned, but happy detour!  We had a great Thanksgiving vacation.