Family Reunions

Thatcher Family Reunion 2012

The theme this year was "Happiest Place on Earth." With a Disneyland theme, how could you go wrong? 

On Friday, we pitched our tents around Thatcher Manor, had dinner, then got ready for the Disneyland Electrical Parade at dusk. Each family had a different theme. I can't find our pictures for it now, but maybe I'll post them later when they are found. 

There was plenty of "down time" for playing around the yard, going on go-cart rides, and fishing in grandpa's pond.

The girls had a bibidi bobidi boutique, where the fairies dressed them up and did their make-up, hair, nails. There were so many beautiful princesses walking around the rest of the day!

 Aunt Anna was the perfect Cinderella!

While the girls got looking beautiful, the boys had Jedi training with Darth Vader (Daddy in a scary mask)

For lunch on Saturday, we had a very merry unbirthday party with the mad hatter (uncle Alex). The kids were given unbirthday gifts and tea sets to take home.

As usual, we ended the festivities at "splash mountain" with slip'n slide, and all you can eat otter pops.

Fairbanks Family Reunion

We attended the Fairbanks family reunion again this year at 'This is the Place' Park. It was a fun time, as usual with cousins and grandma. The Fairbanks home is finally restored and we celebrated the dedication of the restoration. It was neat to be there for the ribbon cutting.  

This animal petting farm is the best! The goats have so much personality. They were trying to get into the bunny cages to steal food, but Paul put them in their place. 

The pony ride never gets old. Look at that rodeo beauty queen!

We love this "train" ride to go up the hill to see the boat, ride the train, and pan for gold.

We panned for gold, and then turned it in for candy at the bank. Gracie is smart though, she preferred to just keep her (fool's) gold then trade it for a taffy!

The dedication of our Fairbanks family home, after the renovation.

And a new favorite activity we found was a Native American dance show in the city hall. This was awesome! 

Visits from Cousins

Cousins should not be allowed to move far away! We miss them so much and just don't get to bond like we need. Well, we had some fun visits from them this fall.

Don and Teresa came into town with the girls, and we had a little get together at our place with Josh and Elena's family. All together, we had 8 girls and one lonely boy, Aksel. So with all that female energy, we did dress-ups, window markers, tickling (the girl version of wrestling) and big good-bye hugs!

Ang came out with the boys for a couple weeks of good family time. We had a some fun get togethers, including going to City Creek, parks, and hanging out and grandma and grandpa's place. Those three boys bring a lot of energy and excitement when they come! We love them!!!

Halloween 2012

Halloween Carnival

Our little "Music Makers" playdate planned a Halloween party of our own. We did our favorite witches' brew game, and each of the other moms hosted a game. It turned out to be so fun!

(FYI, The witch's game goes like this: Each child holds a yarn with a spider tied onto the end. The spiders are in the witch's brew while the witch rolls her dice. When she rolls a certain thing--depending on the age, she hurries to put the lid on the pot, and the kiddos scramble to pull their spiders out before they are trapped. For 3 year olds, I'll use dice with halloween pictures; for 4-5 year olds, I'll use dice to identify numbers; for 6 year olds, I have them add the numbers from the dice or do even or odd, etc.)

Yes, that witch is me! I dressed up to go into Millie's 1st grade class as well to do the Witches' Brew game. It was a blast walking around in that costume. I should get green face paint and a long nose for next time.



Halloween Art
As far as we are concerned, a holiday isn't complete until we've done at least one art project that goes along with it!

Trick-or-Treating
We were blessed with a beautiful evening this year! And of course, it's always fun when we meet up with friends to run around with. These girls took off before we could even grab a picture. It wasn't easy to convince them to stop for a minute to pose.

The babes, Ivie & Michael boy!

Mckinzi and Tyler provided cotton candy for all! The kids were thrilled.

Ivie made her way around the floor, finding candy to pop into her mouth, wrapper and all. Good thing she doesn't know how good it really tastes! Or does she?