Vacation

Our family boosted the economy by flying out to West Virginia Christmas day and staying almost two weeks at my parents home. Tim was marrying the lovely Erin the Saturday after Christmas so we thought we should show up to wish them well. It was the first time in four years we have brought our whole family out there--and I think it's been a few years since our all five children and their families (with my parents) have been together at one time. While it was chaotic and loud, it was nice to be together. Tim and Erin's wedding was fun, and Erin is so incredibly talented.

She did this cake that is to the left. And not only was it gorgeous--it tasted heavenly too!

Cameron, Kimball, Trenton worked with Grandpa Whitcomb in the workshop-making some exotic wood creations like two lego boxes with handles and a marshmallow shooter. Sam wasn't allowed in the workshop-Grandpa didn't want to allow the Tazmanian to get a hold of power tools. Trenton got sick while we were out there but after sleeping for a long time-he has gotten better. We all had a great time talking, arguing, catching up and hanging out with all our family members. We also got some photos of ALL of the family together. But like all vacations, we are glad to be back home in our own beds and in our own home. Trying to get back into a routine. Why is it that you can do laundry the day before you leave and when you come home-you have six more loads to do two days later? It's not like you were wearing all the clothes. I think it's like clothes hangers, they seem to multiply when you don't need them and disappear when you do. Clothes--when you do have time for washing, you don't have any to do and when you don't have time that's when you run out of underwear. Go figure.

I'm glad to have taken the time to go out and see my family that I hardly get to visit with-you know everyone even if you live close to each other has their own family to raise, their church callings to attend to, their hobbies or jobs to do and life gets busy, so we have to plan to get together or it won't happen. We knew about this wedding almost a year in advance so we could travel with four children there (sometimes I feel like we are singlehandedly boosting the economy)...I also think its so important for cousins who live far away to have some time together during the growing up years. Ideally it would be nice if we all lived next to each other and our children could grow up together...but in reality, it's good for our kids to be together as often as is financially possible. While this huge family reunion/wedding (thanks to Tim and Erin for an excuse to be out visiting) won't happen yearly-it was still wonderful to sit and talk with brothers and sisters.

Now that the vacation is done-I'm going to get through the January cold and think about planning what to put in my garden in the spring. And play basketball, and take Kia to intermediate dog training, and scrapbook, exercise, drive children around, etc.

Some pictures that are my favorites: