Utah 2016....no one was injured.

Wednesday night we drove over to Herriman to spend time with the Huffords! Mat & Lori, Jim & Ameli, as well as a couple of their kids were there to hang out and grill up some burgers. 

Tiffany and her cutie, Theo.

Ethan and Ameli's son, Seth.

While we ate, Mat and Madison started a game of catch from the deck to the trampoline. Madison made it look easy, but she's just awesome at it. It was a little tougher for the rest of them.

Soon, as Huffords will do, it turned into a "try to get them to fall off the trampoline" situation. I decided it was better if I focused my attention on the potato salad.

Mat chopped some wood and attempted to light it on fire. Jim helped it along by pouring gasoline on it.

ehhhh.....

Then the nozzle of the gas can lit on fire and Jim tried to blow it out. No doubt, due to a little heavenly intervention, he was successful in blowing it out (eh?) and it did not, in fact explode while he had it up near his face.

I felt it was better to focus on the s'mores.

Mat kept it goin.

Jim- eyebrows intact, Ameli, Laney, Mathew.

Mat getting excited about something....Madison enjoying a s'more.

Maddie, Laney and Megan

I'm smiling because of potato salad and family and low humidity and no ER visits and firepits and brothers and trampolines and mountains.

Later that evening I checked in on the boys and got photographic proof that SOMETIMES the get along.

I would even say that occasionally they can be pretty great together.

Tomorrow....Bryce Canyon!!

Thanksgiving with the Huffords 2016

We traveled down to Arkansas to have Thanksgiving with the Hufford/Allred/Malquist/Depner/Fields families. We went down the night before, so that we would have all morning to help with the cooking. I brought along my bread maker and all the ingredients for my rolls. 

Sometime in the middle of the night, it struck me that I was going to need to make A LOT of rolls to feed that many people. 

I decided I better get up early to get the first batch in. It wasn't too hard, since I was so nervous about it, I couldn't sleep anyway. 

Then I began the process of preparing a batch and then driving them over to John and Shannon's house to bake. The oven space at Jeans was spoken for. 

I love it when there are lots of moms and sisters in the kitchen all chopping and stirring and washing. Makes me feel at home. It makes me feel like part of a super family team!

Mat and Lori supervised turkeys that were cooking in the roasters out in the garage.

Grandpa Fields and Bart keep an eye on the football game.

Mark and John on the porch...probably hoping some kind of sports would start up.

Uncle Mat on standby for sports.

When is dinner??

Organizing the line up of dishes.

Sharing stories over turkey.

Ethan doing his spot-on impression of a texting teenager.

John and his newest pup, Camryn.

And the sports begin!

Lazy sports.  Leave it to the men to make up a game where they get to sit on their buns and catch the ball while the kids run all around.

The whole clan (those that could make it). Making the monkey faces and engaging in general hooliganism.

The cousins.

Hufford family...not my best, but good enough to count for the Christmas card! We are all in attendance. No one is doing violence to anyone else. Check and check.

All that turkey-eatin and sports-playing leads to only one thing:

Lot's of the cousins left for their homes and we had a nice quiet evening with Joe and Jean. The kids discovered BINGO and we played a dozen times, at least.

Then the little girls got to sleep in the best spot in the house:

Grandma's tree is extra special and magical. The perfect ending to a lovely day.

Utah trip -- Chuck-a-Rama with the "Other Huffords"

Here are the pros and cons of Chuck-a-rama.....

Pro: There is LITERALLY something for everyone.

Con: There is a very high probability that most of your children with have half a dozen cinnamon rolls and a bowl of ice cream for dinner.

Pro: Do you really care that much?

Con: The little people with get hopped up on sugar and they will no longer able to distinguish you from a set of monkey bars.

Pro: While your children run like untrained animals throughout the establishment, going for one more slice of pizza and their 4th orange soda, you can have a little adult conversation. No need to worry. Everybody else's kids are doing the exact same thing. You are in the right place.

These are the times to remember, my friends. Someday it will just be me and Mark shuffling back and forth to the buffet, going for one more scoop of rice and gravy. And we'll know better that to have more than one soda. Especially before 5 o'clock.

Flying with Uncle Mat

I'm afraid of planes...even the big ones.

There's nowhere to go but down, people.

That's why it's good to marry someone who is not afraid of everything.

 At least there are no life-jackets involved.

A plane full of Huffords.