So Very Thankful

We were planning on a nice relaxing Thanksgiving here at home. One day I was trying to think of who may be alone for the holiday that we could invite over, when Tanner suggested I wait. Which I thought was weird, but decided to take his advice. Fast forward to a few days later and my mom called me to let me know that all 6 of my siblings were going to be at my sister's house in Utah for Thanksgiving. "No pressure though, we totally understand if you don't come." Did Tanner have a premonition of what was coming? No idea, but I considered it for about .5 seconds and then knew for sure there was no way I was going to miss seeing all of my siblings. I then tried to figure out how I was going to sell Tanner on the idea of driving out west after we had sworn we weren't going on anymore trips for the rest of the year. But he is awesome and knows me well enough that I was going to be in Utah for Thanksgiving whether he was coming or not. 

So we let my now extremely overwhelmed sister know that our family of seven was crashing the party. She very wisely let us know that we would be sleeping in a camper trailer parked by the house. I figured the kids would think it was super cool, which they did. We didn't love the drive; we've done it enough times now to know that we hate it. And my speeding ticket within an hour of our house didn't help the mood. And to tell the truth, I was long overdue for a ticket. I've now pledged to be a safe, law abiding citizen. But we kept our spirits up by thinking about how great it would be to see everyone.

And by taking lots of selfies

And laughing at Vivi's little staticky fuzzhead

And admiring the beautiful sunset. This was one of about twenty pictures that Chet took. 

We only had one child throw up on the drive there, which could have been much worse, and our night in a hotel went pretty well. Because we were already going to be out west, we decided to spend some time with some of Tanner's siblings as well. We started out by meeting up with Chad's family in Idaho on Sunday afternoon. The kids had a blast and acted like they had never been apart. 

We met them at Kaisa's parents' house so that we wouldn't have to drive as far. They were so welcoming to us. And there were kittens, which were a hit. 

Austin and Ephraim were together the whole time. The cutest little buddies. 

All the kids had the chance to play songs on the piano for everyone. Even Eliza jumped right up to play her own improvisations, waiting to make sure everyone applauded her each time she played a "song". Kaisa's mom wanted to show the kids a little program and needed someone to play The First Vision. Mariah had just accompanied the primary for that song during the primary program so she volunteered to play. The next morning Kaisa's mom gave Mariah and Esther little glass fairies to thank them for playing the piano. Eliza immediately came up to me and said, "I played the piano, where is my fairy?" When Alice heard this she immediately went and found another fairy for Eliza, who was thrilled. The girl gets what she wants. 

The kids tried out jump rope, but didn't quite have it down. Homeschool problems. 

I really wanted a picture of Eliza and Brigham together but he was not having it. When I asked him if I could take a picture he backed away from me and said, "I am Brigham Rodney Crossley". And that was that. So I decided to let him warm up to me a little bit. This was the best picture we could get. But as we were leaving I asked one of my other nephews if I could give them a hug and then heard a little voice say, "you can give me a hug too". And it was sweet little Brigham. So he did warm up eventually. Our visit wasn't long enough so we're already planning the next time the Crossley Cousins can all get together.

On Monday afternoon we headed down to my sister's and Tanner and Chet left to go to a Jazz Basketball game. Tanner met up with a med school buddy. 

It was a mad house with lots of kids running around and most of us didn't get very much sleep, but it was so wonderful to be there. I love my family so much and love to see my children interact with their cousins. 

These kittens were the favorite. Mariah and Elise spent most of their time out with the cats. 

Playing a raucous game of Pass the Toot, or something like that. Austin couldn't handle the stress of the competition and had to sit out. 

Vivi and Benson getting to know each other. 

Grammie playing a game with the boys. 

Pretty sure this dog's name is Ashlee...yes my sister and brother-in-law have a great sense of humor. At least it's spelled differently. 

Aunt Boo has lots of dogs and the kids had so much fun playing fetch with them

These photos make me laugh. Grandpa had finally convinced Eliza to go on the rope swing and then she face planted. His face is just too perfect. But it didn't seem to phase Eliza and she was right back up on the rope. 

Chet had a blast battling whoever was willing. That even included a few strangers. 

Tanner's victory dance...so much cooler in person...

After some work, Tanner and DJ had a little man date and went to Logan to get some groceries. They also hit up Tandoori Oven, which I was very jealous about. 

Elise thought it was really funny how these dads were able to work through the chaos of children running around. This wasn't their first rodeo. 

They also stopped at Gossners to get some Root Beer milk. You either love it, or you tolerate it. 

Tanner took Tate, Mariah and Chet on a run to Idaho, which was about a quarter of a mile from my sister's house, but it felt cool to say they ran to Idaho. 

Uncle Sevy was only there for a short time but he worked hard to get Eliza to warm up to him. She finally asked to ride on his shoulders so it had to be documented.

Eliza was very proud of her turkey tail headband

Here's all our little COVID babies. Sofia, Evan, Levi, and Vivi

We had a short 24 hours where everyone, in laws included, were together. We didn't think Cameron would be there but Thanksgiving morning before my dad left to pick up Sevy at the airport he told me, "Cameron doesn't want anyone to know, but he's flying in today too!" I later found out that my dad told pretty much everyone, but Tiffany. So that is progress for him. He just has a really hard time keeping surprises. This was the first time everyone has been together in over eight years, at least that's what my mom and I think...Tiffany's wedding. We talked and talked and talked. Played some games, went to a jump park, and then talked some more. Each night my parents told stories from their childhood and always had a gospel principle or verse of scripture with the story. The kids always begged for more. Tanner thinks we talk too much, but he was able to get everyone to play some games so he should just be grateful. 

Friday morning we headed down to meet up with Ty and Lisa's family to look for a Christmas tree. After we headed down to their house for dinner and a movie. The kids got to help string cranberries and popcorn for the tree and the big kids and adults played some rounds of Wacky Six. 

Vivi took a nap for the first half of the tree hunt and then just wondered what we were doing the rest of the time. 

Grandma Crossley and I thought this tree was the best, but we were outvoted. 

We woke up early the next morning and started the long drive home. Towards the end of the day we stopped at a Cabela's and randomly got to see Santa. Eliza was refusing to go stand by him until he told her he had a gift for her. Then she walked right over no problem. 

We were a hot mess by this point. Yes I took a picture of Eliza in the bathroom. It doesn't do it justice though...her hair was crazy, pretty sure that was vomit encrusted on her chest...it had been a long day with more throw up, at least this time most of it made it into the ziplock bag. TMI?

We had to threaten Chet multiple times that we would make him walk markers on this trip...luckily the fear was enough to make him settle down. 

Natalie sent us home with a bunch of gingerbread cookies which helped make the drive a little more enjoyable.

We had a wonderful time with family but we're happy to be home now. Here's to driving no farther than an hour or two for a long long time...unless all our family gets together again.