New Years, 2010...

A few days after Christmas, my family convened at our house for a few days to ring in the New Year! We were so excited that everyone could come and spend some great time together. In all, we had 19 people here... what fun! I am excited for this to be the first of MANY family get-togethers at our house... it was so fun to have everyone here!

The week consisted of LOTS of good food (we all took turns cooking!), cousins giggling and playing together, late-night games for us older folks, an outing to Salt Lake City to see the lights and do some shopping, sledding, movies, yoga and making hair accessories for the ladies, family devotionals, and a rockin' New Years Party!!

We were excited to have Paul's sister Libby take some pictures for us. This was a highlight for me, because it is so hard to get us all together AND schedule a photo shoot!! She did so well despite the terrible weather and bad lighting we were "stuck" with inside the Provo Library...

Here's the whole crew:


Ella had a hard time cooperating...


But here are the grandkids:


All the "adults"... :)


My immediate family... yes I am the oldest with 5 younger brothers. Always quite an adventure!


I love how this captures each of my kids' personalities.


Matt and Angela and their family.


And the couples:

Mom and dad

Yours Truly

Matt and Angela

Paul and his girlfriend Alfreda

AJ and Chelsey


Thank you, thank you Libby for the fun pictures... we all love them!!

Here are some of the things I got pictures of...

My brothers (all 5 of them) are the best uncles. The love to play and talk with the kids, and the kids enjoy the all the personal attention. They aren't timid about getting down on the floor and playing with the kids (they get this from my dad). Oh, my kids love their Uncles.


One of the kids' favorite activities was burrito wrappings by the Uncles.


They would giggle and giggle as they were "wrapped" into blankets. Imaginary cheese, beans, rice, etc. were dumped on top of them.


Once properly rolled, they would squeal with delight while they were rocked back and forth and dumped onto the couch. "Again!" they would request, and the scene played over and over and over again.


Everyone was a great sport about making New Years Eve special for the kids. My brothers really got into decorating with steamers, throwing them from the top of the upstairs landing to catch on the ceiling fan and drop onto the floor below.



The kids especially appreciated the effort of this custom decorating job.



Once everything was ready, we did a countdown which included a balloon drop.


The Uncles threw gobs of balloons from the landing, and we all jammed to "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night" by Black Eyed Peas.







Then the Uncles lit fireworks from the backyard to the tune of happy squeals and applause from the sliding glass door. (don't worry we turned off the lights for the fireworks.)


Then we had brownie sundaes and were finished before 9 o'clock! Man we had some party animals!



Once the kiddos were settled, we stayed up late playing games of course! One of our favorites it the Great Dalmuti (like Princes and Peons). My brother Marc (aka "Farcles") had a tyrannical reign as the Great Dalmuti. What a rascal.



I love my family, and I love when we all get together. Fun memories are always made, and new phrases are always coined ("Wait just a hang dong minute!"). Thank you to everyone for making the effort to come, and making it enjoyable while you were here! It was a blast!!