Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mills Family Thanksgiving

Ammon's mom had mentioned last year that this year she wanted to get everyone together for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Well that posses quite a problem when there are 22 people scattered over the western United States. The other problem is that only Ammon's brother Jason, who resides in Tacoma, has enough space to house us all and he has to work Thanksgiving. So in order to solve the problem I got the ball rolling to do Thanksgiving over Veteran's Day weekend since we live the farthest away and no plans had yet been established. The unfortunate thing, was still everyone couldn't make it. We had however, 19 of the 22, which I thought was pretty good. I want to thank Ammon's sister Aspen for her generosity in sharing with us buddy passes that allowed 6 of us to get there without putting in the 17 hour car ride.

We had a great time at Jason's. Their new house was amazing and I have a feeling this won't be the last time it is used for a family get together. We ate, we slept, we barely had to take care of Addy cause everyone else wanted a turn, we ate some more, and played a lot. The only downside was Ammon and I were sick with a miserable head cold that we unfortunately shared with everyone else. My philosophy is that it isn't a Mills family get together without sharing germs. Normally we are the ones that end up getting sick (last Thanksgiving for example), but this time we took our turn at starting it.

While in the Seattle area I was also able to see two of my high school friends; Auntie Sarah and Allie. I love to just sit and catch up, and we were able to do just that. I wish I would have taken pictures while they were there, but failed to pull out my camera.

Last, but certainly not least, we also had yet another broken bone while we were there. We had a baby gate at the top of the stairs to keep a few of the one year olds from falling down the stairs. It was very sufficient in doing just that, however, we didn't take in to account the two year old, Kent, who could almost climb over the gate. On Sunday night Kent was at the top of the stairs asking for help down. Ammon was on his way to get him when he got impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands. He started climbing over the gate when it gave way and sent him tumbling down the long flight of stairs. Luckily Ammon caught him before he reached the bottom, but not before the damage was done. We immediately could tell something was really hurt by the cry that exited our tiny boy's mouth. It is the same cry that we hear every time he is hurt seriously. He was holding the upper arm and elbow of his right arm, and I knew almost instantly that it must be his elbow that was broken, if not the upper arm too. In no more than 10 minutes, we were on our way to the children's hospital to get him looked at. I was just thankful we hadn't napped him that day because the only reason he stopping crying on the way (30 minutes) was because he fell asleep. When we arrived at the hospital and woke him back up the crying started again, but for this I am thankful. Having a crying child is one sure fire way to assure your trip to the ER is expedited. We were in and out in a little over and hour. Kent only needed a splint (which was pretty much a cast) for two weeks, and the doctor said we could even take it on and off as long as his elbow felt fine. I am grateful that all we came away with was a broken elbow. Ammon, having witnessed the fall, said by the way he fell it could have been a lot worse.

Now time for pictures...


When the grown boys (Ammon and his brothers) were using the TV to play video games, the kids resorted to watching cartoons on the iPad.


Ammon's mom brought bags and bags of used clothes from Jason's family over from Rosalia for us to go through. We found a few great hand me downs.


Our nephew Grayson in need of a bath.


Meeting Grandpa for the first time


We were getting pictures of all the grandkids and thought we would try for one with just our two, this is how it turned out.


All the grandkids, none of them turned out perfectly, but cute group of kids nonetheless.


An impromptu family picture, the kids were done by this point.


Daddy's little girl


I volunteered to put jam on the kids' rolls, little did I know I would be sitting at the kids' table for so long.


Late night stories with Cousin Ashley.


Kent, Grayson, and me.


Jason let Kent play in his cop car and push buttons to his little hearts content.


Our broken boy, look at the size of that splint.

1 comment:

Brett and Rachel said...

You had quite the trip, didn't you? You and Ammon look great in your family photo ;) but you know I think your kids always look cute, even with only half an outfit on! Miss ya!