.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

december: Elko family reunion for Grandma's birthday


The first weekend of December found us gathering with all of Chuck's family in Elko for a surprise birthday celebration for Terri (only a few weeks late - more of a surprise that way!)
Carma slept peacefully some of the drive and was awake... unpeacefully for some of it ;). It was rough - maybe because so recently Chuck and I had road tripped with NO children (screaming or otherwise), so this was a pretty stark difference?? 

Happily it's a relatively short drive and we rolled in, changed clothes, and met everyone out towards the canyon for some family pictures - a gift to Terri from her four kids!
Imma start suggesting we do family pictures in a nice mild temperature because the last couple have literally been standing in snow and it's not my favorite ;). Let alone getting that many kids to smile with numb little faces!

Luckily our photographer Cris Voss, a good friend of Melissa's, was amazing and a total pro at rotating us through and getting fantastic pictures quick.
 Aaaaand we kept the suburban running and warm for little kids to sit in :).

 Eli and Jackers! These two aren't too far apart age-wise (15ish months) and they're pretty cute buddies:

My four chilly darlings.

Outtakes from our family shots:

Okkkkkay, prime example of why professional photography is worth it - this is Cris' shot of us... compared with the iPhone version of it above. 

After pictures is hazy.... we had Courtney.... we warmed up.... and ended up at the casino for the surprise party! We had a family dinner followed by dessert with friends and it was really neat:
Amanda (is amazing and) compiled a book with pictures and birthday messages from family members and friends. Aleesha (is amazing and) made that incredibly darling owl cake! George (is amazing and) learned 'Happy birthday' on his... instrument... (why am I a terrible aunt and not a musician at all? Is it a horn of some kind??) and played it for Grandma, SO cool!

The grandkids busted a few moves on the dance floor. I may or may not have joined them.

Jack ate more than his fair share of food that kid! I had fun with Mallory and Courtney, of course.

We finally called it a night and headed to our hotel, where the boys (and Anna!) played in the pool for a while:

I clearly should have put Carma in the water too, because everyone else crashed hard and she and I hung out in the hotel lobby until late as she was WIDE AWAKE. Good times. 

She was chipper the next morning with her apple though! We headed over to Izatts' for some more family time (and crafts):


 Terri had a super cute wooden block nativity set for the kids to paint and take home. 



And now for alllllllll of the pictures:

 Terri and Dave and their thirteen grandkids:

Just the thirteen kiddos.

Family by family, starting with Melissa's:
Oh my gosh, these four! I just love them!

Chuck's (very attractive!!) family:
Can we all appreciate Clyde's sweater, found literally the day before we left (yay D.I.!)? And Jack's hand-me-down sweater that is clearly still too big for him but I did NOT care? And Carma's sweater, first worn by.... Will? at Amanda's wedding seven years prior...

Lee's family:
 Such a shame you can't tell these two cuties are siblings ;).

Amanda's family:
 These three were total troopers in the cold (although we did all of Emily's pictures first so she could move to the Suburban!) because they were born with the power of the outdoor elements coursing through their blood ;).

 And just for fun, here are the thirteen cousins in birth order, ages (almost) 17 down to (almost) one month:


And here are the individual shots of Clyde, Will, Jack, and Carma:




Ohhh we did couples' pictures: 
 Dave and Terri

Kevin and Melissa

Chuck and Jana
  
 Lee and Aleesha

Steve and Amanda

Dave and Terri with their four kids. SO cute, right?

Everyone laughed at me but I insisted on a picture of the four people cool/crazy enough to marry into this family: the Joiners! Pretty sure if you searched the world over, you couldn't find more perfect spouses for Melissa, Chuck, Lee, and Amanda. We're the best!

It was a pretty tall order to get all of us there for the weekend but I'm glad it happened so that we could be there to celebrate this wonderful woman and her milestone birthday. We love you Terri!! 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love how you have organized these pictures. I am still so humbled every time I think back to that weekend. I love you all so much and you are all such perfect spouses for my children. I can't imagine life without my four joiners! ❤️❤️

Izzy said...

That collage of the grandkids is super cute!!!