Utah, Part 1

We recently got back from a week in Utah.  We had so much fun!  There are lots of great things about my family.  Just one of those things is the fact that the cousins are all clumped together, not just by age, but also by gender.  It's actually a little mind-blowing.  There are two older girl cousins (10 and 8), two 6 year old girls, three 4-year-old boys, three two-year-old girls, and four little boys between 4-23 months old.  That's a lot of little people to have in one house, but Becky was a great hostess and only hid from the chaos once (that she confessed to, at least).  My favorite part of the whole trip was seeing the cousins together.  An hour into our vacation, Roy said that all the work and money was worth it just seeing how happy our kids were.  It was great!  I need to remind my kids how lucky they are that they have been able to see every family member from both the Freebairn and Zwahlen families this year.  That is certainly something for the record book!

Lydia and Sam playing with Luke.

Lydia and Luke

 Abby and Brynne

Brynne, Alli, Abby & Holly 

Cooking (amazing!) S'more Brownies with Brylie, Lydia, & Sam

Andrew and Luke

The four big girls got to have a sleepover every night.  I was thrilled for Abby.  Even Lydia would sneak in and talk and play.  And I couldn't feel mad because these are the moments my girls will remember and treasure. 

One blondie and three brunettes

Lydia with her Christmas jammies

Cooper, Neilsen, and Sam

Mor Mor with Andrew, Holly & Alli

Mor Mor and Far Far with all 14 grandkids in their matching Christmas jammies

7 boys, 7 girls

Magic

We celebrated Fakesgiving together.  Since we all flew back to our respective homes on Thursday, we had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday, hence Fakesgiving.  The weird humor is also on my list of great things about my family :)

Sam, ready to eat

Abby and Brynne sat in the "quiet" room.  They still had much to talk about, even on day 6

Crazy, funny 4-year-old boys

Sam, Tyson, & Logan

Then throw Uncle Steven and Legos into the mix....and hours later, they are all still happy.

 4 generations: Grandma Mambo, my dad, me, and 4 kids

 Hailey, Sam, Tyson, Logan, friend Ashton, & Cooper

Andrew's Baby Blessing

While we were in Utah last month, Roy gave Andrew his baby blessing.  It was so nice to have my family together for his blessing.  Since it was Thanksgiving, his blessing was an additional reminder of how blessed we are to have this wonderful baby in our family.  For those unfamiliar with the LDS baby blessing, it is the opportunity to give the baby an official name and to bless him/her physically and spiritually.

Most babies are dressed in white for their blessing and Andrew was no different.  Sam wore the same outfit, which further solidified the fact that they look very similar.

We were so grateful to have my parents, all 5 of my siblings, the 3 in-laws, Roy's sister and family, Roy's cousin and his family, my 2 aunts and 1 uncle, my grandma, and several friends there for the day.  I am incredibly grateful for Andrew and the increase of love we have in our family because he is here.

Leaf Piles: 2014 Edition

At no time was anyone harmed in the taking of these pictures :)

LEAF FIGHT!  Sam loves throwing leaves at his sisters and they love retaliating.  Andrew kicks his legs and laughs with me.  It's a perfect arrangement.

Andrew isn't so sure about this whole sit in leaves business.

Goofballs

"Okay, everyone smile and put your eyes on me!"

Oh boy, family pictures in a few weeks are going to be really interesting :)

Smattering of Pictures

These two kids are so cute together.  Lydia loves Andrew fiercely.  Someday he will appreciate it :)

I am a Freebairn.  I notice typos, cringe at severely mispronounced words, and believe if you are paying for signs or boxes to advertise your goods you should run it by an editor.  It runs in my family.  We have been known to send pictures of the greater offenders and we laugh.  It's not something we do to be rude so please be our friends.  We're just wired that way.  So when I saw this sign at Kohls, I had to take a picture!

Happy mom moments!

Abby lost her second tooth and left a note for the Tooth Fairy

Abby requested that my brother Steven write a book about a dinosaur who plays soccer.  She designed the cover:

Sam and Lydia have developed a really fun friendship.  They give each other so many hugs every day!

Abby and her BFF Emma at our Halloween party!

Trunk or Treat

It was so fun to have cousins and Grandma Z go to our church Trunk or Treat last weekend!  Fun and candy had by all!