Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving weekend full of food, family, fun and fatigue! We started off by enjoying a fun pre-Thanksgiving spaghetti dinner with the Millers. We love going over to Duane and Mary Ann's house. And it was fun to visit with some of the Millers who had already arrived from Nevada.

On Thanksgiving Day, Ross played football with some of the other elders in our ward. Then we went back to the Miller's house to enjoy a great Thanksgiving meal with 30+ other family members. We spent the rest of the day just chillin' with the family and of course enjoyed some yummy pie for dessert. 

On Friday, we drove up to my parents' house and they were nice enough to watch Leah so Ross and I could go to a temple session. It's always so nice to be able to go to the temple. And it is so much harder when you have to arrange for a babysitter. So thanks again Mom and Dad for helping us out. 

Saturday we went to my Putnam family's annual Christmas party. After eating lunch, we prepared for a visit from a special visitor dressed in red. Just before it was time for his arrival, Leah decided she needed a nap! What terrible timing!

 

We were going to just get a picture of her asleep on Santa's lap, but she woke up just as Ross handed her to him. I was afraid she would start crying, but instead she just looked at him with her famous solemn stare. At least she didn't scream and wail like some of the kids did. This is the best we could get for a smile out of her.

Here's my family taking our turn with Santa. There are so many people in the Putnam family now (well over 100) that we have to go up in families and usually only the kids sit on Santa's lap.

Here's Leah opening her gift. She got a pair of Minnie Mouse sleeper jammies (which she LOVES) and a book called "Rise and Shine."

Here's my wonderful Grandpa and Grandma Putnam taking their turn with Santa. They are now 93 and 83 years old respectively and have been married for 63 years! They are amazing and we all love them SO much!

Here's a picture of my grandparents, their children (including spouses). There is one brother missing. He and his wife and their family went to Washington for Thanksgiving and had not got back home yet. As it turns out, they had all kinds of car trouble on the way home and didn't get back until long after this picture was taken.

A picture of the original Erlon and Mary Putnam family (minus Leron who was in transit from Washington as I stated before).

After a visit with Santa, the kids got to break open the pinatas. I tried to get a picture of each of my nephews and nieces swinging at it, but I didn't get one of Caleb. But I'm sure he won't mind since he hates having his picture taken anyway. Here's Cameron taking a turn with the heavy metal bat!

And his sister, Kaylynn, using the much easier small foam bat

Makynlee taking a turn with help from her mommy.

Megan swinging away.

Leah got help from her aunt MoMo.

Caden wasn't afraid to whack on this thing.

For the older kids, they made them wear a blind fold. Carson got turned around and started swinging at the kids gathered around watching on the floor. Needless to say, those kids cleared out of his way in a hurry!

After we got most the the mess cleaned up, the kids scammed a ride from my dad on the chair cart. He obliged by pushing them around the gym several times. The kids loved it and even Leah was sure she needed to join in the fun.

After the party, we came back home. On Sunday, we went to church and then spent the rest of the day at home trying to recover from the festive weekend we had just enjoyed. I love the holidays!