New Years

We spent most of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with the Stevens family, many of whom had traveled to be there after spending Christmas with their other sides. We met up on Saturday morning for a traditional round of racquetball. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins in the childcare areas while the adults enjoyed some court action.

It's always fun to play, and to enjoy visiting together while others play. It's definitely a family tradition that everyone loves.
A few of us managed to squeeze in some zumba between games. It was totally a result of peer pressure for me- it was my very first time trying zumba. There's no way I would have gone out without some sister-in-law moral support!
Tami even managed to get CJ out there. Actually though, I'm pretty sure CJ went out first and Tam tagged along with him. They were looking good together! Ow ow!
After racquetball, we headed back to Scott & Amanda's for lunch. After lunch, some of the group went geocaching, some had some down time, and others went back for another round of racquetball. Jacob and Caleb went with all the big cousins and Grandma. I enjoyed visiting with Nettie and holding sweet baby Hailey. Later on, Jeff and I met up with a few others for another game of racquetball.

Jacob and Eliza

(can you believe Eliza is just 13 days younger than Jacob?)

Saturday night was spent eating a wonderful dinner of Navajo Tacos, spending time together, and playing games. I went with Tami and Amanda to take James & Sam to their very first New Year's Stake dance- that was fun! Jeff and I put our kids to sleep for a few hours while we played games with everyone and rang in the new year. I definitely think we're all getting old because within 30 minutes of the new year's arrival, more than half the adults were asleep. Ha! We stuck around for one more game, then loaded our kids up and headed back up to my parent's home.

Sunday we went to church with the Tanners, then came home and finished getting everything packed up and said our goodbyes. We've had a lot of goodbyes over the years, but for some reason this one seemed particularly hard, and there were some tears shed by a few individuals. I don't know if it's because of Mom's situation right now or what, but I hated to leave. Luckily it won't be too long before we get to see everyone again.

We then headed back over to the Stevens where they were getting ready to bless baby Hailey. It was a special experience. Hailey is a sweet little girl and I still can't believe how much hair she has. After the blessing we had a yummy dinner and enjoyed spending a few more hours with the Stevens family before we had to say goodbye.

Lora is a little sweetheart. She was my special little friend and also such a sweet friend to Emily. These two were pretty much inseparable for the few hours we were there.

The Stevens girls, minus Emilee

(we missed Jonny & Emi who were celebrating a belated honeymoon)

Take 2 (sometimes it's hard to get everyone looking with eyes open. :)

Matthew and Emily with Grandpa. Can you tell how much Matthew loves his Grandpa?

Emily saying goodbyes to aunt Tami

The time went by much too fast, and we soon found ourselves saying more goodbyes, but we're looking forward to being together again this next summer for another wonderful family reunion.