This has been such a fun Christmas - busy, loud, crazy fun, too much food, not enough sleep, fantastic time!  We have enjoyed all the excitement and energy that comes with 10 adults, 13 kids, 5 dogs, and one tad-pole (may he/she rest in peace---).  Grandma was a little stressed, but, hopefully that will pass - if you know what I mean...hahaha...

Cam is so good about taking care of the dogs - this is the water dish in the morning....burrrrrrzzzziiiieeee..

 Our construction crew - less Ellie - and the bridge they built...kept them busy for days!

 The Hansen girls checking out what our dear Santa left....

 And, this is what happens when the gift bag you open has letters in it and the letters spell - DISNEYLAND.....yea!

 The Workman crew with their new luggage - for coming to Grandma and Grandpa's----

 Yep, since the new word for the dictionary is selfie - these three had to try it out.....Mike, Carrie and Jared.   Never a dull moment!  (There were more photos, but - - hee, hee)

The Nativity play at the party...

 The Allred girls opening their gift from Grandma and Grandpa - it's a trip to the butterfly park - and Grandma and Grandpa are just as thrilled as the girls!!

 The Workman kids at the top of their hiking trail - overlooking Shumway Valley...

We are so thankful for the celebration and the chance it gives us to enjoy each other - Thanks to all for making this so much FUN!!  Love you ALL!!!

The new project for the kids - a new fort and bridge...WOW - great rocks....

 It even has it's own cooking area....hummmmm.....

The lights and displays at the Mesa Temple are so beautiful- as always.  

Here are the cuties enjoying the evening.  

 Such a lovely sculpture - we have this one at the Snowflake Temple, too.  Someone has built a little "stable" for them to sit in...

 The Cousins Party....

 Build a Snowman with T.P., a scarf, a hat and some gloves.

 Our little "Frosty the Snowgirls"

 Decorating cookies--Jade, Talya, Trinley, Tyanne, Naia, Ella, Ellie and Haylee ...

One photo is worth a thousand words!

Early on Thanksgiving morning all the boys get the fire started....Dutch oven turkey is the BEST!

 Ella trying out the frosting in a can....

 Cam making his oreo cookie turkey....

 Talya finished hers...

 Dinner time

 This is the last of the apple pies that we had in the freezer from summer before last.  We are sure hoping we have a good fruit year next year....

 We caught little Talya sneaking the whipped cream for a little treat...hee hee....

 Michon and family have two new little puppies--they are really cute, but so tiny...this is Natty with Naia.

 This one is Bouregaard--Bo for short.

 Mister Man after an early morning run....this is about all the expression we could get out of him....it must be the altitude....

 All the kiddos in front of the Christmas tree...it used to be that we could see the tree behind them...now they are growing up so much.....

 We thought for sure that when we put the train away last year that we'd never get it to run again.  There were some wires that had come apart and we didn't think there was any way we could get the tiny little things back together.  Grandpa, Cam and Uncle Ty worked with it for a few minutes with a solder gun and ---sure enough---the train lives on.....yea!

Tyanne's team was playing in the Semi-finals of the championship for volleyball.  It was a great team effort on both sides.  Lots of really long volleys - the girls are really progressing in the skills.  

 Here's the team - lots of tears were being shed - it was a character builder.....

 This has been a lovely fall - I don't think we've had such pretty leaves for a long time.

 And we have fire-----We took out the wood stove downstairs and replaced it with a pellet stove.  (I'm really liking it!! - so much cleaner and a more even heat...)

 Grandpa and Uncle Jared on their way!!!  A hunting, camping and hiking trip to the Kiabab.
It really takes a lot of stuff to go camping... Uncle Jared was very successful in his hunting part.  He got a nice deer - sorry we don't have any pictures ----they had a good time.  Grandpa came home with strep and sinus infections as usual.  Just say "hunting trip" to him and it will always bring on the "krud."

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 Shumway in the fall.....

 Mike was out of town for the week so Carrie and the kids came to visit and Natalie and the kids came while "the boys" were hunting.  We had so many crafts going there wasn't room for them all.
These are the cutest "haunted" houses.  Underneath is a one-quart milk carton.  They attached all the goodies with frosting and they turned out so cute.  Reese loves crafts..

 Haylee loves crafts...

 Mylee loves crafts..

 Cam loves crafts - very creative...

 Ellie loves crafts!!!

 This craft is a cute pumpkin face made out of squares of tissue paper - the kids put a pencil in the middle, wrapped the paper around a little, dipped it in a little glue and then stuck in on the template.
Cam and Ellie

 The different colors could make eyes, nose, mouth, stem---

 They had a really good time with this one.  Kept them busy for a LONG time...
Ellie and Haylee

 Mylee

 Haylee caught this tiny little lizzard - there are dozens of them again this year.  Hopefully, they grow up and eat lots of bugs!

 I'm not sure what prompted the "sand and gravel" operation.  They spent hours grinding down sandstones into sand......Haylee and Mylee

Ellie and Cam...

 Halloween day was just gorgeous weather...So we had the pumpkin carving party outside...

 Reese using - of all things- the power tools.....

 Ellie - her jack-o-baby has a pacifier - (because she has a new baby sister or brother coming...hee, hee...love it!!!)

 Haybug...gotta love those eyelashes...

 Cam the Man...Carved his pumpkin all by himself this year - attached ears look cool!

 Mylee - best smile - don't ya think.....

 They look cool with their candles....

 Little Mermaid - Cutie Witch...

Sweet pussy cat, a knight in shining armor, and a tiny tiger.....lots of fun!

 Reese always leaves us little notes and art projects - here is the Halloween picture she made for us.  What a sweetheart!

Such a fun time - the house is awful quiet now.

Saturday we were released as Assistant Coordinators for our shift at the Temple.  It's been such a pleasure to work with the Willis's who served as Coordinators and with all the folks on our shift.  We've enjoyed this work so much and have learned much more than we ever imagined. Now we can go and just do the work and not worry so much about the scheduling and such.  We'll like that.   I wish I had been able to get some pictures of Tyanne's Young Women's group that came Saturday to do baptisms.  What a sweet group of girls - it was really special.