We got to our Barnes Family Reunion in Heber late at night on the 25th (everyone, but Mike was asleep) and carried the older girls into the kids bunkroom. Liz and Lainey transferred well. Ellie completely freaked out. She was too afraid to sleep away from her parents. So instead of sleeping in the basement room where Drew had deposited all our bags, we slept upstairs in a room that had a bed (Emma & I) and a fold-out couch (Drew & Ellie). The next morning I had Drew move our bags up two flights to that room. Then, I worried that someone else would need it more than me so I had Drew move all the bags across the hall to another room. Then, when my last brother arrived, and indicated that he didn't really need the room with the fold out couch, I moved all our bags back. Drew was pretty frustrated with me by the end so while he was out, I did that last move on my own and unpacked everything before he returned. So, I changed my room four times in one day, but we were grateful in the end because we had kids sleeping in our room about half of the time we were there.
Anyway, First Day in Heber! We went out to lunch at Tarahumara (one of three times we ate out and certainly the best food of all the three). Afterwards Liz and Drew went iceskating with Scott's family. By the end, it was just Drew, Liz, and our niece, Iris and those little girls lasted a lot longer than Drew expected.
In the evening my parents gave the children their Christmas presents. First we lined all 14 grandkids up for a fireplace shot just like my grandpa used to do with my cousins and me (totally left me feeling nostalgic).
Instead of stockings for the grandkids, Nana used reusable shopping bags. For her kids, she had tiny stockings with our initial on it. I wanted to have the tiny stockings be what Drew and I use every year but my mom kept them for future use.
The kids got coloring books, candy, and homemade sock monkeys from Nana. From Papa they got to order something from Amazon. Liz got an animal-print cover for her kindle, Lainey got accessories for Saige, and Ellie got some vending machine dogs and stuffed toys (dalmation dogs). Emma got nothing because some of her sisters went over budget.
The newest additions to the family: Parker and Emmaline. Parker is nearly three weeks and almost 10 pounds older/bigger than Em. He's also much more active and completely adorable.
Starting that first night (and continuing many nights after) the guys played poker (Drew's doing).
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