Park fun

After Rachel's baptism we went to Purple Heart Park for a picnic. We got Eegees 3 foot subs (and a gluten-free sub for Jacob, not from Eegees), and Eegees drinks (slushies) because what better to eat on a chilly November afternoon than something frozen. In the sun it actually wasn't so bad, and those from Utah and Washington probably fared a little better than us Arizonans and Texans, but Eegees are Eegees, and we're all willing to endure a little coldness to enjoy the tasty treat.

Anyway, much fun was had by all as we celebrated Rachel's baptism, Thanksgiving, and families. We're glad we're a forever family that has been sealed in the temple.

Rachel's Baptism

Rachel was baptized yesterday. It was a special day for her and she had many people show up to support her: her family from both sides, friends and leaders from church, and our neighbor who loves our kids.

Rachel was lucky enough to be baptized with her best friend from church, Lydia.

They were so excited for their baptism.

Rachel and Lena:

Our neighbor, Shannon, brought flowers for Rachel:

We tried to get a picture of all the cousins. We were missing Christian, but did get at least most of them in.

The whole family on both sides, just missing Lisa.

Thanks to all who came. We're so happy to have Rachel in our family. She read the whole Book of Mormon before she was even baptized. She already doing a great job of growing her testimony of the gospel. She was very excited to get her own full set of scriptures and plans on reading the D&C, Pearl of Great Price, then starting on the Bible.

Campbell cousins and Thanksgiving

Jesse arrived Tuesday evening, and the Campbell Clan got here Wednesday evening. Then the excitement never ended until they left this morning. 10 cousins, 21 people total under one roof for 3 days and 4 nights made for lots of excitement.

 We did Thanksgiving dinner it two shifts. With the Campbells and the Knights all coming for dinner we had 33 people here, and even with our folding chairs and benches and maybe even our patio chairs it would have been pushing it to have a place for everyone to fit. Besides that parents never actually eat peacefully when they have to keep getting up to serve their kids. So we had the kids go first, then sent them upstairs and showed a movie on our big screen projector while the adults enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner in relative peace.

 There was a lot of time spent outside in our back yard, a trip to the park every day, games, drawing, and toys to keep everyone occupied all weekend.

 Friday night we had a movie night watching Home Alone.

 Many adults got sucked in to trying to solve our Perplexus Maze.

We filled our days with lots of fun with aunts and uncles and cousins. We're glad everyone came (but we really missed Lisa, though we were able to Skype with her for a couple hours on Thanksgiving). Thanks for driving for hours on end to be here on Rachel's special day! We love you! Come back anytime!