What? Didn't this just happen? Well, Thanksgiving started early for us. The week before, my sister and her 5 girls came to visit us. They live in Utah and go to year round school and they were on their 3 week break. So, we benefitted, big time. Imagine 9 girls and one boy in the house. Fun, fun, fun! We decided to get Christmas put up the weekend before Thanksgiving for several reasons. 1. We were headed to California. 2. Thanksgiving was very late this year, and it would already be December when we returned from our trip. 3. I had 6 extra sets of hands to help put up decorations.
This is the kids tree. When we moved to Arizona we decided to put up two trees. One to hold all the ornaments we have collected through the years, and one to decorate any way I want. I'll have to post a picture of the other tree later.
The cousins really have fun together. They made sugar cookies.
Megan and Brenna
Kayla, Katie and Aubrey. We have many self portraits on the camera.
Sunday night we went to the visitors center at the Arizona Temple. Here are all the cousins. They are almost in age order(Nathan is holding the baby) From left to right. Brenna, Jayden, Megan, Emily, Anna (two days younger than) Lindsay, Kayla, Aubrey, Rachael, Katie, Nathan holding Kyana. This is happiness captured.
We traveled to my parents house in Cali on Wednesday. We pulled in at Midnight. Thursday morning I was up at 6:30 to run in a race. (I will do a separate post with that whole story).
Here is my brother-in-law, Robert carving the turkey. When he was done, I ripped the rest to shreds with my bare hands. Hey, you have to get down and dirty to get all that delicious dark meat.
The kids table, pre kids.
My sister Jenna. I wanted to put my head on her body, but I don't know how to do that. You get the idea, though.
These two are so cute. Megan is 14 months older than Brenna, but they have fun together. I think they will be life long friends.
The kids table, with kids.
Good eats with my cousin David and my Uncle Dale and Aunt Helen.
Friday we went to Hollywood. When you grow up 20 minutes from Hollywood, you just never go there. Here we are with the famous sign in the background.
We drove past Hollywood High School. I'm sure many famous people went there, but I don't know who.
When you go to Hollywood Blvd. you run into lots of characters. Just be warned that you have to tip them if you take a picture with them.
Grauman's Chinese Theater
My Dad's favorite movie when he was a little boy was a western called "Shane", starring Alan Ladd. Of course, we're more familiar with Alan's famous daughter Cheryl who won our hearts as one of Charlie's Angels.
Here's something you never see. A line for the men's bathroom. It was the day after Thanksgiving.
Here we are at the Kodak Theater. This is where they hold the Academy Awards.
We took this picture because this is the year my mom was at the academy awards. The other thing about growing up close to Hollywood, is sometimes, you actually know movie stars. My mom was this boy's date.
You may remember him from Swiss Family Robinson or Old Yeller. Don't worry, they were both 16 at the time.
For my own claim to fame, I was buddies with Wil Wheaton. He first starred in a movie called Stand by Me.
But, he was most famous for his role in Star Trek: the Next Generation. We were friends in high school. I was a senior when he moved to our school as a freshman. I would take him to Burger King for lunch and tutor him in English. He was a cute kid.
To finish out our day, we headed to Universal City to peruse the City Walk.
At the end of the City Walk, you find Universal Studios. If you ever go to the L.A. area this is a fun place to go. The kids really enjoy taking the tram ride on all the back lots and learning about all the films and T.V. shows that have been made there.
This is the kids tree. When we moved to Arizona we decided to put up two trees. One to hold all the ornaments we have collected through the years, and one to decorate any way I want. I'll have to post a picture of the other tree later.
The cousins really have fun together. They made sugar cookies.
Megan and Brenna
Kayla, Katie and Aubrey. We have many self portraits on the camera.
Sunday night we went to the visitors center at the Arizona Temple. Here are all the cousins. They are almost in age order(Nathan is holding the baby) From left to right. Brenna, Jayden, Megan, Emily, Anna (two days younger than) Lindsay, Kayla, Aubrey, Rachael, Katie, Nathan holding Kyana. This is happiness captured.
Here is my brother-in-law, Robert carving the turkey. When he was done, I ripped the rest to shreds with my bare hands. Hey, you have to get down and dirty to get all that delicious dark meat.
The kids table, pre kids.
My sister Jenna. I wanted to put my head on her body, but I don't know how to do that. You get the idea, though.
These two are so cute. Megan is 14 months older than Brenna, but they have fun together. I think they will be life long friends.
The kids table, with kids.
Good eats with my cousin David and my Uncle Dale and Aunt Helen.
Friday we went to Hollywood. When you grow up 20 minutes from Hollywood, you just never go there. Here we are with the famous sign in the background.
We drove past Hollywood High School. I'm sure many famous people went there, but I don't know who.
When you go to Hollywood Blvd. you run into lots of characters. Just be warned that you have to tip them if you take a picture with them. 
Grauman's Chinese Theater
My Dad's favorite movie when he was a little boy was a western called "Shane", starring Alan Ladd. Of course, we're more familiar with Alan's famous daughter Cheryl who won our hearts as one of Charlie's Angels. 
Here's something you never see. A line for the men's bathroom. It was the day after Thanksgiving.
Here we are at the Kodak Theater. This is where they hold the Academy Awards.
We took this picture because this is the year my mom was at the academy awards. The other thing about growing up close to Hollywood, is sometimes, you actually know movie stars. My mom was this boy's date.
To finish out our day, we headed to Universal City to peruse the City Walk. 
At the end of the City Walk, you find Universal Studios. If you ever go to the L.A. area this is a fun place to go. The kids really enjoy taking the tram ride on all the back lots and learning about all the films and T.V. shows that have been made there.
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5 comments:
Wow what a super cool trip. I never knew where you grew up. Looks like you guys had a great time.
What a great post - with lot of fun memories! It's fun to learn more about your family.
So fun! We loved being able to hang out with you in your stomping grounds. It was also fun to be "tourist" back in our hometown. We ended up with a zillion self-taken pictures of the older girls as well. I'm so glad you're blogging. I love it!!!!
J
Thanksgiving... is it over? I'm still feeling full! Thanks for the memo... I loved the picture of Nathan with a zillion girls. Bailey reminds me on a daily basis that she is a deprived child because she has NO sister. She is actually bitter most of the time because of it! So, next time she starts in (like I had anything to do with the gender of child 2 or 3) I'm going to pull up this picture on your blog and remind her that Nathan Holt will take her call. Loved seeing where you were during the Thanksgiving break! Sounds fun!
That was a super long post...but...so much fun!!! What a great time!!! Thanks for posting!! I love keeping up with all the fun things you are doing. You are AMAZING!!! So glad to be related...well...married into relation :)
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