Mini Carlson Family Reunion

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we had a chance to get together with a lot of our Carlson family since they were in town for Chad's wedding.  It was soooo great!!! 

But first...just a couple pics from earlier that week

Emmalyn playing doctor with Landen

Maxwell eating with chopsticks for the first time.  He loved it and was pretty good (with the little helper tool)!

Unfortunately we weren't going to be able to go to the actual wedding because we had already planned on doing a Color Run as a family on my mom's birthday.  Luckily there were other opportunities to spend time together with our extended family.  We met up with everyone at the site of the wedding and joined in on a pizza lunch.  (I didn't get any pictures) 

Then we headed over to the hotel everyone was staying at to spend more time together.  We decided to go swimming since it was something everyone could do and we didn't have to go somewhere and spend money.

The kids were already making friends and having fun.  Emmalyn had a couple of the "older" cousin girls who were happy to mother her.

Angelina, Vanessa, Emmalyn, Landen, Max, Hayden, and David

We hung out in my Aunt Sue and Aunt Nancy's room.  We weren't prepared to swim so I ran to Wal-Mart with my cousin Melissa to get supplies for her kids, my kids, and Brittany's kids.  It was fun to have a few minutes with her sans kids!

We got there and most everyone was already swimming.  Britt's boys just jumped in wearing their shorts but of course, Maxwell my rule follower was eagerly waiting for me to get back because he would only go swimming with a suit.

All of my Uncle Rob's family was there except the bride and groom who were off doing things.  Many of them I have not seen for years!

The pool was filled with my much loved Carlson family.

Unfortunately the water was not heated!!!  It was soo cold but that didn't stop everyone.  I was glad Emmalyn's little mothers got into the pool with her so I didn't have to.

She had fun but it was nerve wracking not being in the pool even though I was watching like a hawk.

Maxwell out of the pool on a quick break (note his purple lips!)

Emmalyn finally was too cold and so she got out and bundled up with Angelina

Uncle Rob tossing Maxwell in the air, just like fun uncles do.  :)  I have some really great uncles who are not only great uncles but great grandpas and treat my kids as if they were their own grand kids.  That always really touches my heart.

Finally pulled this kid out of the water and he was coooooold. 

Some of the group

After swimming, Britt and I took the kids and went home since it was bedtime.  Late that night, the Kenyons got to our house to spend the long weekend.

The next morning we all met back up at a park halfway between the wedding and our place (since we were more than an hour away) for more time to play together and visit more.

I found the park by just googling... No one had been there before but the pictures made it look like it was a decent park.  It ended up being AMAZING!!!  Lots to do, a variety of toys for many ages, tons of places to sit, trails to run for the runners, and a splash park too!

Emmalyn was constantly entertained by her cousins, it was great!

Vanessa, Emmalyn, and Natalie

They did a great job of taking care of her.

Maxwell also benefited by having lots of cousins around (even though some of them he didn't know before yesterday) to challenge him and inspire him to play in new ways than he had before.

Peter wanted to hold Jackson.  Maybe he's ready for another baby??? (Hah - NOT)

Why splash at the splash park when you can splash in the muddy puddles?

Some of Grandma Carlson's great grandkids.  It's amazing how many there are and then you realize that there are so many still missing!  There was representatives at this informal mini-reunion from each of her children/their families (and mine).

We finished off our fun morning with lunch at in-n-out.  Luckily they had some tables outside and I had a bunch of blankets in the car for the kids to sit on.  We were a big group!!!

Natalie and Maxwell

Landen, Hayden, and David

Jamie, Lindsey, Morgan, Anna, and Cadence

Park of the lawn crew

The table crew - mainly adults.  :)

Gotta love in-n-out!

I am so grateful for these great people in my life who, while technically are not blood related, are my family and have always acted like such.

The best Christmas surprise - a visit with Grandma Carlson!

Our Christmas continued at the airport...

Max's present from Brittany was pretty fitting for the day.  He loved the digital camera he got from Aunt Aja and brought it with him.

We had a delicious Christmas breakfast/lunch at La Madeleine.  Love Field Airport is so nice since the remodel!

When you have a fancy Christmas dress, you wear it even if you are only rocking it in the airport and in the skies!

She was so excited to be on the plane.

Checking out the clouds...

Maxwell was a super traveler

I even got her to fall asleep!!!! Score!

We had a layover in Phoenix and when we got to our gate they were asking for volunteers to give up their seats.  So, we did!  They would still get us out to SLC that day but it would be 4 hours later and we would get 1500.00 in travel vouchers for our trouble.  SCORE!!!!  What a deal.

My Grandma Carlson lives in the Phoenix area so I quickly called her and asked if she had plans or if we could come visit.  She was just staying home so it was perfect for us to go visit.  At that point, we had to hustle to make it happen.  I figured that by the time we got a rental car (with car seats since we had checked our car seats) and drove out to Grandma's we would only be able to stay 45 - 60 minutes before we would have to head back to the airport, return the car, go through security again and get back to our gate to board our plane.  

There wasn't much room for error so we quickly got moving.  While we were on the shuttle to the rental car facility, I had my laptop out making the reservation.  

The kids hanging out while we got the car.  They were good little troopers.

We needed to eat dinner and I didn't want Grandma to have to worry about trying to feed us so we called and told her we would pick up some food on the way to her house.  Easier said than done on Christmas Day.  We looked and we looked and the only thing we found open that would work was Jack in the Box.  (It was funny that's what we got because when I talked to Brittany earlier, she shared that they had done Jack in the Box for dinner because it was just them and she didn't feel like making a big, special meal.)

It was so fun to pull up to Grandma's house and see her come out to greet us.  This was the first time she got to meet Emmalyn and I think it's the first time she got to meet Maxwell too.

We ate our Jack in the Box dinner (mine was gross...good thing I loved my lunch!).  But I was really, really grateful we were getting to see Grandma.  For multiple reasons.  1 - It made me sad that she was home all alone on Christmas.  Such a departure from the busy holidays with her from my youth.  I was happy that we hopefully filled her evening with some cheer.  2 - Even though it was only Jack in the Box, I was glad to be able to bring her some dinner so she didn't just have her regular dinner on Christmas.  3 - I love her and it's been far too long since I have been able to spend time with her.  4 - It touched my soul to be able to see her engage with my kids.

It felt like a Christmas miracle to be able to spend an hour with her.  

She pulled out this hot wheels track that I remember playing with at her house when I was a kid.  Both the kids LOVED it. 

She got right down on the floor and showed them how to play with it

video  - playing cars with grandma Carlson

Emmalyn kept reaching out to her to get her attention by hitting Grandma in the chest (whoops - sorry Grandma).

Group picture!

I sure love my Grandma (who is now visibly shorter than me!)

4 Generations minus 1 (miss you Mom!!!)

Back at the airport she was still a happy camper which is good considering she has spent most of the day on a plane or in a car

Planes...buses...and automobiles

So we had RUSHED back to the airport only to then have our flight delayed another like hour and a half. :(  Such a bummer because I would have loved to have spent more time at Grandma's rather than hang out at an airport trying to entertain kids who were now past their bedtime and still far from going to sleep in a bed.

Trying to keep her entertained

we went through all of our bag of things to play with

luckily getting off and on and off and on and off and on a chair is super fun

Finally on our last leg!  Look how exhausted that little face is

We landed at SLC about 5 hours after when we would have originally landed but it was worth it!

We had an issue getting the luggage loaded into the car that was smaller than we were expecting (so frustrating!).  The kids and I hung out in the front seat trying to stay warm while the freezing car struggled to heat up while Peter was a trooper and was standing out in the cold trying to fit out suitcases/bags/stroller into a space made for one of those.  He eventually succeeded and we got to Aunt Tammy's around midnight.  (They were out of town and not getting home until the next day so I was glad they weren't home and disturbed by our late arrival.)

Whew --- what a long day but it was all worth it for that one hour with Grandma - Best Christmas Present ever!  Merry Christmas!!!!