Christmas Trip- Part 7 Homeward Bound!

 

We stopped by Kendall's aunts Valerie and Marva on our way home. We hadn't seen them since Noah was 2 months old so it had been a while.

 

We also stopped by and had dinner with our friends Jack and Kristen. I knew Jack when I lived in Provo and he served in Bolivia with Kendall. I hadn't met his wife, Kristen, in person before, but we have gotten to know each other on face book. So it was great to finally meet her and their kids. They were so kind to feed us dinner that evening!

The kids were super excited to visit Temple Square and see all the Christmas lights. It was beautiful! It was rather cold and very crowded though.

 

Kendall and the boys in the tabernacle.

Me and my girls!

Emma getting ready to walk back to our hotel for the night.

Kendall took this of Jane after her bath that night. She's so cute!

We had quiet the restless night. Around 1am we wake up to Daniel who has this "barking" cough and is struggling to get his breath. We put him in the bathroom with the hot shower going and Kendall headed out to find a store that was open at that hour so we could get some medicine for him. Thank heavens for a gps that could locate stores. We stopped off the next night at our friends the Longs. They were kind enough to put us up again even though all the kids were coughing at that point. LuJean even got up and made some cough syrup for the kids on the road.

 

 We had a 9 hour drive from their house the next day. Jane enjoyed ANY and EVERY chance she got to get out of the car seat and play!

 

Oooh, look at that look she's giving me! And she's not even a teenager yet! I think I should be afraid!

Jack and Kristen gave us a big bag of dark chocolate covered almonds and Jacob LOVED them! Can you see them all over his face?

We made it to my sister Jessica's house around lunch time and they were kind enough to feed us lunch and the kids had fun playing with their cousins. It was good to see everyone but it was good to be home too! 



Christmas Trip- Part 6 Jane's Preferences

 Jane is such a funny girl! So the whole time we were there she was fine if we handed her off to a man. So if I needed to go do something and Kendall wasn't around I would hand her off to one of her aunts and she would just cry and cry. But if I handed her over to one of her uncles or her grandpa she was perfectly content! This is Jane with her uncle Alma.

 Jane and uncle Helaman

 Jane loved her Grandpa right from the start!

Grandma was the exception to the "men only" rule. 

Christmas Trip- Part 5 Best Uncles Ever!

There was something about Kendall's brothers, Helaman and Nephi. When they walk into any room with little girls those little girls are instantly by their side pulling on them, chasing them, climbing on them. This is Emma and Nephi.

Just look at all those nieces running around their uncles!

Helaman being tackled as he came out of his room.

 Daniel and Jacob loved playing with their uncles too!

 Never a moments peace!

 

I'm so impressed with these two young men! They were so great with the kids and put up with a lot! They are awesome!

Christmas Trip- Part 4 Christmas Eve/Day

We had the kids act out the nativity story on Christmas Eve. They had so much fun dressing up and playing their parts! 

Christmas Eve wouldn't be the same without the Mary and Joseph dinner. We had meat, bread, figs and dates, yummy!

Christmas morning was crazy with so many people! But it was great to enjoy the gift opening with the family.

Ha, love this picture, I was sick with a fever and you can see Mark laying on the floor having been up all night with the stomach bug that was going around.

Daniel and Emma both asked for model airplanes for Christmas and they were pretty excited to receive them!

Kendall carved a walking stick for his dad. It was really cool, with a carving of the Oakland Temple at the top (that's where his parents were married) along with the names of all 13 kids.

Mark enjoying the Christmas gift opening from the floor.

We had high hopes of taking a family picture with everyone, but with people being sick it just didn't happen. So all the Hepworth kids went to Jenna's house (cause she couldn't go anywhere after having a baby on Christmas Eve) and they got a picture.

Daniel worked really hard with his dad and finished his plane. He has it hanging in his room.

Christmas Trip-Part 3 Fun Things To Do!

There was so much to do while we were there! New cousins to meet and play with, movies to watch.

Ping pong and pool!

Little Miss Jane learned how to crawl!

Cooking and dishes!

Look at all that pink and purple!!

Emma and Bell playing fetch!

Emma enjoyed shooting Grandpa's old 22 rifle.

Daniel got to go out shooting for the 1st time! He was super excited!

He's on cloud nine right now!

I love this picture of Grandpa with some of the grand kids watching some movie preview. It was great to have all the cousins together. We did miss some of the cousins who were not able to come up due to a stomach bug that was going around the house. Everyone except Jane and I got the bug, that's 21 of 23 people! It was horrible to watch everyone go through it. Luckily it only lasted 24 hours.



Christmas Trip- Part 2 Benjamin's blessing

 

 
On Monday the 23rd the whole family gathered together for Benjamin's blessing. He is such a cute baby! He was born premature and is just 2 months younger then Jane. This is Benjamin with his mom Laura.

 Jennifer, Kendall, Israel, Laura, and Benjamin

I love this picture of Kendall's twin brothers Isaac and Israel with their daughters Lucy and Learsiah.

This is the whole family. The only two missing are Kendall's brother, Alma, and his brother in law Ray. 

 

Kendall's sister Jenna. She delivered a huge 10 pound 3 ounce baby on Christmas Eve!

 

 We had a dinner after the blessing. Daniel filled up his plate with cookies! Kendall told him he could have as much cookies as he wanted but that he needed to have as much salad as he had cookies. So he filled his plate with salad and ate it all. And Guess what, he was so full of salad he had no desire to eat all those cookies!

I just love this picture of Jane and Kendall!

Christmas Trip- Part 1

This is us getting loaded into the car for a "9 hour" drive. The snow at our house should have given us some idea of what the roads were going to be like that day. We started out in good spirits though. The Elders were out throwing snow balls at the kids before we left. So the 1st mountain pass wasn't bad. They required traction tires or chains on the big semis. Kendall did an awesome job at driving! We saw several cars slide off the road and stopped and pulled one lady out of a ditch. We just took it slow and steady and didn't have any problems. When we came to the Blue Mountains in Oregon things got a little more crazy! We made it without having to chain up, but I would say the conditions were white out conditions. I have never been in weather like that before and it was a little scary! We almost got hit by a semi who decided to stop and back up in the middle of the highway! Not sure what the guy was thinking but we gave him a good long honk before he stopped (just a couple feet from our car!). We made it to our friend's house after 13 1/2 hours!  They were so kind and had a hot meal for us at 11pm and warm beds to sleep in!

We awoke in the morning to homemade waffles with jam! Seriously, LuJean and Kim are the best! LuJean taught Emma how to make this cute Christmas craft which she then taught to her cousins. We drove last part of the drive on dry roads and made it to Kendall's parent's house in good time!

This is the night's sky overlooking Cedar City!

Kendall's mom (and sisters) had the house beautifully decorated for Christmas. It was so good to see everyone that night!