Week two: Party time

Let's start off with a little Brandon update.  I've received two letters and a 30 second phone call from him.  The letters were sent while he was still in "Receiving."  That's where they go to get their uniforms, finalize paper work, etc.  He talked about how it's kind of cool to have the rank of Specialist instead of Private. One of the people over him talked to him about how he will be a Sargent a lot sooner than most recruits.  So he needs to start practicing his leadership skills now.  

On Friday he called me and let me know he is now officially at basic training.  That was basically his last phone call until graduation in December.  He now has a mailing address, but he wasn't able to give it to me over the phone.  I'm expecting a letter with his address any day now (I checked the mail twice today).  I'll post that address as soon as I get it.  He hasn't had any mail since he left so it would be really cool if you could write him.

So far the fact that I can't write him has been the hardest thing for me to handle.  I feel bad that I'm surrounded by so much support and he's all alone in a strange place with strange people.  I will feel much better once I can send him letters.

Okay, lets talk about this week.  As the title of this post says it was Party Time!  My brother Billy came home from his mission on Wednesday. The day before he got home all my other siblings started coming together from two different states and converging at my parents house.  Lindsey and her family were the first to arrive. 

Last year at this time Lindsey and I were both lying to each other (and ourselves) about our respective pregnancies.  One year later our 5 month old sons met for the first time (in this life).  Here is the video of them together.           

Emily and her family arrived early Wednesday morning after driving all night from Colorado.  They brought my Aunt Diane with them.  And my Grandma Noveroske flew in from Ohio.  We were all at the airport to welcome Billy home.  

We had a large dinner which I've already blogged about and then I decided my kids needed a chance to burn off some energy.  We ended up taking all the cousins to our elementary school to play on the play ground.  Charlotte and Lydia completely ignored the play ground and instead took turns pushing each other around in Lindsey's stroller.  

Thursday we all met up at the Main Street Plaza and had home made wraps for lunch.  

We walked over to Temple Square and obliged my dad in his request for us to take a picture in front of the temple.  (We have all really grown up since the last time we posed in this spot)

 Everyone wanted to see the new City Creek Shopping Center so we went over there.  It was hot so we let our kids play in the splash pad.  Within 30 seconds we were getting stern reprimands from the security guards about 1. The boys needed to keep their shirts on, and 2. The girls needed to keep their shoes on.  They were pretty rude about it and made us feel like our kids were completely unwelcome.  They should just pave over the splash pad if they don't want kids having fun there.

Later we had a "bathroom incident" and got in trouble for that too.  And still later I tried to find a bathroom and found out that there was only 1 (one!!!!!!) single stall bathroom for the ENTIRE West half of the City Creek Center.  It was occupied so I just changed all three of my kids diapers out in the hall. (Good thing the security guard didn't know about that!)  Anyway I ended up pretty ticked off at that place and it will be A LONG time before I go back. 

The girls fell asleep on the way back to my parents house.  So when I got to my parents I just stayed in the car and let them sleep. Derrick was awake so I brought him up into the front seat and let him play around.  He loved the steering wheel.

 Then we spent the rest of the day chilling out in the back yard.  Lindsey got a tiny taste of what it is like to have twins.

 Charlotte and Lydia had lots of fun hanging out with their cousins.

 Here is a video of them playing with Asher and Rocklond through out the visit.

On Friday we went to the zoo.  Lindsey's brother in law got us discounted tickets.  All my kids were free so I just had to pay for myself.  The last time I went to the zoo was in 2004.  Things have really changed since then!  Back in the day the zoo just seemed to be a hot place full of depressed animals housed in cages miles away from the viewing areas.  Now it's been remodeled so you can get closer to the animals.  And all the animals seem enjoy living at the zoo.  Here are Derrick and me at the Elephant area.

I love this picture of the whole family enjoying the elephants.

I was really surprised by the tiger area.  I didn't even know they had tigers at this zoo.

I forgot my camera so I stuck with my dad and he took lots of pictures with his camera.  We went back to the elephants one last time because they were my favorite.  The girls also love elephants.  If you ask them what an elephant says they will purse their lips together and blow.  Brandon taught them how to do that.

I just have to say, thank goodness for this stroller.  I wouldn't have dared attend any of the outings this past week with out it.

We were the first ones done so we waited for the rest of the family at this big water rock thing.  All the cousins loved it.

Then it was back to the house for more relaxing and eating (I do NOT want to know how many pounds I gained)  Hillary works as a cook and she was in charge of all the food.  Every meal was delicious.

And there was a whole freezer full of ice cream treats.  Occasionally we even gave some to the grand-kids.

Friday night we went to the local park and let the kids run free again.  Charlotte and Grandpa had a mini photoshoot.  Isn't she beautiful?

The boys got up in this tree and the girls wanted to join them.  The boys said, "see this sign?  It says only boys allowed"  Hum, I wonder if either of them want a job as a mall cop?

Saturday morning I stayed at home so I could straighten up the house and let the girls have a chance for a decent nap.  My motto for this whole family get together was "quality time over quantity time."  I felt it was better to have well rested kids and possibly miss out on some fun times, than try to participate in everything while dealing with ornery children. So I left my parents house early every night in order to get the kids in bed at a normal time.  And I took advantage of the fact that we didn't have anything planned for Saturday morning.  Overall it worked out really well.

Saturday night we took our family picture.  All the copies are on another camera so I can't post any right now.  That's probably for the best because all three of my kids were hysterical.  I think I was so concerned about them that I forgot to smile.  So we'll just forget about the family picture for now.  Instead here is a picture of how to calm down three hysterical children.  A quiet room and bottles.  Works every time.  

Sunday was the long anticipated Homecoming Sacrament meeting for my brother.  My dad spoke (acting as the high council speaker even though he is the Stake clerk).  Then my sisters and I sang "The Lord is my Shepard." It went okay except I got the giggles during the second verse.  (I'd practiced for everything except what to do if I started laughing).  And then Billy spoke.  He did really really well.

Afterward we had an open house party at my parents.  Here are all the signs.  (I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we put them up to hide the fact that this wall needs to be painted)

Lots of people came to the open house.  It was fun to visit with friends and family members.

Lots of people hung out in our backyard.  I'm so glad I was able to work on it after Brandon left.

The girls stayed awake for the whole party and then crashed.  Charlotte was sleeping in what I affectionately call "the prison crib."  She turned it into even more of a prison cell by throwing out all the blankets and padding and then falling asleep on the board. 

 Derrick and Knoxx had a push up contest.

After nap time Charlotte, Lydia, and Asher had mac'n'cheese.

And then we attempted a picture of all 7 grandkids.  (We hadn't even tried on Saturday)  This is the best we got.  And it's pretty good considering we had one 3 1/2 year old, one almost 3 year old, two almost 2 year olds, one 1 year old, and two 5 month olds (one of whom is sleeping in this picture).

 Someone asked me if my mom was happy to have Billy home.  I responded, "I don't think she's noticed yet."  Here's a picture that sort of illustrates they craziness that descended on my parents house the past few days.

Other than my family sleeping at our own house, and Lindsey's family sleeping at John's aunt's house; everyone else was at my parents house.   Emily and her family were in Hillary's room that also housed Billy and Hillary's clothes.  Grandma was in the guest room that also doubled as the diaper changing/naptime room.  My parents slept in their own room, but during the day it was the adult nap room. Billy slept on the living room couch.  Hillary slept on the family room couch.  And my aunt Diane was on a mattress on the family room floor.  She kept her stuff in the storage room where I also kept all my extra diapers, wipes, and  formula.

Baby stuff was at a premium.  There were three pack'n'plays/cribs that were used in shifts by the 5 grandkids that needed them to take naps.  There were two high chairs that were also used in shifts.  I brought my swing and the blue bouncy seat so Knoxx and Derrick would have places to hang out other than the floor.  There were some bibs, but I never knew where they were.

It was a mad house to say the least, but it was a very happy mad house.  We all had so much fun.  It was great to be together again.  I think my favorite moment was on Sunday night.  Billy had made some terrible tasting drink.  Lindsey and I walked down to the neighbors vending machine to buy sodas to wash the taste out of our mouths.  I didn't want to go back inside and risk sharing my drink with the girls so we sat out on the front lawn and drank our sodas.  Emily, and later Hillary, joined us out there.  We talked about potty training and other small things.  There was a really nice feeling.

I'm so glad I was able to spend the last week with my siblings.  I honestly didn't have any time to miss Brandon.