The boy cousins love playing together. Ben, Spencer, Luke and Ty. Baby Silas is the only one not joining in their fun. :)
They play ninjas every day with red ties around their heads. They play outside in the snow together. Yesterday they build a stick fort. They used snow to try and glue it together at the seams...hoping over night the snow would freeze into ice.
They had a "boy's party" one day because the girl's said they were having a girl's party. The girls had disappeared into a bedroom to play for a little while. So the boys went downstairs and closed the bedroom door to have their own private party. They listened to oldies music and decorated the room for their party. Then they came up with a gag. They all hid in the bedroom and sent one child to go bring their mothers to see how cool their party was. Once mom was in the room she would say "Where are all the boys?" Then they would pop up and surprise them.
The girls have had fun together. Their ages range farther. From Maddie who is turning one this week up to Sarah who is 12. The rest of the girls are (by youngest to oldest) Chloe, Athena, Lucy, Ayla, Anya, Aspyn. Nicole is in California so we miss her this time.
Tuesday evening we got a babysitter (Bethany Wilde) so all the grownups could attend the PreWedding dinner. It was fancy and the food was delicious. It was fun to see Stewart and Hannah dressed up and ready to "tie the knot."
The dinner consisted of a rather large group to support Hannah and a smaller group for Stewart...he has a much smaller family.
Sterling practiced his photography by being the photographer for the event. He did a great job. I edited the portraits. Sterling is in the learning stages of photo editing.
Wednesday morning we left the house at 9:30 to go up to Salt Lake for the wedding. We all dressed up, even the children , and went. The Salt Lake temple has a children's waiting room to play in but it was packed. The room was packed. The wedding waiting room for adults was packed. I guess large wedding parties all planned for the same day and time-ish.
Sterling stayed with the children and the rest of us attended the wedding. The ceremony was short but wonderful. Then we gathered up the children and went outside for pictures. The photographer did his thing and the weather was warming up by that point.
Sterling and I took our kids back to Provo and picked up some Little Ceasars pizzas for all the kids. Then we went to the house to get the kids started eating while we ordered Pizza Hut for the adults.
Stewart and Hannah went to lunch together then stopped by the Roundy house to say hello for a few minutes. That is when they opened their gift from all of Hannah's siblings; A tool box with tools in it. Also wedding cards and cash. The bride and groom loved the gift.
That evening was the reception. It was in a beautiful reception hall. We all got there early for wedding portraits. It was fun and everyone looked amazing. They should be awesome portraits.
The food served was doughnuts and homemade cinnamon rolls/raspberry rolls. For drinks they had a hot chocolate bar with milk, whip cream, choc chips, marshmallows and more.
Sterling put a movie on in a dark closed area in the building but the kids mostly ran around instead.
Sterling took most of the pictures after the photographer left. I took a few...like the ones of cutting the wedding cake. Ster and I both took pictures of the throwing of the bouquet. Ster shot Hannah throw it and I shot Aspyn catch it.She was so shocked that she caught it.
Serving girls
Bridals done by the photographer at an earlier date so the images would be printed in time to decorate the reception...
Thursday Stewart and Hannah came by to say goodbye as they headed off to California for their honeymoon.
Jon and Emily stayed at mom and dad's house with us. Josh took his family to stay at Janette's parents house so the Roundy house wouldnt be too crowded.
Thursday night we put all the kids to bed at their usual time. Then Emily, Abi, Ster and I went to the movie theater to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Jon would have come but he decided to take one for the team when Lucy got sick. She got sick after the reception on Wednesday and was sick off and on consistently. Really sick. Poor girl.
The movie was amazing. Sterling loves Harry Potter so he loved this one. And he is excited for more movies like it to come out in the future.
It was great to see in the theater where the magic comes alive.
I had to drink a Red Bull before the film to keep myself awake since the movie started at about 10:30pm.
Today is a relaxed day. I don't think there are any plans for today. Tomorrow is Maddie's first birthday and we will be here to celebrate that with her.
New Year's Eve tomorrow we are going to let the kids stay up until midnight with us. And Sunday we head back home.
The boys made a fort in the backyard using sticks from the wood pile and snow. They took a few days and enjoyed making it. They had to do the work of tearing it down and cleaning it up at the end though.
