Thanksgivingaganza!

WHEW! I'm exhausted after simply uploading all these pictures from my family's Thanksgiving-ORAMA! Hope you took your Valium today, cause you're gonna need it after reading of all our festivities.

My ENTIRE immediate family gathered in Arizona for a Thanksgiving to remember. To say we had a good time, would be a gross understatement.

From first person arrived, to last person gone we had the fam here for almost two weeks. It was fantastic to have them around for so much time and we were so grateful for their sacrifice to travel. Although, I must say that our weather proved to be a VERY nice perk for the gathering location.

One of our first trips was to the Phoenix Zoo. I have been dozens of times, but each time I find something new, and each time Emma has a thrilling time. It's as if she is seeing all the animals again for the first time. Either she is full of youthful enthusiasm, or has the memory of a brick.

Emma and Aliya both LOVE their Uncle Glen, and literally followed him around like little shadows. We heard all week from little mouths... "Nen, Nen... Are You?"

My Mom is a wonderful "project" task master and helped my Grandparents refinish their patio. Here is my 80-something-year-old Grandpa doing all of the hard work, while my younger parents supervise. WHA?

Matt & Corinda are expecting Baby Boy in May and may land in some crazy foreign land due to an upcoming work venture... so it was nice to spend some quality time with them and precious Aliya before they become natives of Zimbabwe/Mongolia/Ozarks/etc...

Aliya was always so kind to share just about everything in her possession with Emma. And ahem, well, I wish I could say the same for my daughter. Sure, she screams "SHARE" plenty of times a day, but only while she is quickly hoarding all of the toys in sight so that everyone can "SHARE" with her. I think she is missing the concept. We'll keep working. Hopefully, some of Aliya's sweet disposition rubbed off on her more selfish cousin.

The girls got plenty of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Krebs. I decided it was REALLY nice having them here in Arizona, where they were free from all of their "normal activities" that usually consume time while we are visiting in Kentucky.

And can I say what wonderfully interactive grandparents they are? How many grandparents would get on a swing set for hours? Emma is a lucky lucky girl. Just look at her smile below and it says it all.

Thanksgiving Day was an incredible whirlwind of activities and food. We started the day at 4am with the Triathlon (see previous post)... and ended that evening at 9pm... with no break. The Thanksgiving meal was generously hosted by my Aunt Sharron, who has the PERFECT yard for hosting an outdoor Arizona Thanksgiving FEAST. We had a group of 38 people, including my Mom's family, my immediate family, missionaries, friends from the ward, and JJ, Zac and Alexander (pictured below).

What would Thanksgiving Day be without some "Turkey Wrestling"? Everyone pile on Glen!!

After the meal we sat around a shared things that we are grateful for. Many touching sentiments shared.

Grandma and Grandpa at the Thanksgiving meal. Boy are we grateful for these two love birds and their tremendous example or work ethic and testimony of our Savior.

The evening of Thanksgiving we had a wonderfully yummy dinner with Greg's family. Kurt and Tara hosted and we had a great time. Unfortunately, we had so much fun that I forgot my camera and did not capture anything on film. They have recently renovated their backyard and after we ate, we gathered around a fire pit and talked. So nice to have family around so close.

The day after Thanksgiving, we started with the traditional Krebs Family Olympics. We generally hold these on New Years Eve, but as we will not be together for Christmas, we held them early. The Olympics included an intense game of Ultimate Frisbee...

Check out the little guy on the ground. Not a one of us missed out on the action. There are just some that "jump" higher than others.

Let me tell you. The Krebs Boys play some serious frisbee. Laura and I just run from end to end screaming "we're open! we're open" - and then drop the frisbee if any team member is dumb enough to take us up on our offer. Oh well. It's fun to be a part of the fun anyway.

Tyler with Cheetos hands and face. Don't think Greg would have put him on his shoulders had he know that he was about to get smothered in orange preservatives. Oh well. Cute picture anyway.

We started the Olympic Games with our first annual Krebs Family 5K. Let me tell you, after completing a triathlon the day before, Greg and I were hurtin' for certain and a little slower than our normal time. We weren't last though - I won't say who was - but it wasn't us. :) Here is the group shot after the run. On an interesting note, my brother John took First Place, and was running BARE FOOT. Dude forgot his running shoes and decided to run anyway. And he still beat us all. JERK. And another interesting tid bit is that GIRLS RULE - because Ashlee and I both beat our husbands!! WOOT WOOT!!!!

Emma and Uncle Matt enjoying some chips and dip after the Olympic Games.

The girls competed in a swing-off. Not sure who took the Gold.

Friday evening the adults in the family did sealings in the Mesa LDS Temple. It was a wonderful experience to be in the Temple together. Jeff & Ashlee were celebrating their 5th Wedding Anniversary, so it was neat for them to be reminded of their covenants made 5 years prior. Can you believe Ashlee has put up with ESPN for 5 whole years? YOWEEE.

Saturday morning we took family pictures and then had our closing meal at Rosa's before the Kentucky gang piled in the van and hit the road. So sad to see some of them leave, but so grateful that we had the time together that we did. Luckily we still had Corinda, Aliya, Ashlee and the boys around for a few more days. So the fun ensued... we went to see the Christmas Lights at the Temple followed by some DQ treats.

Emma and Aliya continued the fun - and their favorite toy of the week? A box. Go figure. Emma really was enjoying herself here, she just generally refuses to smile for the camera. Stubborn little thing.

Emma loving on Tyler. The whole family calls him "Ty-Ty" and Emma insists on calling him TYLER. Every time. She is very proper that way. :)

We enjoyed a FANTASTIC day at the Mesa Youth Museum. Such a wonderful little place. Would highly recommend it to people with YOUNG children. We got all our tickets free using a Culture Pass from the Library. Even better. I love that Emma and Ty are both plugging their ears for some unknown reason. Alex and Ben were probably screaming too loud. :)

Emma got her first HUGE scrape on her lip over the all the festivities. Tripped and landed on concrete. Left a really large sore for days. Poor thing.

The kids enjoying the park.

WOW! If you made it to the end... congrats! We really are so blessed with so much wonderful family and are so grateful that we could enjoy Thanksgiving with them.