Paris and Janet took the whole family to Florida for Christmas for 10 days (21 of us except Savanna, we had her stay with my parents, she did better there than she would have with us-thanks Mom and Dad!). There was a potato meeting with a huge trade show that Paris had to go to so by taking everyone it works for a business write-off. Two and a half days Wyatt and Nathan joined him at the meetings. Here are a whole bunch of pictures from our trip. We had a great time despite the fact that we had record low temperatures, the coldest morning was 26 degrees and the high was 49 (the day we went to the beach). We didn't need perfect weather to have fun, we loved this vacation but I was very glad not to have Savanna there even though we all missed her. Sorry that these pictures aren't in order. Anyway, everyone in our family came home healthy and have been since so I don't think the cold hurt us any :)
Here we all are at the Magic Kingdom our first day together. What a fun memory Dad and Mom Penfold have created for us all, thank you for the trip.
This was the childrens first time flying on an airplane, just the ride alone could have been the entire vacation, that's how much fun it was for them.
Mike from Monster Inc. posing with our family, look at Parker, he loved seeing all the characters, this is the perfect age to take children to see Disney.
The children joined anty from the land of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids!" they had just watched the movie so this was especially exciting for them.
Here are all the Penfold grandchildren minus the last three babies. We stayed in a five bedroom house and it was nice, everyone had their own space and yet we were able to have living area to hang out and chat too.
Jarrett, T.R., Parker, Abigail, Brittany, Kortney, and Alex after the Buzz Lightyear ride. They captured Zurg!!!
Here we are at Sea World getting ready to watch the Dolphin show.
Brittany and Parker in a fish tank. The "Nemo" clown fish were a hit.
Alex, Abigail and Parker were mesmerized by the dolphins. They were especially playful while we were down there which made for fascinating learning.
Brittany getting her pearl. Now she has one from California and Florida, we are going to have them put into an earring setting for her. What a fun memory these will be.
This is Alex up on stage battling Darth Vader at the Star Wars show. He was in seventh heaven!
We couldn't pass up an opportunity to have a photo with Mr. Potato Head! After all, we are a tater family :) This was the new Toy Story ride. It was an interactive ride you score points on similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was a lot of fun!
Here we are at the Atlantic Ocean. Since we were at the Pacific Ocean in August, we've traveled as far east and west on this continent as you can within a five month time span! This was one of the days Wyatt was at meetings and Josh, Sara and Oakley were the only other ones who decided to come. It was only 1 1/2 hours to get there and the sun was shining. It was too cold to wear swimsuits but the children had a blast playing in the water with their feet and collecting lots of beautiful sea shells.
On the way home from the beach, we stopped by the temple in Orlando, it is beautiful like all the others and stands out from the city on as big of a hill as you get in flat country. Parker was even really excited to get to see "the temple."
Abigail and I in our car (Brittany and Wyatt are in the background) right after the picture, we switched places so Abigail could drive and I pushed the gas...shhh don't tell the magic kingdom cast member!
Alex wrestling an alligator, he makes it look fun :)
Aaaahh, Brittany too? Isn't she cute!
Our family at Gatorland (Kortney is filling in for Savanna). Isn't Abigail so sweet to save Alex from those sharp teeth? And Brittany is holding him back!
Here is Savanna on her first plane ride. She joined us on the last leg of our journey. We had a layover in Salt Lake so my Mom brought her to the airport so we could get her home, she did great! It was so good to see her again and her reaction to me was even better, I was ever so relieved that she remembered me and greeted me with a huge smile and outstretched arms!
Here is Wyatt and his biggest little helper Parker framing in the pantry and broom closet.
This is the day we started tearing the wall between our kitchen and hall/back entry out. There is 3 layers of wall on EACH side of these studs: modern sheetrock/plaster/old sheet"rock." See the original doorway that was uncovered? The space where the new pantry is is in the background. The old sink, cupboards and childrens coat rack are now a thing of the past! Hello useful space :)
Savanna's 1st Christmas! She wasn't into opening her presents but she loved the boxes. Here she had just woken up.
Brittany and Alex got new bikes this year. Alex's is a stunt bike-do you think he could pump all of them?
Toilet Trained!!! On December 4 Parker was put in big boy underpants and has been in them since. He has done really well. He's the typical boy not wanting to go until it's urgent but it's better than diapers anyday :)
Thanksgiving was at Penfold's, a beautiful display full of a wide variety of colorful, delicious food. We are sure grateful for our harvest this year-to be done and to have gotten all the potatoes in safely. Truly a THANKSgiving.
Alex had his first friend birthday party this year. We had a lot of fun, this was a good group.
Alex turned nine on November 19th and he LOVES lego's. This is the biggest one I've seen.
We canned Grandma Ward's soup. A family affair that was a lot of fun. We of course grew the potatoes, the carrots came from Randy's and our garden. The onions from our garden and from Mom. Practically free food! Did I mention yummy too?
Peel, peel, peel and then peel some more! Great compost for the garden ;)
Wyatt's 35th birthday. German Chocolate Cake, my first attempt. It was really good.
My man is really spoiled, two cakes? You bet! A coconut delight for all the help during harvest since that's when his real birthday always falls unless it is Sunday. He gets sung to in Spanish and lots of happy birthday well wishes. I don't know if we'll ever stop this tradition.
Halloween in Utah is the best. Brittany wanted to be a vampiress; Alex, a ghost Jedi; Abigail, a horse and Parker is a puppy. It is warm and all the neighbors I grew up around get to see my children, all my siblings come and all the cousins go trick-or-treating. It is so much fun, this is our second year going down there-it might become an annual tradition!
Savanna is the pumpkin. It's tradition for all the children to wear this their first Halloween. She was having a nap when we went trick-or-treating and when she woke up, she handed out candy with Grandma.
We went down to Orem to see Grandpa and Grandma Pryor. I've made it a tradition each time a new member joins our family to take a picture with each of the great grandparents still around so they will always have that. We are so blessed to still have 3 great grandmothers, and 2 great grandfathers around!
Abigail wanted pink legos, she is really good with building things with them.
Here she is at school with her teacher Mrs. Mason. We made gingersnaps last night to pass out to her class, what a good little cook she is going to be :)
Abigail really wanted a pinata for her birthday and I didn't think I could get it done since we just got back so recently from our trip (see next post) but I did it, I made my first pinata, she was so happy with it and so was I!
Wow, after everyone had many whacks at the pinata, Alex finally broke it apart! Fun picture huh?
Tinkerbell. The light pink flowers are really hard to see. I have always wanted to make a doll cake and I had never made roses before or been shown how to either so I was so excited that finally one of the children picked a cake I could do both!
Here we all are at the Magic Kingdom our first day together. What a fun memory Dad and Mom Penfold have created for us all, thank you for the trip.
This was the childrens first time flying on an airplane, just the ride alone could have been the entire vacation, that's how much fun it was for them.
Mike from Monster Inc. posing with our family, look at Parker, he loved seeing all the characters, this is the perfect age to take children to see Disney.
The children joined anty from the land of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids!" they had just watched the movie so this was especially exciting for them.
Here are all the Penfold grandchildren minus the last three babies. We stayed in a five bedroom house and it was nice, everyone had their own space and yet we were able to have living area to hang out and chat too.
Jarrett, T.R., Parker, Abigail, Brittany, Kortney, and Alex after the Buzz Lightyear ride. They captured Zurg!!!
Here we are at Sea World getting ready to watch the Dolphin show.
Brittany and Parker in a fish tank. The "Nemo" clown fish were a hit.
Alex, Abigail and Parker were mesmerized by the dolphins. They were especially playful while we were down there which made for fascinating learning.
Brittany getting her pearl. Now she has one from California and Florida, we are going to have them put into an earring setting for her. What a fun memory these will be.
This is Alex up on stage battling Darth Vader at the Star Wars show. He was in seventh heaven!
We couldn't pass up an opportunity to have a photo with Mr. Potato Head! After all, we are a tater family :) This was the new Toy Story ride. It was an interactive ride you score points on similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was a lot of fun!
Here we are at the Atlantic Ocean. Since we were at the Pacific Ocean in August, we've traveled as far east and west on this continent as you can within a five month time span! This was one of the days Wyatt was at meetings and Josh, Sara and Oakley were the only other ones who decided to come. It was only 1 1/2 hours to get there and the sun was shining. It was too cold to wear swimsuits but the children had a blast playing in the water with their feet and collecting lots of beautiful sea shells.
On the way home from the beach, we stopped by the temple in Orlando, it is beautiful like all the others and stands out from the city on as big of a hill as you get in flat country. Parker was even really excited to get to see "the temple."
Abigail and I in our car (Brittany and Wyatt are in the background) right after the picture, we switched places so Abigail could drive and I pushed the gas...shhh don't tell the magic kingdom cast member!
Alex wrestling an alligator, he makes it look fun :)
Aaaahh, Brittany too? Isn't she cute!
Our family at Gatorland (Kortney is filling in for Savanna). Isn't Abigail so sweet to save Alex from those sharp teeth? And Brittany is holding him back!
Here is Savanna on her first plane ride. She joined us on the last leg of our journey. We had a layover in Salt Lake so my Mom brought her to the airport so we could get her home, she did great! It was so good to see her again and her reaction to me was even better, I was ever so relieved that she remembered me and greeted me with a huge smile and outstretched arms!
