Thanksgiving with the Deveys is always fun. Any gathering with the Deveys is always fun. It's loud, chaotic, crazy fun. Only half of the ten kids could make it to St George this year, but since all of those kids have kids (and some of those kids have kids)...as you can imagine...there were a lot of people running around.
I am fairly certain that Ellie loved every second of it. She loved getting all of that attention and stealing all the toys and convincing people to giving her chips 24 hours a day. Seriously, I've never seen her eat that much of anything. Ever. Combined.
Ellie with her cousin, Burton, and Grandma Devey
The weather was so perfect on Thanksgiving Day that we all went outside while dinner was cooking.
Love all of these lovely ladies!
And my cute family.
The (gargantuan amount of) food was all amazing, and we loved spending all of that time together. And there may have been a Dr. Pepper run to Maverick that evening. (I don't wanna talk about it.)
On Friday, Brigette's family drove in and all the girls made a craft...
While the boys got everything ready for the boat races...
Which Ellie loved for all of two seconds.
That attention span, I tell ya.
Then we made everyone get together for some family pictures...
Here are the four Devey cousins born in 2013 (with their parents) (who are siblings) (but you'd probably already figured that out) (kthxbye)
And here are just a few of the Devey grandchildren. (Seriously, just a few.) At first I couldn't figure out why Seth and Heather were in this picture (since they're the same age as I am), but then it dawned on me. Yep, they're grandchildren, too. And their kids are great-grandchildren. And Tim technically just shouldn't be in this picture.
I love them.
My sister-in-law, Ali, with two cute cousins
At the end of the night, Melissa and her husband Sam, Seth and his wife Heather, and Tim and I all went out for ice cream - without kids! It was so fun. And Ellie got to hang out with Grandma, so I bet you can guess just how much she missed us. The only damper on the whole evening was when Brigette's family had to leave!
On Saturday, Tim and I got to go for a nice, long walk, followed by some Christmas shopping and eating at Jimmy John's, and finally a trip to Brigham Young's winter home. I'd been there once as a teenager, but this trip was like going there for the first time. My memory is terrible, so it was exciting all over again! I love being in historic places. Ellie, however, was not as thrilled and just wanted to go take all the ornaments off the dang "Kissmas Chee" (Christmas Tree).
That night, we all went to see the Christmas lights at the St George temple.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a very touching experience for me. I carried Ellie over to the large Nativity scene and pointed out baby Jesus, thinking that would be the extent of her interest. But as the lights came on and the music started and the narrator started talking, she sat motionless in my arms. She was totally mesmerized the entire time. Every few minutes, she would point and quietly whisper, "Beeby Jeesus," as if somehow she sensed just how important that little baby was. Tears came to my eyes. It was a quiet reminder that my sad heart desperately needed that day.
She spent the rest of the evening asking over and over to go see "Beeby Jeesus" again.
It was a great weekend and I can't wait to see everyone again!
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