Nathan's parents rented us a 15 passenger Ford Transit so that I could take all 10 children down to Orlando to visit them. I haven't been in 7.5 years (since May of 2014) so I was excited to see the remodeling they did and enjoy some warm weather. We detoured 4 hours out of our way to Greenville, NC to see our old house and friends and that was amazing. Then we had a great week in Florida. Some days have picture overload because kids all wanted their picture taken with a bird or something and this is our scrapbook so I wanted to post most of them.
Last Sunday: Spencer writing an "Away in A Manger" arrangement minutes before all 10 kids performed it. Alexis initially wrote it and Spencer finished it up. They all sang beautifully and I'm so proud to have all 10 home and singing on Christmas Sunday.
The weather when we got home from church. Yay!
Love having 10 kids around my table happily chatting. I have the best kids. They're such a gift to me and I'm honored to be their mother.
After doing all our Sunday things we started getting ready for our trip to Florida. We took our tree down so it wouldn't catch fire while we were gone and Spencer singlehandedly carried it to the garden where we planted it.
Makenna and Spencer planting it. Who knows it it'll work but it's worth a try.
Monday: I picked up the rental van and we loaded it up.
Checking it out. It was super nice.
Andy's going to drive us to Grandma's house!
Yay! Road trip with 10 kids!
On the road to Winston-Salem.
We're always talking about Sister Libby, the children's former nursery teacher, so we stopped to see her and she had a huge lunch ready for us.
Sister Libby did so much for our family when we used to live there. She's a sweetheart.
Then we met up with friends at a park and talked for a few hours. There was a sweet spirit there and I felt so loved by all these who have served me and my family when times were tough.
Me and Mary Robinson. We served together in YW and now she's back as YW president. My girls love her.
My oldest 5 with the Robinsons.
Our sweet friends who came to see us at the park. It was so much fun.
Alicia Young was at the park and she said Thomas could have her cello!
Our old ward building. Five of my babies were blessed there.
Visiting Ray and the Thomases in our cul-de-sac. Good times!
Our old house!
Our stillborn baby, Julianne's, grave. It was neat to see it again and show our little kids who have never seen it/don't remember. Too bad it was dark otherwise it was great being just us in this small cemetery adjacent to a cotton field under a huge starry sky.
My 11 children.
We left Fountain and 7:45pm and drove all night to get to Longwood, FL at 4:45am.
Tuesday: Breakfast at Grandma's. So good to see her house again. All the updates were beautiful.
I took Tilly for a walk and she loved this variegated plant.
Samuel playing in Peepaw's treehouse.
Aunt Sara in Utah put together a niece's day via zoom so my 6 girls participated and had a great time. She sent them gift bags with mugs for hot chocolate, bags to paint, and crowns to wear.
The finished bags. I drew the Blue Ridge Mountains on my bag.
Dinner with Grandma and Peepaw. Grandma is a fantastic cook and I loved having family dinners every night.
Thomas put new strings on his cello and got it fired up. Sounds great!
Great Grandma Vorwaller lives here and was showing me how she dances and exercises with her stretchy band. I wish Kait had gotten a better picture of her.
Wednesday: The 5 oldest went with Grandma and peepaw to the bishop's storehouse which they run, and helped them all day. Meanwhile I took the 5 youngest to the park and hung around the house with them.
It was Tilly's half birthday and when she was going to bed she cried that she didn't get to make a treat so Grandma came to the rescue and got her an ice cream cone which made her really happy.
Thursday: We went to Grandma's brother's house (Mark and Kristi) for lunch and then to the beach for the day.
First time touching the water.
My 6 girls playing in the water together.
Starting to build a small tower with shells on it and then a huge fort to protect it.
It got washed out right away.
Time to build a bigger, better one. I loved watching everyone working together.
A huge moat to diffuse the water.
This is the small tower of shells they were protecting.
The finished fort.
Getting ready to jump.
Let's jump again.
Right before we left a huge wave came and the fort finally succumbed. But it held up all afternoon so the kids were proud of that.
Peepaw carrying Tilly in from the van after a day at the beach.
Off to the zoo. Grandma and Peepaw took us to Wild Florida, a place Dana's 2nd cousins own.
So glad they rented us a 15 passenger van to go places in. It was a lot of fun.
First we did the safari where we saw animals milling about and even coming up to our van.
I love eating lunch in the shade of a beautiful park on a hot day.
Trying some gator nuggets Peepaw got us.
The 5 little kids on an alligator.
Feeding the alligators.
The pile of alligators trying to grab Makenna's pole with a hot dog piece on it.
We liked the one with his mouth still open after we were done feeding them.
Feeding the birds in buddy teams.
Feeding the goats.
The girls balancing water bottles while waiting to hold a baby alligator.
Looking at the sloth.
Ready to go home after a long, hot day. Everyone was so well behaved and we had a great time. It's been awhile since I've done a field trip like this with everyone so I'm thrilled to have this opportunity.
A picture with Grandma and Peepaw and Great Grandma.
Measuring Thomas on the measuring wall. Brent and Dana have recorded their 8 children's heights on this wall on New Year's Eve for years and years.
Decorating for NYE.
Fireworks.
I loved watching all the kids laugh and goof off and just relax together.
We did a countdown at 8pm and then put the little kids to bed.
Great grandma Vorwaller with Talea before bed.
Makenna writing in her journal.
Saturday: We drove 12 hours home (was supposed to be 9 but we hit a lot of accidents and stopped in Charlotte to see Kylie's mission where she was last Christmas.)
Our big rental van in front of the mission office.
Can't believe I have a returned missionary.
Sunday: The elders came over and had us try these flippy things.
All of us in height order. Kaitlyn just passed me up and now I have 6 children taller than me and only 4 shorter.
Spencer and Madalyn playing piano/cello duets.
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