bigger in Texas...

We did quite a bit of driving in December.  After visiting Alex's parents in Oklahoma, we got to spend a week with my parents and family.  My parents and grandma moved to Bandera, Texas in early December.  Their new house was finished being built just a few weeks before we got there.  It was fully functional for housing 11 adults and 12 kids!  No wonder it's so BIG!  It's like a small scale hotel... If I recall correctly, it has 2 guest rooms upstairs, a bunkroom, movie room, game room, 2 bathrooms, and an office.  They put an elevator in for GG (and hauling stuff from upstairs to downstairs) and a slide for the kids (and kids at heart) from upstairs to down.  Downstairs is the master bed and bath, GG's bed and bath, another office, library, fitness room, laundry room, sewing room, kitchen, dining room, living room, and small toy area under the stairs.  There's an outdoor heated pool in the back.  What did I forget?  Anyway, it's a big place, designed to house their multitude of grandkids (and sometimes the adult kids - but not really designed for them...ha ha).  I think one of my favorite rooms is the bunk room.  It has 4 bunk beds, single on top and double on the bottom.  Two of them have a pull out on the floor.  That means 14 kids could have their own bed.  Slumber party!  There haven't been that many in there together yet.  Looking forward to the day there is - that will be quite a sight!   

 The slide had to be "closed" at certain times... only so much we could take.

Trying to get all the kids in one picture...not all happy campers, but they're all there.  My sisters and their families were all there together for a few days.  Just missing Mike and his family!  (The grandkid count is at 14, with one on the way in March - Alison & Micah's 3rd).  GG got all the kids Bandera t-shirts - blue for the boys and pink for the girls.  

The boys and Savannah were excited to open another present when they got there.  They got a personalized bag with some fun things in it, like light sticks and books.  

This picture of Weston and Dallin playing air hockey is actually the last time anyone got to play while we were there.  We didn't find the missing red shooter until the very last day.  It was fun to see the kids playing together.  

The kids put together a "play" or show for us one night.  They turned the lights out and then started fighting like ninjas.  Apparently all the ninjas died.  We tried to get them to explain the story.  Didn't get much...
They made up a little song though.  

Lots of mouths to feed.  Lots of yummy food.  We basically took turns doing meals.  We had some kind of dessert every night too.  The boys were loving Baba and Papa's rules.  :) 

We had a girls outing one day (plus Audrey's little attachment Noah).  We ate lunch at a fun little restaurant called Camp Verde.  It had a cute shop attached to it with all kinds of little crafts, baking items, jams, salsas, etc.  It was so fun to spend time with all the girls!

Alex and I got to go out a couple of times with Alison & Micah.  One outing was to the San Antonio Temple and the other was dinner and a movie.  We saw "Saving Mr. Banks" - loved it.  Dinner was casual, at a BBQ place.  It was alright.  I was just glad to be out without the kids and not have to cut up anyone's food.  

We spent one afternoon with Papa, playing kickball, volleyball, and exploring some rocks.  There used to be water in this area, but it's mostly all dried up.

We took another quick outing to another water area - the kids loved trying to skip rocks.  It was pretty cold AND we got kicked out of that spot.  We weren't supposed to be parked along the river. Fun while it lasted.

GG and Audrey had not met Savannah yet.  I had not met baby Noah either, born the end of August.  I guess he was about 4 months old the end of December.  It was great to see GG in good health.  She had cancer last year, but she is doing well now.  

Noah is another little Sam... but then I guess Savannah is a little Alex right?  These babies look more like their daddies.  

I wanted to get a picture of my sisters and I with our youngest, our "baby".  Interesting thing is that all of these babies look just like their dad!  No fair...  :)  See the little Daniel, Micah, Alex, and Sam?

 Looking forward to more time at "Camp Bandera" - Thanks Baba, Papa, and GG!