Family Pictures

A quick little photo shoot in Las Vegas to get some pictures for this year’s Christmas card:)

Being Thankful in Las Vegas

Every other year we spend Thanksgiving with Dan’s extended family . . . . in Vegas!!  We missed it two years ago (we stayed in Ohio for Thanksgiving that year) so it’s been 4 years since we’ve been down there.  We are so thankful to Jim and Susan (Dan’s uncle and aunt) who host this event every year.  They go to all lengths making sure everyone is comfortable.  But the family has grown a lot in the past few years, and there is just no way all of us can fit in their house anymore.  So we are also thankful for their next door neighbors, who go out of town for Thanksgiving and let half of us stay in their house as well.  Because of this awesome situation, we are able to continue these reunions in Las Vegas.  And we are so thankful that everyone makes the effort to be there.  All of Dan’s aunts and uncles were there (this is Dan’s Mom’s side) and out of 23 cousins, 19 of them were there.  We were only missing Becky, Jed, the Johnsons (who live in Germany) and the Dastrups (Emily is very pregnant:)

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and we were so excited to be there!  It was so fun to see and visit with everyone.   

Making dinner Wednesday night (the Waltons and Polleys were in charge of that night’s dinner).

Thanksgiving morning we played our traditional volleyball at the church.  We had enough people this year for 4 whole teams.  We played for a few hours, and it was just so fun to get out and play some volleyball.  We don’t get that opportunity very often these days, and I’m grateful for the times we do.  My elbow has been bothering me for over a year now, making it a little hard to play, and it reminds me of the fact that my body is getting older and more prone to injuries.  But I’m still very thankful to have a healthy body and the ability to exercise and play sports.

And I was also thankful to be on the winning team – oh yeah!  We won on our court, and then beat the winners of the other court!                                                                                                 

And I can’t even express how thankful I am for my little family!  They are my everything.

SOOOO thankful for this guy.

And this little guy.

Our amazing hosts, Susan and Jim, putting the final touches on Thanksgiving dinner.

Brother and sister.

And how in the world do you fit 55 people in one house for Thanksgiving dinner?  Just like this . . . .

The food was amazing.  Why is Thanksgiving only once a year??  See that big bowl in the picture below?  That stuff is Pomegranate Salad . . . . a Polley Family Thanksgiving tradition.   Pomegranates, apples, grapes . . . . it’s so good.  James was loving it!

Close up of the yumminess.

Cute girls.  They loved spending time with their cousin, Molly.  We’re so thankful for cousins! 

After dinner we all went to the cemetery to visit the graves of Dan’s grandparents, Foster & Reva Polley.  Aaron took a picture of the whole clan.  Isn’t it amazing the legacy two people can leave behind?

I never knew Dan’s grandfather, but I did have the privilege of knowing his grandmother.  She was the sweetest and most kind person, and I remember loving her the minute I met her.

My brother-in-law, Chris, described the event perfectly.  He wrote, “We arrived at the cemetery with the entire family (including family dog) in tow. It was a nice Fall evening in Vegas, as every night and day was during this trip, when he [Jim Polley] introduced us to the burial sites of his parents. ‘This is my mom and dad,’ he said, voice cracking from his obvious affection, and I think at that moment everyone felt the love that binds not only those adult children to their parents, but everyone present to each other as they continue on with this Thanksgiving reunion in their absence. It was really touching.”  Thanks, Chris, for those beautiful words.  And I completely agree.  It was very touching, and I couldn’t help but feel gratitude and love for all those people I was standing in that circle with.  I’m very thankful to be a part of this amazing family and feel so happy that my kids have such a wonderful heritage on both sides.

Mary, Jim, Susan, and Jennifer . . . . the 4 Polley kids:)

Explaining things to Leah.

James with his cousin, Foster . . . . named after Dan’s grandfather. 

That night we played games.  A Walton favorite – Pictionary.

And listened to the amazing Nicole Parker Redford perform some songs and impressions.  (She was the one we saw as Elphaba in Wicked when we went to NY a few years ago.  She and Dan’s cousin, Seth, just got married in August:)  Her impression of her mother-in-law, Susan, was just hilarious!!  We could have listened to her perform for hours.

I don’t have any pictures from Friday, but just imagine a lazy day of playing games, going to the park, watching movies, reading books, playing with cousins, playing in the traditional Ping Pong Tournament (Mark Redford came out as champion this year), eating leftovers, lots of visiting, etc.  It was great.

Saturday morning we took some family pictures for our Christmas card (I’ll post those soon) and then made it over to a church building about 15 minutes away for the lunch portion of the Bunker Reunion (Dan’s grandmother, Reva, was a Bunker).  This reunion has previously taken place in Bunkerville, but we were thankful to hear they changed it this year to be in Las Vegas.  It would have been nice to have gone earlier and listened to stories about some of Dan’s ancestors, but I don’t think our kids (especially James) would have done too well sitting in the chapel for that long.  So we made our appearance, ate lunch, visited with some relatives, and then bailed. 

Saturday afternoon we snagged Brian and went down to the strip!  The kids loved the Bellagio water show.  They had the fountains choreographed to fun Christmas songs.

We made our way down to M&M World because James LOVES M&Ms.  He calls them “em-epps.”  It was very crowded that day, so we slowly made our way through the store’s 4 floors, passing all kinds of M&M knick knacks.  It was pretty crazy.

Then we headed back to the Bellagio and walked around inside for a bit.  James was really into this talking tree . . . . he kept trying to imitate its blinking eyes.                                                                          

We found a little cafe serving gelato, so we got in line.  This Grinch display is all made out of chocolate!  Quite impressive.

Mmmm, we love gelato!

It was such a great Thanksgiving weekend, and like most trips, I was sad to see it end.  Mostly because we don’t know when we are going to see Dan’s family next.  We’ll most likely see everyone this summer, but we don’t have anything planned yet and that seems like a really long time from now.  But we’re so thankful for the time that we do get to spend together.  We just wish it was a little more often!