Jefferies Family Reunion

A few days after Christmas, the entire Jefferies family got together here in Peoria for a family reunion. Everyone except my nephew Andrew who is serving a mission was there. Because there are so many of us, we spent most of the time at our church building.

 All the grandchildren (minus Andrew) in order from oldest to youngest.

 We did a five mile hike at Thunderbird park and had a great view of the Phoenix temple.

Abbey, Ashley, Audrey, and Audrey - At the top of Thunderbird. These girls were pretty proud of themselves for making it.

In the afternoons, Jack was in charge of running the "snack shack" and collecting tickets.

These three crazy four-year-olds loved wrestling Uncle Sam.

The twins squaring off in an intense game of pictionary.

We also had a few intense rounds of human scrabble.

The cutest Audrey combo I know!

I'm so grateful for family. I'm grateful for cousins that play together and love each other, despite differences in age. And I'm especially grateful for parents that make the the effort to keep us connected.

Christmas 2014

We were so lucky this year to have my brother Mike and his family join us for Christmas.I loved having my three cute teenage nieces around. On Christmas Eve, we acted out the nativity, made cookies for Santa, and sang Christmas carols.

We also all opened up new Christmas pj's!

The whole gang on Christmas morning - about 6:30am.

A Visit With Santa

We went to the annual children's Christmas party at Ty's office on Friday. Santa came, as usual, and the kids were so excited to see him and tell him their wish lists. They got a lot of laughs out of him, too.

Audrey asked for a baby moose, lemon, and lime.

Elliot asked for a camel and tomato.

Jack asked for a remote-controlled car.

Thanksgiving Week

We spent Thanksgiving in Page this year and enjoyed the "cold" weather. It was so nice to get bundled up and want to stand by the fire in the morning. These are things we have not been experiencing in Phoenix at all. We spent the week geocaching, hiking, shopping (yes, at Walmart on Thanksgiving), and spending time with family.

With our cache "High Desert Island."

All the kiddos - Elliot, Jack, Madi, & Audrey

Too many cooks in the kitchen - Ty, Granna, Papa, Les, Grandpa Rick

Ty rappelling through Birthday Arch