Christmas in West Union and Herding Cats

Today we made the yearly trip up to West Union to visit Kyle's Mom's side of the family. I've been going to West Union every year since about 2000. It's very intersting, since his Mom has 12 (I think!) brothers and sisters and they all have TONS of kids. We outgrew the Senior Center they used to rent, and moved to the local church hall. It's been very different the last couple of years since Kyle's grandfather passed away - there were fewer people there this year than ever (probably around 60 or so - maybe more, it's hard to tell with all the kids), but as everyone's family gets older, it's harder and harder to get together.

We had a great trip up there and back. Connor slept most of the way up there, and the whole way back (almost a 2 hour trip!). No one cried in the car, or threw any tantrums. No one spilled anything, or made any unreasonable requests for gum or candy. I almost wondered who those kids where! Since we took Kyle's Tahoe, I could sit in the back between the kids, which helped a lot. We stopped on the way up for McDonald's, so Tyler ate the bacon off my sandwich, and I could sip on my coffee. It was nice.

Connor is eating more and more food now - and I notice he's less and less interested in his bottle. He usually drinks a lot in the morning, then barely anything the rest of the day. He still has two meals (at least) of baby food, and LOVES it. Today he had some corn casserole, and loved the Jello too! I tried some stage 3 Gerber food last night, but I don't think he was too fond of the "Pasta Primavera". That just sounds wrong coming out of a Gerber Jar.

Here's the cute picture taken of the boys today, and then one of all the cousins together with Grandma and Grandpa. I took a whole bunch of pictures as we were getting set up. Trying to get all of those kids to sit together was like herding cats! Notice the 2 boys in the back - they are the "head cats"!