Alyna Makes Me Laugh

Yesterday, Alyna came home in the afternoon to help me cook. Jessica and 10 of her friends were coming for dinner and to spend the night so that they could go hear April Atkin speak before leaving on her mission. They decided to come up early enough to watch the Relief Society Broadcast here so I invited them to come early enough for dinner. Then I had the delema of what to feed them - my choices were Taco bar, Hamburgers and hot dogs, soup, or lasagna. I finally decided on taco soup, cornbread and cookies. So Alyna and I spent the afternoon baking. Once, Alyna disappeared for a bit and this is what I saw when I found her:

Relaxing and reading a magazine

It was the title on the magazine that got me.

 We then had a great discussion about who "my favorite" child was. Luckily, there are so many things I like/love about each of my children that there isn't really a FAVORITE, Favorite. One thing that Alyna is very good at is knowing what will make me laugh.

Time with Our Kids

Now that Dennis and I are officially empty nesters, all of the moments that we are able to spend with each of our children is extra special. At this moment, I am sitting in Mindy and Jeran's living room thus completing the summer visits with each of our married kids.

Lisa, Cameron and Benjamin came to visit in August. (See previous post) Andrew and Lindsay were able to come visit the first weekend of September. That worked perfectly because they were able to be home for the Briscoe Family reunion and their friend, Garrett's wedding. We were able to have a baby shower for them and they had a great time seeing many of their friends that they hadn't seen for a couple of months.

Lindsay and Andrew enjoy the nice summer weather and  being with family.

Andrew and Alyna use scientific measurements to see who really has the biggest mouth.

Andrew helps Ralph figure out how to do some things on his Ipad.

Opening gifts

Family and friends enjoy the evening together.

Alex, Burke, Alisha, Garrett, Andrew and Devin.

At Mindy's, we went out for some good chinese food the evening we arrived. Mindy and I were able to attend their stakes Women Conference with was excellent. While we were at that, Jeran and Dennis helped a friend of Jeran's move. That evening we went to see Contagian. It was pretty good. Sunday, we worked on quilt blocks for our family reunion quilts and went to church. It was the Primary program so that was very entertaining. Mindy and Jeran teach the 11 yr. old Valiant boys so they had an easier to manage group. Mindy and I worked on projects (crocheting and quilting), went shopping and we all went out to eat at a couple of yummy restaurants.  

Mindy has become creative with her crocheting.

Yummy caramel and chocolate dipped apples from Rocky Mountain Candy Company.

Briscoe Family Reunion

I tried to do this post just after the reunion and had some problems uploading the pictures so I never got it finished. I hope this time to actually get it posted.

We held the Ralph Briscoe Family Reunion on Sept. 2- 4. Everyone was able to attend except Lisa, Cameron and Benjamin-who are in Indiana, Mindy and Jeran-who are in No. Carolina, and Zeke is on his mission. Grandma Briscoe planned it and prepared almost all the food.

Friday night, we met at Izzy's for dinner and games. By the time we got to the games, it was starting to get dark and cold so we came into our loft to play.

Saturday morning, everyone who could went to the temple. Michael just received his mission call to Milan, Italy and was going through for the first time. With all the Sissions and all 3 generations of Briscoe's we made a pretty big group.

 Afterward, we met at Izzys for an Italian luncheon and a missionary shower.

Later in the afternoon, a lot of the family had a great time swimming at the Logan aquatics center.

That evening, we had a potluck casserole dinner and Anya and Kimmy got their reunion quilts.

We were going to watch the movie outside but since it had been so cold on Friday night, we set it up in our loft. We watched Rio.

Sunday, everyone went to church with whoever they were staying with and then everyone from out of town headed home and the rest of us met for dinner and to work on quilt blocks.

We ate lots and had a lot of fun. I hear Tom and Sandi are in charge next year and would like to have it in Fort Collins.