The Phipps Family: November 2012

For Thanksgiving, we headed down to Phoenix again for a Leonard family reunion and wedding! My cousin Summer was getting married in the Mesa Temple the day after Thanksgiving, so we all gathered at Jay and April's for the latter part of the week. We're so grateful for their bravery and generosity in letting us stay in their home.

Our favorite part is always playing games with the younger cousins, a tradition we started shortly after David and I got married. Now they are all growing up so fast and getting married themselves. Time flies.

Here's Aleah with the lovely couple, Summer and Daniel.

Three little birds.

My wonderful aunt April is not only a great hostess, but a great cook and friend and mom, etc...

I really enjoy spending time with my aunts and uncles as well. They are all such good parents and it's amazing to watch them with their teenagers and glean wisdom from them!

So let me mention how sick we were. Our little family got a cold about three or four weeks before this trip and thought we were over it. But on the ride down, our kids slowly started coughing and sniffling more and more until they all were the sickest they've been all year. It got so bad that Charlotte and Eloise were coughing so much by the end of the trip that they were throwing up. It was awful. Luckily, David and I felt healthy and I know we were blessed with additional patience and good nights' rest. Even though everyone was coughing, they slept well considering how sick they were. I later found out that Vicki had been praying for us that entire week. Oh the power of a grandmother's prayer!

On this trip we got to know Dan and Doug's new wives a little better. They were awesome.

Hazel and Charlotte love to play with Gracie. She's such a sweetheart.

We had so much food! We spread it out on tables next door at April's grandparents' house and feasted. Then there was a separate table of pies inside. Yum.

Doug and wife, Chandler.

It was so nice to catch up with my cousin Amanda who was a single mom for the occasion while her husband was deployed. She was on her way back to Washington with her three kids under the age of three! Her husband won't be back until the end of December. Brave warrior woman!

Poor Ellie was so sick! She had been sliding on this slide happily for a few minutes and then I looked back and she was just sitting at the bottom, staring into space.

The day of the wedding! So poor Gracie had fallen victim of a flu bug going around which quickly spread throughout the entire family... Most of us were healthy for Thanksgiving day, luckily, but by the morning of the wedding, people started dropping like flies. Mackie was sick and Bradley grabbed my vegetable steamer in our car on the way to the temple and threw up in it. I think by the end of the trip, everyone had caught the flu except for David and I and our babies, and the newly weds.

But on a happier note, it was a beautiful wedding! Summer and Daniel were obviously prepared and so excited to make their covenants in the temple. And for David and I, the best part is watching the parents' faces. We kept peeking at Jenny and Ken and they were glowing with pride and love. So wonderful.