Thanksgiving 2017

About 1 month after we were married we invited all of the kids to come to St. George for Thanksgiving. That's 8 children, 4 in-laws, and 1 granddaughter. I believe we even invited their dogs ;)

As the date was approaching, I have a memory of Damon and I walking around our neighborhood in the evenings. We would brainstorm, trying to anticipate all the important details, and then inevitably... end up discussing our worst fears. Bringing together 12 young adults seemed........well .....terrifying.

(Damon editorializing here: we'd heard too many horror stories of widow/widower marriages where the children from one family hated the children from the other, and vice versa. I think this was our biggest fear, that our children wouldn't like our new spouses children. Turns out – they have developed love and great friendships and it started at this Thanksgiving! We are humbled and grateful to have such wonderful children who are open minded and open hearted.)

I had spent limited time with Damon's kids. I had never met Spencer and Laura. I was nervous. I'll always remember Spencer booming into the house with his giant spirit and voice and enveloping me in a big hug! It was fantastic ❤ They were all so kind to us and to each other. Here are a few memories.

We played a very fun game of kickball.....no photo, sorry. We posed for some 1st family photos. After a few smiling ones it was suggested we play up the step-family image for the next shot. As you can see below, Damon played the joke on us :)

One night the kids had pulled out some party games. I don't remember what they were playing, (Damon here: I think it was a game where you put a plastic ring in your mouth that stretches your lips out so you can't talk very well) but I do remember it was so funny! Everyone in the room was laughing as the participants kept hamming it up. I looked over at Damon and he was crying he was laughing so hard. Several of his kids commented that they hadn't seen him do that in so many years. It literally felt like a miracle for us that weekend. Thanks so much to this wonderful group of adult children ❤