Family fun in Anaheim

This post is a bit behind its time but it is an important one.  We enjoyed a wonderful extended family vacation over the long Thanksgiving weekend in Anaheim, California.  Everyone drove on Wednesday and then we met up at the large, historical house I had rented in time for a birthday celebration and a Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of Mimi's Cafe.  Our birthday girl was very excited!

Her father made this photo collage of our fun Wednesday evening.

The next morning, early, we had made it to the happiest place on earth.  We spent Thursday in California Adventure and Friday in Disneyland.

It was so much fun to see all my grands and their parents having such a good time.

Or at least a very exciting time.

Part of my goal was to have cousin time.  Lots of cousin time.  I love that they enjoy each other.

Part of the fun was the prep my daughter and daughter in laws had done in advance.  Each grand had a lanyard and some Disney pins to trade.  They loved it and so did I, so before the day was over I had my own lanyard and some pins.  Seriously, so fun!

 

We went to California Adventure first partly because we thought it might be the better day to get fast passes for the cars' ride.  We picked up our passes first thing in the morning and rode and raced in the afternoon.

The little ones hung out with grandpa and grandma while their parents and siblings rode the big rides.

We all loved California Soarin'.

We also enjoyed how everything was decorated for Christmas.  The evening show was wonderful with Frozen themes of course, Christmas carols, and real snow flakes.  And yes, it was a bit nippy.

I love the Disney magic in this place.  That is my Glen on the main street in California Adventure where there were actual gray clouds but a different camera focus and it was a bright sunny day with the street seeming to go on forever.

I have a shot similar to this taken 25 years ago on a family trip to Disneyland over Spring Break.

It felt a bit like coming full circle.

It was Disneyland's Diamond Anniversary.  It is approximately my age.

Opal loved all the Disney characters.

And of course, the castle.

Warren spent some time with his grandparents.  Grandpa Glen and he had fun in the tree house.

Ray's Disney pins.

My son, David, wore a shirt made for his father by his grandma over 40 years ago.  My first trip to Disneyland came after I became engaged to Glen and he wore that very shirt.  Once again, we came full circle.

I think we can all say it was a happy place.

The home we rented was just a mile and a half north of Disneyland.  It was a very easy ride to the parking structure and had six rooms for sleeping and a big space for visiting.

It was built in 1908 and was a bit quirky but fun with a great backyard with lots of space to get those wiggles out.

The family with the newest baby did not join us, but there are 11 of our 13 grandchildren on the balcony.

On Saturday, Grandpa Glen led the way to Hawthorne and the California beaches where he spent his childhood.  They saw his home, his school and high school, his church, the corner store where his mother sent him for the missing ingredient for dinner, and the baseball and football fields where he spent so much time.  He told stories I had never heard before and the grands loved them.

Our final stop was the Redondo Beach Pier where the sun was setting while we ate fried clams, just like he and I used to do when we were newlyweds.

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful family vacation.

Meeting this man at BYU certainly led to new adventures for me.

As the sun went down I took pictures of my middle son's family.  One of these pictures is not quite like the other, but cousins are most always included :)

As we walked back to the parking lot I couldn't resist this one last shot of Grandpa Glen with his older grands as he continued to tell his stories.  It was a wonderful California Adventure and History tour!

Note:  This grandma borrowed heavily from photos shared and taken by her children.

Yes, children, you are descended from a Pilgrim

Some years ago I wrote a blog post about my children possibly being linked to a passenger on the Mayflower through their father's side.  I determined that it was not likely that they were related to "Thomas the Pilgrim."  You can imagine how delighted I was to discover while doing family history research this summer that I was related to passengers on the Mayflower.

I learned that my great, great, great grandfather, Simeon Dunn, was a descendant of Edward Fuller (who signed the Mayflower Compact) and his wife through their son, Samuel.  This couple died shortly after coming ashore, but their son, Samuel did not.  It is thought that he was 12 at the time of his parents' death.  His uncle, brother to his father, and also named Samuel took young Samuel in and eventually Samuel grew to adulthood, married Jane Lathrop, and fathered nine children of his own.  You can read more about Simeon Dunn here.  You can read more about Edward and the Samuel Fullers here.

I am humbled to know that part of my heritage includes the beginnings of a great nation where religious freedom was valued and people were brave enough to do really hard physical and mental things to make their dreams come true.

A few years back I read "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick.  After discovering my relationship to Mayflower passengers, I went to my bookshelf to find this book so I could search the index for Fullers.  There was mention of Edward Fuller and two references for Samuel Fuller but Philbrick had it wrong.  He made both Samuel the nephew and Samuel the uncle out to be the same person.  Should one contact the author about an error like that years after the book was published?

Happy Thanksgiving!  I will ponder this dilemma as I make our Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving means family time

We were in Arizona for Thanksgiving week.  It was warm and beautiful and cozy.  My oldest granddaughter, Heather, came on Wednesday evening to spend the night and to be my kitchen helper.  She was a great kitchen helper.  (Notice the dog show in the background on TV?  We had been watching the Macey's Thanksgiving Day parade and cheering on the Mountain View High marching band previously.)

She helped beat out the pomegranate seeds with a wooden spoon for our fruit salad.  She helped me with the Meyer lemon meringue pies and helped shape and form two kinds of rolls.  We made our usual crescent rolls but also made orange rolls.  She also helped in a million other ways from table setting to helping grandpa outside.  I couldn't have done it without her.

I love November in Arizona because of our ripe pomegranates, Meyer lemons, and Arizona oranges.  It is so fun to cook local.  I even put a cut lemon in the inside of the turkey with my fresh rosemary and a quartered onion.  I also make a lemon butter to put on the outside of the turkey.  This year for the first time I tried something different.  I put the dressing in the crock pot on low about the same time I put the turkey in the oven and then turned it to warm about 3 hours in.  It freed up oven space and I loved how moist it was.  It will be my new way to cook the dressing.

Heather's family joined us for dinner and brought the yams and mashed potatoes. We had a lovely meal and grandpa put a new twist on the traditional "what I am thankful for."  He challenged us to do it in rhyme!

Later in the week, after the leftovers were gone, we traveled south for lunch.  Joe's Farm Grill is one of our favorite Arizona spots for a great lunch.  I am in love with their hand breaded fried shrimp.  It is the best I have ever tasted and the side sauce is over the top.  Honestly, I dream about this shrimp and look forward to another visit.  Most the seating is outside at Joe's and it was a beautiful Saturday.

Emilia and our son, Ryan, joined us on this outing.  It was so good to have them with us from New Mexico.  We talked and talked in the beautiful outdoors.

Sunday night, December 1st, began our month of family Christmas FHEs (Family Home Evenings.)  Eric's family returned and we presented this year's Christmas book, tree ornaments with a scripture chase, and s'mores in the backyard. "Christmas from Heaven" came with a DVD of Tom Brokaw telling the story which we watched and then talked about.

The star ornaments that I found each had a different title or name for Jesus Christ.  We used our ipads to look up scriptures which included those names and talked about what each title meant.

Grandpa lit a wood fire in the outdoor fireplace for marshmallow roasting.  Toby demonstrates how to make a super sized s'more.

We roasted and ate and talked and laughed.

I have a small plaque on a wall in Arizona which reads, "I have learned that being with those I love is enough."

And that is exactly how I feel.

Monday night we had a repeat.  Middle son, David, and his family had returned home from a Thanksgiving week in Utah with his wife's family as well as with his sister and youngest brother.

Once again we presented the book and story, looked up scriptures, and then moved on to a s'more treat but this time we also celebrated birthdays.  David and his wife Sally would both have birthdays before we would see them again.  I made dinner as well.  David loves my homemade noodles cooked in chicken broth with chicken over mashed potatoes.  My neighbor had brought over a bag of Idaho potatoes straight from the farm, so we enjoyed a meal just like I was served as a girl in Idaho.  Yum!

I was organized so was able to send both families home with this year's wrapped Christmas gifts.  While in Utah we will have similar nights with our Utah grands, but it won't include s'mores outside.

I am so blessed to have family to love and to serve and to enjoy.  It is truly enough.