Quick Get Together and a Family Snapshot

It is amazing how fast time flies... It seems like just yesterday all 6 of the kids in my family were still living at home and now my parents are just down to one. Even though all of us (except Tess) live within 20 min it is hard to get everyone in one place at the same time. With Austin leaving for Iraq next month and Tess and Page moving to ???? Sunday night was our last chance to all be together for at least the next year.

My mom made us a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner and we snapped a few pictures. With 11 boys who were not into posing and only 4 girls we were lucky to get any decent shots. But we managed to get a few fun ones.

Hark-O Familia!

(Yes Chelsea I stole your blog title hee hee)

Families are a bit crazy and let me tell you my extended family is no exception. To begin with I should explain that my mother is the youngest of 13 kids and who produced 71 grand kids and hundreds (yes you read that right) of great and great-great grand kids). The tally in attendance was just over 200!

It is funny how much it has changed over the years, when I was little I could name everyone there and now its starting to get hard to keep track of everyone. Looking around I couldn't name a lot of the little kids but I could usually figure out what family they belong to.

The reunion had a Mexican theme (thus the post title) with yummy Mexican food, dancing, clothing and even pinatas! And although not Mexican it wouldn't be a Harker reunion without water activities.

Porter liked the water slide although he didn't seem to when he was being tossed down it (Thanks for the help Uncle Justin and Cousin Gary). He kept wanting to go again and again.

It was hard to get a picture of everyone since there was always so much going on in different places but these to pictures give you a small idea.....

Each family made a pinata - ours made this "H" which won first place! The plastic bats
took for ever to break the pinatas, especially with little tykes like Porter helping out but it was a good thing considering the number of kids who wanted a turn taking a swing at them!


Even some of the adults got in on the pinata action.
My mom got a little crazy attacking the pig....


The race to grab candy was crazy- fortunately there was plenty to go around.


Thanks so much Uncle Ferrin and Family for hosting this years event-
Can't wait to see everybody next year!

Congrats Tessa & Page

Just a few pics of the weekend...

Tessa & Dad - One of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

The three girls..

Pa, Nanna and their four boys

The Whole Group at the Temple

Kisses for the Bride

Thankfully they never actually fell in....

Porter of course managed to get filthy in the first 5 minutes...
In case you were wondering the suit
was black when he arrived not grey!

The Logan temple was very pretty and we were so happy to be with Page and Tessa on their special day. We're excited to go back in two weeks to do it all over again too with Scott and Annalyn.

Family Pictures

Before Austin's graduation we were finally able to get a family picture taken- We ended up having Austin's friend Nicki take them and even though she's not a professional or anything I think she did pretty good.

Us being a little silly......

My Sis' cute little family....

Mom and Dad

Austin the Graduate!?!

Wow- I can't believe it but Austin graduated this year- A few weeks and he's off to basic training! Congrats Aust! We'll miss you this summer!

Goodbye SHS, Hello world!

Whooohoooo!
Personally I thought it was my parents
we should have got a picture of jumping
for joy.... 5 down 1 to go!

Books Books and More Books

Before he was born I set a goal that I wanted to teach Porter to love books and reading like I do. I am a firm believer that a children who love reading have a head start in their education. We read together almost every day and go to story time at the library a couple of times a month.

Porter's favorite book right now is "I'm the Biggest thing in the Ocean" which is a definite must read. Porter especially loves to read with Pa who even puts up with him when Porter requests the same story over and over again!

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Happy Birthday Tessa We Love You!!!

Bubbles with Aunt Tessa

Porter loves Bubbles and his Aunt Tess What a perfect combination!

Easter 2009 Part 1

On Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt at Nanna and Pa's with Kam and Kars. I was really surprised how quickly Porter caught on to picking up the eggs and putting them in his basket.... Until he realized that there was candy in the eggs then he was mostly interested in opening them up!

Porter's Basket from Pa & Nanna
He loooves the Teddy Bear that sings ABC and Counts

Picking Up Eggs

More Eggs.....

Ohhhh Candy!

Porter's Little Buddy

Porter loves to play with his cousins and it is nice to have Kam and Kars so close by. Earlier this week when the weather was nice the boys came over to play. Porter and Kars have a cute little connection- Every time they see each other they both get all excited and want to hug and kiss hello- although most hugs end up with them wrestling (friendly) on the ground.

They are only 6 weeks apart in age and its fun to see how similar their interests are - they are both at the stage where "Mine" is one of their favorite words so the mom's end up doing a lot of refereeing. Kam plays well with both of them too- and thankfully is better at sharing than the both of them put together-

I love this one- Kars is all happy just getting pushed and the look on Porter's face is like
"Lay off the Oreo's Kar's your getting to heavy too push"

"Boy's Only Clubhouse"

"Blond Buddies"

Grandpa's Funeral

It is hard to believe that the funeral was a week ago today.... It was such a beautiful day; clear and not to cold. The part of the day that really touched me and my family would have to have been the graveside services- The members of the American Legion who did the military tribute did an amazing job especially the three young men who fold the flag. When they presented the flag to my mother (which my grandfather had requested) we all got pretty teary eyed.

If the week before the funeral we went through pictures to put in a slide show and I found this one I had forgotten about....

It almost seems surreal that all my grandparents are gone now.....

I am so grateful to know 'the plan' and that we can be together forever.

Here are some pictures from the funeral that I swiped from my sister Chelsea's blog

This is the flower arrangement that I made for the funeral and one of the one's I made for the pallbearers. I have done some flower arranging before but it's been awhile and I was very happy/relieved with how they turned out.

"I am the resurrection, and the life" spoke the Master "he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

We will miss you Grandpa George!
Jan 15th 1917 - Jan 10th 2009