Browns take Denver

We went to Denver for Christmas with my side of the family--the Brown Family. It was the first time all of my siblings plus their spouses plus all of our kids were together in one place, and we were quite the crowd! Twelve adults and eleven kids may not sound like too many, but eleven kids age eleven and under made the numbers seem a bit larger. My parents are in the process of moving from Seattle to a large house in Denver, so we did without cushy accessories like couches while we were there. Everyone had beds, though, and there were more than enough bathrooms to go around so it worked well. I love my family.


I made sure to write in my journal while we were away, so I could do some simple copy-and-pasting for easy breezy blogging.

Sunday, December 23, 2018. We are in Denver with the whole Brown family at last! We woke up in Sunnyside to a light dusting of magical snow. I managed to corral my family into a driveway Christmas Sunday picture before the snow melted. Then we went to church and experienced gorgeous music that filled my heart and SOUL, down to my toes. I played my two (comparatively wimpy) songs while the primary kids sang. My hands were shaky, but I survived and didn't lose my place or mess up. The talks were inspiring and the music was beautiful and plentiful. It was a true feast of the Christmas spirit. The ward met in the gym afterwards to socialize and eat cookies 

When we got home, we put away our Christmas tree and decorations and I tried to clean up the house a bit. It was hectic, but we got everything done and left for the airport at 2:45pm just like we planned. We picked up Dan and Leslie in Grandview on our way to Pasco, and Dan drove us to the Pasco airport. We went from the curb through security and arrived at our gate in less than ten minutes! Then we had 2 hours to wait for our plane. The flight was an easy direct 2 hour 20 minute trip, with only about 10-15 minutes of turbulence at the end. I did have to sit next to a huge guy who took up lots of my personal space and ordered an alcoholic beverage. Bleh. But the kids were good and when we landed in the massive Denver airport, Amber excitedly took off running down the crowded hallways. It was a task to keep up with her! Dad picked us up and we arrived at the house around 10pm local time. It's now 1:24am local mountain time/12:24am Pacific time. It's too tempting to talk all night so we stayed up late. I love my family! 

That's enough journaling for now, here's round one of photos from our ten-day stay in Denver:

 Christmas Sunday in Sunnyside.

Waiting, waiting, waiting at the Pasco, WA airport.

 The Denver airport is massive. We must've walked close to a mile to get from the tiny small-time wing we landed in all the way to the main exit.

 Cousin sleepovers every night for a week!

Watching cartoons with the cousins.

 Forts and cousins: life is good.

 Jay and Steve: buddies.

 Cute little Ezra was a tad overwhelmed by our large, loud numbers, but he said "Shaina" in the sweetest voice, it melted my heart.

 New Year's Eve special drinks: sprite, orange juice, and cherry grenadine. Jay opted for plain OJ.

 Jay and Dan played pool by rolling the cue ball with their hands instead of hitting it with the stick.

 Helping Grama Meri make snowball cookies.

 The kitchen is always busy at Brown family gatherings.

 Snack central! It was good to get to know Braxton (the newest in-law, married my sister Mel a year ago). We decided he's a great "finishing touch" to our family. It's fun having all of my siblings married now.

 Kitchen kitchen kitchen.

 Amby got rings in her stocking on Christmas.

 Poor Amber got so sick while we were in Denver! The day after Christmas she began her decline, and then the throwing up started that night and lasted for four days. She was the most pathetic, limp little sickie! We quarantined her at the first sign of illness (a benefit of an intense child is it's obvious when they're getting sick). Shockingly and blessedly, our quarantine was effective and nobody else got the horrible vomity sickness.

 Jeff stayed in the quarantine room overnight during the worst of Amber's illness.

 Jeff and I traded off sitting with Amber--we didn't want her to throw up on Grama's carpet! Jeff nobly did most of the Amber-watching while I socialized with my family, but I took a few turns.

 How tragic is this? Watching cartoons on the iPad, propped up on the barf bucket.

Once Amber began to stabilize, Jeff emerged and joined us for family games. We enjoyed Code Names, Mil Bournes, Monopoly Deal, and of course the Brown family classics, Pick Two and Abstracts.

 Monopoly Deal with Mel and Braxton.

 We don't do poker faces, so we passed around a placemat to hide behind during Abstracts clue-guessing.

 Jay brought his Dungeons and Dragons game to play with his cousins. Jeff and Braxton won all the prizes for playing with them.

 We learned that playing Code Names with twelve people was a bit much. It was intense and everyone was very done by the end of that night. I couldn't manage to get a picture with myself in it, but I was there. Em is the professional photographer of the family, and I am the everyday photographer.

 Code Names game: we all had to crowd around those little cards and guess words. It was close quarters.

 An everyday family room scene: people loving on the twin babies and talking, with the half-decorated Christmas tree in the background (even my tall father couldn't reach past a certain height to decorate the top third of the tree).

 It snowed on New Year's Eve: snowball fight with the big boys! 

The younger crew went sledding in the side yard. 

It was SO COLD, they couldn't stay outside for long. 

 Jay enjoyed reading underneath the bed in our room.

 Grama Meri, making sure that the twins were cultured at an early age in a beloved family favorite book: Pigs at Christmas. Those smart babies looked at every page of the book at least three times.

On January 2nd, Jeff and I slipped away to do a session at the Denver Temple. It was absolutely beautiful and inspiring and empowering and peaceful and I was twirling with joy when we left.

 And then it was time to leave. On Thursday, January 3rd we reversed-course through the massive Denver airport and back to Pasco, WA, where Grampa Dan and Grama Leslie (Jeff's parents) picked us up.

 Amber read the airline safety card intently for at least 15 minutes.

Driving home: Amber fell asleep on the way (a rarity worth documenting).

I love my family and feel so lucky to have spent ten whole days together at Christmas.