Hansen Thanksgiving Shindig

In Corby's family we rotate who is in charge of either Thanksgiving or Christmas gatherings. This year it was HyLee's family and they chose to do something a little less than traditional and I have to say I liked it a lot. I don't love the whole Thanksgiving meal so to eat it multiple times in a week isn't exactly my favorite.
Anyway, Natalie reserved her hometown ward house gymnasium on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We were supposed to arrive by 5:00 PM since the caters were arriving soon after and much to my surprise everyone was relatively on time(not a normal occurrence for this bunch).
The caters ended up being Papa John's Pizza and Hylee, Natalie and their children all served us in our designated spots. It was fun and different so my girls loved that . After a quick clean up the balls were brought out and a game of volleyball began. 
We had a quick little family counsel about the upcoming changes that were proposed and with a few fiery spirited ones we had a vote and from next year on we will donate our money we would spend on each other, to different charities decided by the one in charge that year. It was supposed to be a short 15 minute discussion that turned into over an hour. Wow, so many opinions and really no leader make for super fun times had by all. I personally don't understand why we have to be so heated when we discuss. People calm down, speak slowly, and everything will be alright. Defensive is the word that comes to mind when I view the Hansen bunch. Another close phrase is carrying around a lot of baggage from the years, never dealing with it but harboring ill feelings.
  Kathleen wanted everyone to hear a Christmas story and asked Sierra to read it. HyLee shared a memory and then we all headed out to the Willow Bay Campground where they decorate with lights. You pay to enter and then drive around looking at all the cute lighted objects. I didn't even think to take photos so use your imagination on this one. It was cold but fun. Being mother of the year, I didn't even bring coats for my little ones, thank goodness the wagon people had blankets. Saved by the awesome responsible people yet once again. We then loaded up in the wagon that was pulled by a team of horses. Ada was more concerned about seeing the horses than any of the lights. And the horses took us around to see the lights again.

Here we are huddled together using one blanket seeing the lights.

 Sierra drove us there and back and only tried to enter the freeway the wrong direction once so we felt good about that. Did I mention student driving is not my favorite parenting option. Holy stress me out!
It was yet another late night for us but it was great to see family and allow cousins to reconnect. I hope the Hansen's continue to get together because I feel so strongly about cousins knowing each other and siblings staying close. I am not so close to my family and have a real connections with Corby's siblings so please please, opinionated ones, get past your silliness and let's continue this tradition(at least for another 10 years ok)

Great Thanksgiving weekend, now back to real life and school on Monday!