MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

WE WISH YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a

WONDERFUL NEW YEAR

HALLOWEEN 2010 - Grandchildren

The Brienholt Family: Nathan the skeleton zombie, Zachary is Harry Potter himself, Jacob is Lord Voldemort, and Caleb is Thomas the Train and his engineer. I love it.

The Willis and Wirig family costume parade. Enjoy !

Kate the witch, Ava the mermaid, Gavin the zombie, Isabel the snow princess and Ruby the fairy. Ethan was Spock this year and it was hilarious. I'll find a photo!

Grant the hotdog, Steve is his mustard, Cole the turtle and Natalie the pregnant devil mom :)

THOMAS THE TRAIN COSTUME

THE FINISHED THOMAS WITH HIS ENGINEER!! HE LOOKS PRETTY HAPPY.

Thomas the Train is very popular with two of my grandsons. Jessica's Caleb and Natalie's Grant. Caleb wanted to be Thomas the Train for Halloween. His wish is my command--I figured out how to put a train costume together. It actually was fun! Caleb will dress as the engineer and stand inside of Thomas with straps on his shoulders. I can hardly wait to take it to him. This was a labor of love.

IVINS FAMILY REUNION 2010

43 IVINS

Our 2010 family reunion was in St George, UT. All 43 of us were there but one (Michelle's son Derek had to work in NYC). We were together to celebrate Reid's 80th birthday and Nani's & Reid's 55th Anniversary.

A few of us arrived earlier in the week and were treated to Reid's military stories and awards and ribbons. He mounted two shadow boxes of his military history one was given to Tony and one was given to Skip. We were fascinated by the tour.

Thursday we had a pizza dinner at the house to organize ourselves and pass out the itineraries, family directories, Granddad Reid songbooks, photo albums and t-shirts. We went to the St George Temple to do baptisms and confirmations, initiatories and endowments for the Pertierra family line on Nani's side. Everyone was glad that we had a bit of free time each day to do as we pleased. We all had beautiful condos at Las Palmas which is next door to the Green Valley Tennis Club and Resort where mom and dad are members. And, just a couple of blocks from the house.

Friday the guys had their day together without women and children. They played golf and tennis and had a great BBQ lunch out. The women had all the children swimming and lunching poolside and we even got a little shopping in. During nap time for the babies the non-nappers had fun doing crafts thanks to Aunt Shaunae. Friday evening we had a conference room at a hotel for our Mexican dinner and family night in our red and white reunion t-shirts. We had a photographer take a few photos of all of us. We had a great time playing "Minute to Win It" challenges. They were hilarious. We are a competitive bunch that is for sure. We sang Happy Birthday to Reid and presented him with his birthday gift from the four of us - a trip across the pond to The All England Tennis Club and Wimbledon 2011. After the games we had a chance to change clothes and meet up again at the Tuacahn Amitheater for a night of Tarzan the musical. What a beautiful outdoor venue that is. It was a late night but SO FUN!

Saturday we were up bright and early for our real family photos at Sugar Loaf on the red rocks. These photos will hopefully be beautiful. Our photographer was a 40 year photo veteran. She was a hoot. Her husband would bark like a dog to the little ones to get their attention. He sure made us laugh. After the photo shoot it was time for the girls to have their day. We met at one of the condos and had two massage therapists and a couple of manicurists there. We ordered lunch from 25th & Main, ate gourmet cupcakes and talked and talked and laughed a lot. What a relaxing day for us. Then it was off to genealogy night at the Green Valley Spa conference room. We learned our new Ivins family song to the tune of "Hello Mother, Hello Father" and lyrics by Tony and family. We put together songbooks of Granddad Reid's music and the grandchildren sang several of them on stage. It brought tears to my dad's eyes. He sang good night songs to all of this grandchildren when they were little and they love his songs. Mom and dad then told us several stories of their childhood days and meeting and falling in love; and we laughed and cried some more. Michelle then gave her beautiful tribute to dad and Skip gave his equally lovely and funny tribute to mom. We passed out the beautiful albums of our ancestors including many photos and stories of their younger years. We ended the evening with a special gift of memories that we have of Reid and Nani. All of us including their 15 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren put these memories into a box so that every day for the entire year they can pull one out and read it. A GREAT NIGHT. A few of us had enough left in us and went to the movies afterward.
Sunday we went to church early and had lunch at the house before we all said our goodbyes. We visited the St George Airport Museum where Granddad Reid has his actual flight suit on display. We even got to climb into a few airplanes like the one he flew in Korea. A few of us stayed until Monday to recover a bit before our trip back to Phoenix.
We loved being together, laughing and crying and remembering what a great childhood we had with Reid and Nani as our parents. Thank you mom and dad.

Another Funny Ava Story

Recently Ashley had parent/teacher conferences, and while she was talking to Ava's teacher finding out how she was doing in school, her teacher mentioned that she writes very creatively and comes up with stories quickly. In some of those stories she writes about families but never has a brother in them. An excerpt from her story entitled, "The Egg" by Ava Willis - "There was a hen. She lived on a farm. She was pregnant. She did not go many places because she might throw up. One day she wrote an invitation for her family, like her grandma and aunt and her sisters (she didn't have a brother because he would be annoying)."

HAWAII

We had a wonderful 2 weeks in Hawaii. We were hosted by my Aunt Chris and Uncle Rudy in their lovely condo on the beach. They close their shop in Zurich Switzerland every year for one month and go to Hawaii. I want that life! We walked the boardwalk every morning, had great weather and shopped, ate and traveled the islands.