Christmas on New Years Eve

Last weekend, on the afternoon of New year's Eve, our extended family gathered in Mesa for our annual family Christmas party.  As always, we enjoyed several fun hours together and made great memories.

Here are some pictures from that day, starting with the posed family shots:

31 Dec 2011: My dad Myron (age 77) and my step-mom Kathy (age 67)

with Kathy's grandson Aiden (6 months old)
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31 Dec 2011: Our parents' 3 oldest children: Karla (age 51), Mary (age 57),

and LeRoy (age 52).  Our two younger brothers were unable to attend.

Jeff (age 50) was recently in the hospital with a painful kidney stone,

and Darryl (age 48) lives in Missouri.  He visited us in July, though.
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My family: Dylan (age 14), me (Mary), and my husband Ed.

My older son, Jacob (age 20), is still serving his mission in northern California. 
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My daughter Sarah (age 22) and her new husband Chris (age 33).

You may notice a few sweaty bodies and ruffled hair.  These pictures were taken

at the end of the day, after the men and most of the teens had spent hours playing

basketball and football.
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My brother LeRoy with his wife Lori and their two children,

Nate (age 15) and Katie (age 13).
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My sister Karla with her 5 youngest children (out of 10 kids altogether):

Brianna (age 20), Julien (age 14), Gabrielle (age 11),

Addison (age 7), and Mariah (age 17)
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Karla's #1 child, Jeremy (age 29), with his wife Cami and their children,

Jaren (age 3), Makayla (age 2), and Analyce (age 5)
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Karla's #2 child, Genevieve (age 27) with her husband Scott and their children,

Max (21 months old), Jaycee (age 4), and Brooke (age 6)
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Karla's #3 child, Josh (age 25), was not able to attend. 

Karla's #4 child, Elyssa (age 24), with her husband Ross 
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Karla's #5 child, Celesta (age 23) with her current beau, Joseph 
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Karla's #7 child, Mariah (age 17, also seen in Karla's group photo above)

with her current Beau, Hector
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My step-sister Becky with her husband Dylan and their children,

Dale (age 3) and Aiden (6 months old)
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That's all the family who were in attendance.  We sorely missed Jeff and Darryl's families!

And now here are the candid shots from the party:

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Karla cuts up both 6-foot sub sandwiches.

With 36 people at the party, we all provided plenty of food!
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Ed and Ross visit over sandwiches, chips, and salads.
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Lori, LeRoy, and Nate enjoy lunch together.
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Jeremy and Cami soak up a child-free moment together.
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Celesta and Joseph bond over the sub sanwiches.
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Hector and Mariah enjoy a moment.
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Sarah spends time with the two men in her life, husband Chris and brother Dylan.
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Scott has fun with his daughter Jaycee.
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Scott and Genevieve's 21-month-old son, Max
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Jeremy and Cami's daughter, 2-year-old Makayla.

She'll always be Great-Aunt Mary's Elf-baby!

 The family gathers in a circle and the gift exchange begins. 

Makayla chooses a gift from the children's pile.

 Genevieve chooses a gift carefully from the adults' pile of presents.

 LeRoy weighs his options before deciding to steal the game Cami had chosen!

 Karla is happy with her new windshield washer!

 At the end of the evening, several of the men break out the toy helicopters

they'd received for Christmas.  Ed has a great time trying it out.

Jeremy (a real-life rescue helicopter pilot), Hector, and Chris

also have fun with the 'copters.

We all had a blast!  We hope next year to see the faces we missed this time.  Until next Christmas...