My gifted mother and sister turned an empty room into a magical room for the 4 grandkids. This tent covered 4 sweet sleeping places and twinkle lights dangled from the middle. The amenities included a cd player, manger scene, mini-christmas tree and name cards on the front of the door. It didn’t always work, of course, to have the kids all sleeping together in here—and more than once, Ben and I fell asleep next to the kids. My favorite memory of this room was when each of my 3 younger siblings all came in on our last night there and excitedly told the kids they cared for them and that they would miss them.
Jill my sister in law is a photographer (jillthomasphotography.com) and has recently switched from digital to film. She is so talented and offered to take our family picture! Though this is not the picture my parents will hang on the wall (or might they….), I thought it captured well the personality of my fam.
My brother Sam holds a sweet spot in my Christmas 2009 memory. There were many times that I saw him playing with our kids or helping them. There is nothing sweeter than knowing that your siblings love your children too.
My mom gives the kids ornaments each year as their snowman gift. Here is a Thomas tradition that I absolutely love. My mom decorates a room with just snowmen things. She picks a special gift for each of her kids and in-law kids to represent something that they have experienced in the past year. She writes beautiful poetic letters to match the gift and explain what it means. It is something that we all look forward to every year and it makes Christmas just a little sweeter.
Lexi, my parents oversized horse-dog towers over most small children. Her tail swings at the same level of Natalee’s face which explains Natalee’s morbid fear of this sweet dog for the first week of our stay. By the end of the week, they were best friends.
Typical scene at the Thomas home. Balderdash cards. Crumpled up paper. Treats.
Okay, Jenga does sound kind of lame I know—but we had SUCH a blast playing. This game went on and on, and yours truly made the fatal move.
Christmas tradition that never dies—Gingerbread houses. This year we went for blue house theme, combined with Asian flair. (??) Gingerbreadhouse making in my family becomes somewhat of a competition and we usually fail—but we love admiring my siblings' houses!
Our sweet girls in front of my mom’s house in Phoenix.
These are the Farrows--Ken and Sue. The almost-empty nesters. Ken is an engineer. He has a contagious laugh and is really easy to talk to. He loves to hold his grandkids and was often seen just sitting and holding his newest granddaughter. His greatest accomplishment is of course raising my husband. I will always be grateful for this man--he has made such a difference in my life. Sue is a financial secretary part time and a mother of one last 17 year old-boy at home. She is helpful and thoughtful beyond comparison and does so many little things to help us know she cares. She is skilled at quilting and crocheting, and has given many-a- quilts to the girls and we love them!
My sport-loving husband lucked out and got tickets to 2 different football games while we were there. Football airs in Germany almost next to never, so Ben got his fill for the year (er…maybe not the whole year)
We took family pictures illegally on a golf course. Downtime proved productive for my father in law, who aptly depicted with golf balls how the photography session was going.
What are uncles for? Keeping my kids entertained and occupied while there is nothing else to do!! Mark, Bryan and Greg are fun, playful and enduring. These guys hold a special place in the hearts of Natalee and Kaitlyn.
One of the highlights of the trip to Arizona was meeting cousin Brenna. Natalee, already obsessed with babydolls, immediately went to Brenna the first morning we were there. I sat in awe and wondered….what would it be like to have a calm infant?
One of my favorite nights at the Farrows was when we stayed up til 130 am playing Settlers of Catan. Sue, my mother in law always wins games, so I was not surprised when she won this one!
I always give Ben and his dad a hard time for talking with their hands so much. Like father, like son! These guys like to talk and I love that!
One of our nights with the Farrows was spent up in Payson at a cabin. It was decorated in German fashion, actually, and was also called "Das Waldhaus"! We felt so right at home! We played card games, did fondue, and did a murder mystery game. Kaitlyns favorite feature was the preserved deer that hung on the wall. She named it Rudolph.
One of the best parts of our trip was going out onto Saguaro Lake with Mark and Greg, Bens 2 brothers. Mark owns a few jet skis as a business, and he needed an excuse to get them out on the water. It was a warm day—probably 70 degrees, but the water was quite chilly. One crooked turn on the jetski brought a huge splash of water onto my leg, so I had to roll up my pant leg and borrow Marks water shoes. I had fun, though I have to admit, going 40 mph on a jet ski was a bit scary for me. I took my turn driving the ski as well, probably only getting up to 25mph, making turns that a grandma would laugh at. It was so beautiful—where else can someone go jet skiing in the winter besides Arizona?
{Arriving in Düsseldorf}
Each table setting had a rose,a name card, a script, and a description of their character. 
I downloaded the script from merrimysteries.com so I didn't have to get too creative on my own. Preparations were hard enough! This girl on the left had an authentic English accent, she having lived in England for 4 years. She put my attempts, and some others', to shame! Germans are taught British English here and so their English came out naturally sounding all spiffy.
Ben played our rich, handsome murder victim and was the star of the night. He hammed it up, and made us all laugh, just like usual! The joke of the night, however, came as we discussed how it would appear if someone walked into our party. If they knew we were Mormons, they might just think Ben was having dinner with all of his many wives! 
Here we are, 4 of the 6 American women in our Düsseldorf Ward. Together, the 6 of us contribute 19 of the 30 or so primary children. We had a fun summer BBQ at the church the other day, complete with steaks, face painting and water balloons! Fun!
This is Rachel--a single, recently engaged girl that we put up in our house for 3 weeks. The girls really loved her and she helped us out a lot. She's back in the motherland now!
Our 80's rocker-look alike. This little girl loves to go and wash her hair in the guest bathroom and she came out one day looking so darn hilarious. She is just so hygenic. Now if only we could get her to stop drawing on walls and ripping pages out of library books!! 
I could not even come close to these windows without wanting to faint. Kids have no idea that these windows could just break at any moment. ;)
