A Hamilton Thanksgiving

Almost every childhood memory of mine involved my cousins and grandparents. I loved going to grandma and grandpa Hamilton's house, and playing with all my cousins. We did some crazy stuff as kids! My cousins were my best friends. We would play night games, sled at boys town (a vacant field that ended at the snake river) play at horsy park, jump off the balcony onto the trampoline, float the river and swim at the sand bar, eat ice cream at Big J's, and that is just a few! I was so blessed to grow up close to my grandparents and cousins. Now that everyone has grown up and started our own families we don't get together as much as I would like. This year we had a big Hamilton Thanksgiving at my church house. My grandma said she counted about 75 people! It was fun to catch up in each others lives, and to watch the next generation of cousins playing together. I made a binder for my grandparents and everyone wrote letters with their memories and all that they are grateful for about my grandma and grandpa. It seemed to turn out well. We covered the tables with butcher paper and supplied crayons for the kids to color with. My grandma Hamilton cut out a bunch of the art work to put in the binder too. I am thankful to have grown up with so much family around me. I hope my kids can experience these same blessings. .

I love to cook and love a good excuse to try new recipes, and to share my favorites. This year I made 4 pies, 8 dozen rolls, a jello salad and candied yams for thanksgiving. It was 2 full days of cooking and I loved every minute!

 The best shot I could get of the whole family!

My mom and dad aka: Grandma and Grandpa Eddie. (dad has a hard time ever getting a good picture looking at the camera with his eyes open) sorry dad :)

A bunch of the cousins built what they called "Mt. Chairest" It was an accident waiting to happen but we got lucky and no one was hurt on the mountain. 

My niece Peyton LOVES babies!! She is so cute, and was loving holding Parker and giving him loves.

Derek and Jill's family, and Beau and Camie's family visiting with the cousins.

This is the cover page to the binder I made for my grandparents. Grant made it on the computer. I hope they will enjoy reading about how grateful we all are to have them as our grandparents!