Sorensen Cousin Christmas Reunion

Being a military spouse, it's hard being away from your family all the time.  I only see my parents & brother once every two years & I only see my extended family (cousins) once every 3-5 years.  My dad's entire family pretty much still live in the same town I grew up in in Utah.  So I'm always super jealous they are so close to each other.  So when I wind up in town, I always try to organize a big family reunion so I can see everyone while I'm in town.  I've been emailing my cousins Jodi, Hailey, & Whitney, & my Aunt Heather, & thanks to their help & hospitality, we were able to put together an amazing reunion right before Christmas.

I was amazed at how big our family has become.  Not only did I get to see almost all my cousins, their spouses, & their kids . . . I also got to visit with my dad's brothers & sisters who I haven't seen in years & years.  The whole night was just perfect.

I was SUPER excited to see my Uncle Ryan (my dad's youngest brother).  He's always been my "big brother" rather than my "uncle" since he actually moved in & lived with us when I was 9.  So he always was kind of a brother to me.

Everyone brought either an appetizer or a dessert to share & we had a big feast in Jodi's garage.  Everything was delicious & I just couldn't get enough of all the smiling faces.

I was excited to see my cousin Gentry who I haven't seen in almost 10 years.

My Uncle Kent & Uncle Ryan spent all their time with Bladen who totally cracked them up.  They loved his no nonsense (no filter) conversations.

Cari & I enjoyed catching up with my cousin Hailey who lives in Colorado now.

At the end of the evening we did a huge gift exchange for all the kids ages 0-18+ (unmarried).  We divided them up into age groups & played different games to decide who got what gift.  The kids had a BLAST.

Canyon got a giraffe pillow pet & a cute Christmas book.

Bladen got a super hilarious game called Wet Head.

Craiger got a drone.

Taya got a fun family dice game.

Lorien got a beautiful gold heart bracelet.

And Cadence got an adorable monkey mug full of candy & some hilarious snowman pencils.

Before we left we TRIED to get a big family photo, but I there were still people there that didn't squeeze into the frame.  It's amazing how big the family has become.  I wish Grandma & Grandpa Sorensen were here to see the legacy they have created.  We miss them so much.

Merry Christmas everyone.  Thank you for coming out to see me while I was there.  We had a blast catching up with you all.