Gathered

It's been years since this many of the Bohn family have all been together!  Just hours before we were set to begin our journey home Spencer and Ilah and their brood of 7 paid us a surprise visit!! When the Bohn brothers all get together they can get a little crazy!

Sherry is always quick to reaffirm to her daughters in law, that she did raise them to behave better than they do.  We are used to their antics by now though.

They make no excuses for themselves.

With the passing of years, distance in miles, unexpected events and illnesses, these boys have grown to love and appreciate the time they have together.

Their children are not much different!

These cousins all between 13 and 15 can't get enough time together.  They are constantly chatting via facebook and texting,  staying close regardless of the states between them.

The younger crew will likely follow their lead.

Trina and her husband Todd

Brad's oldest Lindsey and Uncle Todd

Jeff has always had a soft spot for Trina's oldest daughter Britni who is now expecting a little one of her own!

 I think Todd and Jeff resemble each other most of all the siblings.

Brandon, Grandpa Teddy and Brad

 Todd and Ashley, the oldest of his triplets, and the passenger on Todd's motorcycle when he crashed a few years ago.  

Trina and her oldest Brandon 

 Ben and Ashley

 It was so much fun to sit back and watch the cousins having so much fun together, to see the siblings fall right into their familiar roles in the family, and to watch Ted and Sherry lovingly take it all in.

Blazing into the New Year

 We spent the last night of 2010 at Todd and Trina's house in Idaho Falls.  Grandma snuggled with her grand kids that she doesn't see as often as she would like.

Ben and Wes took the opportunity to catch up and share some laughs.

The Bohn kids from California and New Mexico were thrilled for another night of playing together after a long 4 years between visits.

Jeff loved having the kids get to know his siblings a little better and playing tickle monster with all his nieces and nephews after relentless begging.  He has a reputation of the fun uncle to uphold since his days of bachelorhood.

Britni and Brandon loved teasing with Brynne and spoiling her a little too.

Elise made everyone smile with those big blue eyes and munchable cheeks.

Bridger was grateful to have some boys his age around

Cody and Britni snuggled up and enjoyed their last New Years eve without children of their own!

And then things got competitive as they always do with a house full of Bohns.  Cody took on my boys young and old with the XBox Kinnect.  First with track and then boxing.

Jeff and Brad had to give it a try next.

And then before you knew it the boys had their kids dueling it out!

 Things got so intense Belinda started climbing the walls!

 Luckily it was time to ring in the new year, and everyone clamored around the back porch in the -12* weather.

 Any guesses who the thick skinned Idahoans were?

 These guys didn't want to mess around with a few little sparklers...they did things up Idaho style and just burned down a whole tree!

 These three were totally impressed!

 And so it happened, that we blazed into the new year full of Idahoan gusto, with only a few ashes and a handful of footprints to show for our exciting night.

Slippin' and Slidin'

What else can you do in Idaho with a crew of 17 Bohns when it's a whopping 9* outside?  We opted for a bit of sledding!

Jeff with his sister Trina and brother Brad. 

Brooke, Lindsey, and Wes

Me with Trina and Brad's wife Camille

We loaded up Todd's truck with sleds and an Igloo of hot chocolate and some cookies and we were ready for the fun to begin! 

Alli and Dallin of the New Mexico Bohn clan

Train making started at once...

Brad, Jeff, Wes and Belinda

Todd, Nathan, Dallin, Brooke, Lindsey, Drew, Wes, Garrett, Jeff, Belinda, Brad, and Alli! They made it  all the way down the hill in tact! 

If you look closely you can see Trina warming up in Todd's truck just behind Garrett.  I think everyone took a turn warming up in there at some point during the fun.

Of course the guys had to take the trains to the next level and started just stacking up on top of each other! I politely declined since someone needed to stand back and take the pictures...

Every once in a while we'd just start laughing at how crazy we were to be out playing in such cold weather, but it didn't seem to bother anyone enough to want to go home!  Smiles were abundant!

I've always had a hard time deciding who some of my kids look more like, my side or Jeff's.  As we put all these Bohn cousins together the resemblences were pretty striking! 

Lindsey and Garrett

Drew and Nathan

Brooke and Wes

Once the guys were over the thrill of the trains and stacking they moved on to "surfing" on their sleds.  Without anything to hold their feet in place like the boys are used to on their snowboards, this was pretty comical to watch!

Brynne wanted nothing to do with any of the cold business but wanted to be where all of the action was.  She stayed in Todd's truck for quite a while and finally agreed to come out and give sledding a try.  She rode down a few times, keeping her eyes closed and her head burried in her coat, but she absolutely loved it!

She was beaming when we put her back into the car to thaw out!

In spite of the incredibly cold weather, everyone had a blast.  It was one of those days that the kids will remember for years to come!

Happy February

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need!
*and maybe some candy hearts