Sunday, July 29, 2018

Meet the Family and Join the Party!! We had a lot of fun!

We had our Summer Family Gathering on Saturday and it was an extra special time!


Summer, Sabrina and Rayne are back in Texas!
Not to stay but we grabbed this opportunity for a party to celebrate them being here!
Sabrina and Rayne will be going back home to Puerto Rico in just a few short weeks so we booked this day in advance so we could all see them and spend some time together.


I took a lot of pictures!


The house was full of happy people and I loved every single minute of it!


From the dining room to the kitchen to the living room and den - and even out into the gazebo - we mixed and mingled and had a great afternoon.


Sister Deanie and Charlie!!


Sister Nita and Mike......
They are so excited about their very first great grandchild born yesterday on Mike's birthday!
We are all going out to Arizona in October to meet her and attend Nita's first grandchild's wedding!
It will be a Sibling Trip to remember!


Mother is the oldest living relative of the Whitfield family.
Meet Joyce and Anthony - Mother's niece and nephew.


Kevin and Toni - Anthony's daughter and SIL.


Pam and Nick - Joyce's daughter and SIL.


Patrick and Leah - Nita's daughter and SIL.


Isn't she beautiful? Leah and Patrick are going on an Alaskan cruise the same time we are - but on a different ship.


My sons!
Benjamin and Jesse.


Amber and Mike......


Gay and Anthony......
It was their first time to meet Mike - or Amber or Benjamin and they had not seen Jesse in years and years!


There were lots and lots of hugs and smiles!


It was a perfectly wonderful day!!!



My oldest grandchildren......
Sam, Faith and Levi.


Trystan and Logan didn't let Faith get too far away from them.


It was such a joy to have all four of my children and all eight of my grandchildren together!


And this is Ricky!
He is Pam's grandson and such a delight!


Kids are phone and tech savvy these days.
I took his picture and he immediately looked at it and enlarged it with his fingers so he could better see his truck - so I thought we would show it to you!


Such cute kids and so good!
They all played and got along so well.
No fussing of any kind!


They had fun! We all did!

It was a Pot Luck and we had an abundance of food!!!!


This was probably the most talked about dish!
Nita makes this and is famous for it!


We visited in groups here and there and then drifted into another room and joined a group in there.
There was so much going on all over the house!

I think that was my most favorite thing about this party......hearing all the different conversations and knowing we are all family being with family.

Come listen in with me.......


Sabrina was the Star Guest!
It has been a long time since I had seen her.
I miss those Tuesday night art classes we had together for a number of years!


She has continued to grow in her art and passed me up a long time ago.
It's an honor that I was her teacher......

I love hearing all the laughter.
We laughed a lot!!!


Pam and Deanie had us in stitches!!!


"Kiss me, Cornelius!!!"


Deanie has been doing this since she saw the movie back in 1968!
All her grand kids love it when she does this and so do we!
Kailey tried her best to do it......using the smallest grape she could find.
She will need to practice more!

And then there was Amber doing her Chubby Cheeks routine - by popular demand!!!


She's been doing this so long she can't even remember how it came to be!

And then there was Summer telling her funny story!
She had many of them but I was only in there for this one.



I do remember this!!

The hours flew by!


All my children!


They are such fun people!


Can you  tell???


I am a proud Mom!!


I had such a good time and I think we all did!

We were missing our Brother Lonnie and Michele and Jesse's wife.
It's hard for everyone to be there at the same time!
We made a lot of good memories.......


I love my family!

Pam gave me this cute cute pair of socks......


No difficult relatives in my life!!!

I hope you enjoyed the party!!!
We will be getting together again in October for the Whitfield Family Reunion.
When we started going to that, we decided once a year was just not often enough to get together.







18 comments:

Pilar said...

It looks like everyone was having such a nice time!

Carla said...

What a full house.... love ..laughter.. conversation
Love Loved the picture of you and the kids plus the ones of just your kids.
You have a beautiful family.

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

Hugs and Love - thank you for sharing.
Joy

Jan said...

What a wonderful day! You have a beautiful family.

Saimi said...

I'm all about taking pictures and you certainly captured a houseful of fun times. Lots of memories in the making for sure!!
Have a great week!
Saimi

Ginny Hartzler said...

Thanks for inviting me, I LOVED your party! It is big, loud, delicious, and happy!! I love seeing all your children together! And Amber's chubby cheeks! Sorry that Summer's video did not come through for some reason. You are a great hostess, and so blessed to have such a large and loving family.

BeachGypsy said...

"I am a proud Mom", that is what is says underneath my most favorite picture from today, you in the blue blouse, looking so pretty and so happy! Sure looks like this get together was a success, everybody looks to be having the best time! Smiles, stories, talk, laughing, good food, hugs, family equals a perfect day. So glad y'all got this special time together and I thank you for sharing these pictures with us. I don't have to ask if you had a good weekend---the pictures tell the story!

Bluebird49 said...

What a wonderful family you have! Everyone looks so happy!

Vee said...

Such fun to see! How tall Sam is!

Susie said...

Linda, Thank you for the pictures and videos....I felt like I was at your party. So good to see everyone happy and laughing. Your children , their children, all so kind to each other too. We love that, don't we? Your grands are growing up also. Gosh I can't believe Sam is driving. He looks like a tall young man next to Sabrina. :):) I see the younger ones still love being with Faith, so cute, I love that. I remember Ricky too. Granddad is the kid entertainer, they all love him so much. It just looked like the best time. Get your sister recipes for us. Deanie/Charlie and Nita/Mike , are all looking good. I love the picture of your children and you together. Thank you for allowing me to see it all this morning. Blessings to all of your family, you and LD. love you guys, xoxo, Susie

MadSnapper said...

I am shocked! I say, I say I am Shocked! at you taking so many photos of your family. ha ha ho ho he he..... not that you ever have in the past.

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Any time spent with family is wonderful. We also had a summer get together on Saturday! It was a beautiful day so we were outside all day! I loved seeing all the happy faces! You can tell you all like being in each other's company. Good company, good food and conversations - what could be better!

Changes in the wind said...

Now that was one heck of a party. Looks like all had a great time.

Brenda said...

What an absolutely lovely visit with your family
My two children and their spouses and the five grands together last week at daughter in Indiana- as my apartment in Indy since move in December small..
Loved it
One Florida
One Indiana

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

You really did have a house full and everyone is having so much fun! Your sons look just like YOU! And I love the photo of Louis Dean looking at you! How sweet you both are! Enjoy your week!

Carole said...

Fabulous party. For sure yours is the tribe that thrives - and so photogenic too! Bet you are a bit tired after all that excitement
PS Does LD do everything in overalls???? He's so cute

Estelle's said...

I LOVED this post! I especially loved your video of the sights, sounds, family, friends, little ones and all the food! It was just the best!

Debbie said...

Awesome family photos, there is nothing better than a home filled with family!! Everyone looks so healthy and happy!!!!!