Manning family gathering

Seth's parents are soon leaving to be missionaries for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Athens, Greece for 2 years. It's such an exciting time for them and also, a perfect reason for a family get together before they go away. We don't always see all of Seth's family as much as we would like to, as they all live in different parts of the country so it's nice to be together with them.

It's always pretty fun being at the Manning family home when everyone is there (Seth's eldest brother James, and his wife Natalie weren't there as they live in California), as there is just so many of them - Seth is number 6 of 7 children. Then when you add all of Seth's nephews and nieces into the mix as well, there were quite a few of us there (I'm pretty sure there were about 19 of us in total). I remember when we had just started dating; I used to call Seth from the car to tell him that I had arrived and he would come out to my car to meet me before we went inside. It's laughable now, thinking back on it, but I used to find it a bit intimidating because there was so many of them. Don't get me wrong, they are all lovely, I was just being a bit of a baby! Now that I'm a part of the family I'm pretty comfortable with them all :).

On the Saturday we all hung out and played games. Now that Caleb can crawl around, he was loving life! He was all over the place, following after his cousins. They loved being with him and playing with him and he enjoyed all of the attention they showered on him!

 

 

 That evening once all of the children were in bed, the grown ups had a chinese meal and toasts were made to Kay and Nick (the parents). We were going to play some games that evening, but we all just ended up chatting into the wee small hours!

We all went to church together on Sunday and we significantly swelled the numbers there, ha ha! It was nice to see people there who I haven't seen in a long time. I think my favourite conversation was with one of Seth's close friends. He commented that to him, I had always seemed so dignified and ladylike and then he sees me, crawling around on the floor after my baby. The joys of motherhood! I'd like to hope that I am still a little bit dignified and ladylike in the process though. One can dream!
That afternoon, Kay took photos of everyone so that she could take them with her (I had been meaning to take pictures of everyone together but alas, it didn't happen and so I don't have any to post on here). We all said goodbye on Sunday evening and left to head home. It seems kind of strange that we won't be having family gatherings in that home for the next couple of years, but I am so excited for Kay and Nick as they prepare to leave for Athens.