Our families differ in many ways. Most poignantly in size. Stefani only has two brothers, one of which is married. The only children on Stefani's side is our sweet twin boys. Eldon has 8 brothers and sisters, all but one are married. There are now 29 nieces and nephews with one additional on the way this summer. Family trips, holidays, and get togethers are quite different.
But one aspect of both families is very much the same,
FAMILY IS CENTRAL AND ALWAYS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!
Stefani's family all live within about 15 to 20 minutes of each other. This close proximity allows us to get together often. Sunday dinners with the family is a regular tradition. Even though we are all adults, we are still big kids at heart. We love to laugh, play games, watch movies, and play with our puppies together. When all of us are together, its always a good time. Eldon and Christopher (the younger brother) are always a barrel of laughs and wise cracks.
Stefani's family is descendant from the Italian Mafia (kind of), so while on a family trip to Vegas, the family (cousins and everything) decided to get dressed up to celebrate. What a good lookin gang!
One of the biggest differences between our families is a result of the next generation. When Stefani married Eldon, she inherited lots of nieces and nephews to love and care for. With this crazy group, time together is always entertaining, always chaotic (in the absolute best way) and always full of fun, laughter and little ones.
Eldon's family all live in Arizona, but they are much more spread out than Stefani's. The family is split with about half living in Snowflake (where Eldon grew up) and the other half living in Mesa and Chandler. Because the family is so large and spread out, it can be difficult to get everyone together. The majority of the family is usually able to get together for big events like holidays, the birth of a baby, baptisms, graduations, etc. At least once a year, the whole family gets together for the family reunion. Whether its just a few of us, or the whole family, its always a barrel of laughs.
We absolutely love our families. They are a huge part of our lives, and a huge part of who we are. They bring so much joy and fun to our lives and we are so grateful for the blessing they are. We want so much to bring little ones into our family so they can feel supported, feel uplifted and feel loved just as much as we do. All our family is incredibly supportive of our choice to pursue adoption. They love children and are excited for little ones to join our family.
