Summer of Family Visits

Having Claire this summer kind of put a damper on any vacation plans. But we were so lucky that our family from out of state came to us this year and provided us with entertainment and a much needed stay-cation. My brother Todd and his family came in early July and it was so fun to see his family. Luke fell instantly in love with Brando and Gage was so stoked to have the "big ones" back.

Marissa, Brynn, Branden w/ Luke, Brando, Gage (He was thrilled to have his picture taken if you can't tell)

I swear these kids are getting growth hormones. I was 14 when Braden was born and now he is taller than me and speaks with a man's voice! How can that be?



This was our white trash moment while we talked in the bed of Todd's truck. I've missed holding Brynn!

Lexus w/ Luke, Bianca, Gage (again thrilled with the camera situation)

Next to come was my sister Rachel and her family. We had numerous adventures together, one of which was our expedition to the conference center on the hottest day ever and where we baked our brains to the point that little things like Gage getting stuck in the trunk and saying, "I could use a little help here!" made us nearly pee our pants from laughing. Her youngest daughter Pyper fell in love with Tim and was not too crazy about Luke and sadly I think the feeling was mutual. They butt heads like only toddlers can. Gage was in 7th heaven using his imagination while playing with Lexus and Bianca!

Gage, Lexus w/ Pyper, Bianca w/Luke, Isaac, Eliza.

Next to come was my other brother, Nate's, family. Our first trip together was to the zoo. Their little boy Spencer ran away from this picture. You'll just have to take my word that he is pretty darn cute.

I think Bianca is going to be a model. Check out that pose.

Gage loved playing with Nate's kids just as much as he loved playing with all the others. I love how kids can go a long time without seeing each other and they easily become friends again. It melts my wee little heart. Here he is with Isaac trying to figure out where to go next.

At the zoo we saw this baby giraffe that was only 3 days old. Isn't it the cutest thing ever! The zoo lady said it grows an inch a day. Crazy.

See what I mean about models? They are already hiding behind their huge sunglasses.

Wendy, Heather, Sarah, Jess, Megan

One highlight was getting to see some girlfriends I haven't see for awhile. Nate's wife, Sarah, is the one that holds us all together so we only see each other when she is in town. These are all the girls I worked with at the Bakery and they provide some of my funniest memories from young adulthood. Love you guys!

We could not believe how much posterity we had between all of us and we were missing Megan's kids. All together we have 12 which is amazing. This was the best picture I could get because apparently all of our kids have ADD.

Nate came after his wife and kids, but just in time for my Dad's retirement party. He was man enough to hold Claire unlike another brother, who will remain nameless, who has 4 kids but claimed to be unqualified to hold her?

My dad retired, in July, from 35 years of working for church. Way to go dad! We ate dinner at his favorite restaurant, The Cowboy Grub, and presented him with a really nice watch that we had engraved. We missed Todd and his family as they had already gone home but Todd was in charge of choosing the "time-piece", don't call it a watch, cause it isn't one. It looked great and I think Dad really liked it. We had it engraved with: "With Love" along the top and "Retirement 2009" along the bottom. I came up with those words and I think it is pretty good considering it had to be short enough to fit on the back of the watch...I mean time-piece. Sidenote: My dad wears cowboy boots ever where. In fact I half suspect he sleeps in cowboys boots. Except if you'll notice from this picture the one place he doesn't wear his boots was to a cowboy restaurant? What the crap is up with that? That is the most urban I've ever seen him look.

Nate: I think if you are going to be rude enough to take someone's camera and take an obnoxious picture of yourself you should expect it to be shared.

Among some of our other activities we went Letterboxing. Which is basically finding a box that someone has hidden somewhere and stamping your notebook...almost like a passport...and stamping the hiders notebook so they have a record of who has been there. It was really fun. We found two at Silver Lake. Luke was head over heels for "Ha ha huncle Nate." They walked hand in hand through the entire hike. Nate threatened to steal him and take him home and I told him he could not have my Lukey.

Head, Gage, Eliza, Isaac, Addy, Ha ha hucle Nate

It was so fun to see everyone. I'm sure I missed recording about half of what we did but Gage and Luke sure had a lot of fun. We miss you all dearly. The house next door is still for sale....Nate? Rach? Anybody want to be my neighbor?