Gigi and Madeline spent a lot of quality time with my brother Roger. He was SO great with them! He introduced Gigi to the wonderful/horrible world of being teased. He teased her so much about bugs that now whenever I mention Roger she asks, "Is he the one who likes to tease me about bugs?" She says this of course with a little smile on her face.
We spent tons of time just hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. We really enjoyed eating from Grandpa's garden...I don't think I've ever eaten so many beets! Also, they were so awesome to watch the girls so I could go to the temple 3 times! Hooray!!
We saw my wonderful friend Jacque and met her beautiful daughter, Camilla.
This was probably what Madeline enjoyed doing most. Playing in mounds of paper...kids are so funny!
I saw my cousin Brittani and her adorable kids: Makayla, Ireland and newbie Gavin. It was great to catch up.
Madeline finally saw her chair, (my mom has a tradition of getting each grandchild their own rocking chair)which she loves!! Thanks mom :)
Gigi spent time with her "boyfriend" Bjorn. It's so funny, they hadn't seen each other for almost a year, but they were still inseparable at first sight. Jess and I went to a fun children's museum with her kids, Bjorn, Matej and Kaja. Again, I didn't remember to take pictures of all of the kids together.
My cousins, Peter, Cami, and Nick with his wife Emily came over to my parents. It was so great to see them all again (of course I forgot to take pictures!), but I did take some of Gigi preparing for the event. We put her to work cutting strawberries for my dad's famous crepes while the rest of us relaxed (if you look closely you can see my dad sleeping and my mom reading the paper, classic child labor :) )
We saw Ruby, Gigi's best friend from when we were living in Illinois, who moved to Utah. Ruby and Gigi were born on the exact same day and her wonderful mom, Angie used to babysit Gigi while I worked.
My mom took us to Las Vegas to see Lizie, my brother Roger's daughter. Isn't she beautiful? She's an aspiring model. While we were there we hung out in a fabulous resort, did some outlet shopping and went to an amazing buffet where I think I gained 5lbs! Lizie spent one night at the resort with us and she and Gigi shared a room. Gigi felt SOO grown up and cool.
On the way home from Las Vegas we stopped in St. George and went to the Tuacahn outdoor theater and saw Annie. Gigi loves singing and dancing and was already a fan of the movie Annie, but now she adores Annie! The highlight was meeting Annie in person after the show. Thanks mom for taking us!!!
My cousins, Angie, Natalie (holding Adelaide), me and Brittani
We went to Gardener's Village with my aunts, Kathy and Patti and some of my cousins. It was so fun and a bit bizarre seeing all of our kids playing together. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are the names at least of everyone that went:
Patti, her daughter Angie with her 2 kids Benson and Adelaide and Patti's other daughter Natalie with her daughter London.
Kathy with her daughter Brittani and Britt's husband Chad and their kids, Makayla, Ireland and Gavin.
My mom with me and the girls.
Jess's baby Kaja and Madeline
We went and stayed the night at Jess's house and spent the next day together. They took us to an awesome jump place where Gigi amazed me by going down a really, REALLY big slide (honestly I don't think I would have attempted it). Jess's husband Leon was so sweet and watched all of the kids, minus babies, so Jess and I could have a day together. It was really great! Thanks for everything guys. We had a blast!
Gigi, Madison, Nicholas and Lisa
The last outing was to go to David's aunt and uncle's home to see family. It was so wonderful to see everyone and to introduce our kids to most of them. I enjoyed myself too much and forgot to take pictures, but we had a lot of fun. Thanks!
The people we saw:
Aunt Marion and Uncle Fred and their daughter Lisa and her husband Trey and 2 of their kids, Madison and Mckenzie. Also their dogs, they were really cute.
Silvia (David's brother Steven's wife) and her kids, Nicholas and Alexander
Melanie (David's brother John's wife) and her youngest, Tate.
Ashley (David's sister) and her husband, Jordan.
Silvia with Alex, me with Madeline and Melanie with Tate. This picture cracks me up because we all left our husbands to go back home to Utah. I guess I see now why David was nervous to marry someone from Utah :) We just like our families!
Sorry for the extremely long post, I actually cut quite a bit of pictures out (if you can believe it!). Thank you everyone for your hospitality while we were out there. My girls and I felt like royalty the entire trip. A huge thanks to my mom for flying us out, letting me use your car whenever and always footing the bill. You are the best!!!!
It was great to see you all. Now it's your turn to visit us :)
6 comments:
Looks like you had a fantastic time! Love all the pictures.
Bethany. It looks like you had a wonderful time! Was it hard to travel with two kids and no husband? I always love going back to visit family and friends. Are you still living in Philly right now? We're getting ready to move somewhere else for residency later this Spring. I hope you got our Christmas card!
Oh Beth how I love you! It was such a treat to see you and every time I dress Camilla in the outfit you gave us I think of you. Today I was watching ice skating on TV and the girl was skating to the piece you played for concerto aria and it brought back memories of the "good old days!" I hope you still play from time to time. I wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often. I still consider you a bosom friend even after all these years!
You're cousins with Natalie Benson? She's in my ward and I teach her daughter in Primary. What a small world!
Now that is a fantastic trip!!
What a post!! We loved seeing you so much and wish it was more often! I forgot to tell you on the phone today how much I LOVE the bows you made for me and thank you, thank you!
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