A Shared Day & Family Ties

 My Dad was working out of town the week we came in and let us pick up his car in Vegas and drive it up to Utah for our time up there.  He ended up getting off for the weekend and since we didn't want to cut our time in Utah short, he flew into SLC and met us.  Meanwhile, my Mom drove up from Nevada to SLC with my sister in law who had been down visiting for the week at her house.  It was super sweet of my Dad to make those arrangements just to get to spend more time with us.  After he got in from the airport we met up for breakfast at Mimi's (a favorite of all of ours- I am pretty sure we introduced it to them:)  Then we went to get a tour of my sister in laws house.  I caught this picture of the kids and Grandpa down in the basement watching cartoons.  You can't tell in this picture, but Stephen was pulling on Grandpa's ear, patting his head, leaning his elbows on Grandpa's head as an arm rest and all sorts of funny things as he mindlessly watched tv.  It was SO SO cute!

After heading back to Salt Lake we checked out a beautiful new shopping area and Grandpa treated the kids to the Ben & Jerry Shop, Yum!  Then Becky's family met us and we headed to temple square by light rail--that was a fun treat for my kids--any mass transit is cool to them. 

I think this just might be my favorite picture of the entire trip. 

I love the personality in this one--Stephen dashing forward instead of cooperating for the picture...

Haha, so cute!!! 

Grandpa & Natalie!

Grandma B didn't come with us, so I thought it would be cool to take a picture of ALL her Grandchildren together.  I thought these turned out pretty good except Melinda wasn't feeling well and didn't want to smile.

I love this one with the interaction between Natalie & Stephen going on, if only Melinda was smiling it would be adorable.

Another cute one!

This statue of Christ was my favorite thing to see as a kid.  We loved to come see the Christmas lights at Temple Square every year and there was no better feeling than walking up the spiral walkway that looks like space and coming in and seeing this statue.  Stephen loved it all too.  He was having a hard time containing himself and not being as quite as he should be--but it was so precious how excited he was when he saw this statue, he started exclaiming, "Jesus, Jesus, Mom it's Jesus....it's SO beautiful!"

This picture of the two cousins is just so pretty!

I couldn't pick which shot I liked better--the bad part of having an awesome, fast camera.

Stephen in heaven with his namesake--he wanted to hold onto the bars SO badly and this was a perfect chance--even more fun than he originally envisioned!

All tired out for the drive back home, so precious sleeping.

My niece Aubrianna sleeping in the car with Stephen. 

My Dad's family had a get together that night at a local park and it was such a great chance to get together and see everyone.  My Aunt whose husband passed away around ten years ago and has raised five little girls on her own, just got re-married two weeks before.  It was so fun to see her so happy.  For some reason I forgot to pull out my camera until the end when almost everyone had gone.  But it was a great evening to catch up with family.  This picture is with my cousins son Owen- he is the cutest kid ever.  David and I couldn't get over how adorable he was- a lot of it was his calm, confident personality and how cute are those glasses.  His Mom told me he picked them out himself and insisted on them.

My cousin Jeremy introduced David and I when we were teenagers.  David went to high school with Jer and Jeremy and I were always favorite cousins.  I worked at Jer's Dad's printing shop as a teenager so I was around more often and hung out.  So we have Jeremy to thank for setting us up!  We love Jeremy's wife Nicole- she is AMAZING!!  When they got married we were so excited, David was friends with her in high school and knew she would be great for him.  It is so great to see the people you care about happy. 

I love that Becky's family is always so willing to spend time with my family and vice-versa--so we don't always have to pick.  I think that is a pretty special thing. 

More games with Becks!!  Stephen was in LOVE with this little dog game and had SO much fun. 

My favorite thing was after the game Becky pulled out a project- making plates.  It turned out to be such a blast and mine became quite the drama.  We stayed up (oops) until 2 am laughing and with them helping coach me on the artwork for my plate--a had a vision in mind and wanted it to be perfect.  I am not an artist and didn't want to mess it up.  I think we all had the giggles and it was such a good time.  I will LONG remember that evening and now I will have a plate to remind me of it.