Busy Bees

Last week was one of the busiest I've had in a while! To start the week off, Clarke and Charlotte came to visit for a few days. They were passing through as part of a road trip to Boston, and we were excited to be right on their way. It's always fun to hang out with family.

A few hours after they left on Wednesday, Sydney and I headed down to Marietta for a mid-week family reunion (minus Spencer and Dan) at Wendy's house. It was my first time visiting them in their new place, and they hadn't seen Sydney since last Thanksgiving.

Their beautiful home.

I was a bit frazzled when we arrived because Sydney had been screaming for the last hour of our drive. Wendy and all the kids were waiting outside for us when we got there.

Mom, Dad, Shauna, and James came the following morning.

Allison and Elayna.

Allison was cracking me up because she asked Shauna lots of personal questions about her being pregnant (reminiscent of Dallin's fertilization question he asked me a few Christmases ago). Shauna eventually told her she didn't feel comfortable talking about it. Elayna loved brushing my hair. She has definitely made the jump from toddler to big kid since the last time I saw her.

Little Riley loved holding Sydney.

I told all the girls that my rules for holding Sydney were: 1.) they had to sit down when holding her, and 2.) I had to be nearby. Riley kept asking my why they had to sit down (after all, she has been holding her younger siblings for years). I just had to tell her it was because Sydney is my baby so I get to make the rules for holding her. I'm sure I threw the word "paranoia" in my explanation somewhere too.

James loved playing with his cousins, and he also loved playing that guitar!

Dallin and Dad spent lots of time in the basement playing the Wii. I can't believe Dallin is almost 9 years old.

Me, Sydney, & Shauna.

On Friday morning, Wendy, Shauna, and I went downtown to check out some cute shops. It was fun to hang out with my sisters, and I got lots of ideas for stuff I could totally make myself.

James was having a ball enjoying lots of free rides on this horse. Sydney and I headed home after we were done shopping.

On Saturday we went to the Lake Farm Park in Kirtland. Since Spencer is on active duty right now, our whole family totally got in free! It was "Working Dog Weekend," so there were tons of people there showing off their dogs. Spencer spent lots of time trying to convince me that we need one :) I hardly took any pictures, but here are the few we managed to get:

This picture doesn't do that bunny justice. It was the fattest, hugest rabbit I have ever seen!

Family pic.

We had lots of fun and look forward to going again! After such a busy week, I was certainly grateful for a day of rest on Sunday. I enjoyed a nice long nap after church :)