Remember July?

Way back in ol' July, I flew back west to visit my family. We fly into Utah, and it was me flying solo with my three little chiltens. It was sorta miserable, but I won't harass you with those details--because there isn't a lot to detail besides, it was just miserable. We arrived in Utah and spent a couple of days with Cody parent's in Utah, where my kids enjoyed playing with Grandma and playing with their cousins.

Cody's parents have a chicken coup and naturally my kids thought collecting the eggs was quite possibly the coolest thing they had ever done. Here is Morgan and her cute cousin, Lyric, before the collecting began (thank goodness). My kids had a great time, and I also had a good time getting to see my brother and sister-in-laws and some nieces and nephews.

After a couple days at my in-laws, I drove with my sister from Utah to Washington, with six of our little kids jammed in the back of her van. Again, slightly miserable, but Monica makes everything more enjoyable. She is so fun to talk to- we talked the ten hour trip, non-stop, and I was a little hoarse the next day. Good times.

We spent a week at my family's house, where all my siblings had gathered for a family reunion. Again, just so much fun being with family- i love my family, the girls loved their cousins. It was so much fun. Our theme this year was Cowboys and Indians, so my mom made cowboy outfits for the boys, and Indian outfits for the girls, which were so darn cute it almost made me pee my pants. Almost. We had a scavenger hunt that we based off the Oregon Trail game (remember? from fifth grade?? So Awesome). And there was lots of swimming and slip-n-sliding. And some giant radish eating.
But I am a bit shocked to say no scotch-a-roos this year. What??

After our delightful week, we drove back to Utah (more miserable than the drive up) and then we spent a quick afternoon visiting friends, and then went back to my in-laws, where even more of my nieces and nephews had arrived and we had a birthday with all the cousins.


It was lots of fun to see them there altogether. And then the next day, we flew back home to Alabama (which again was miserable).

I'm kind of a whiner.

I love being with my family so much and this trip just wasn't long enough. I felt like each time I was leaving somebody to go to the next place, that I just wasn't ready to go yet. I spent too much time traveling and not enough time with family and friends. At one point, I called Cody when I was on the road going from one home to the other, crying, because I was sad about there not being enough time to see everyone I wanted to and just take my time rather than rushing around. But I was also very glad to be home with Cody again once the trip ended.

All my friends and family just need to move down to my neighborhood with me. I think that is just going to be the best solution.

(I don't know if Glamour Shots still exists, but Claire is ready for her close-up)