Family Time

As said, we did feel our trip was a good mix of activity and down time.  I think we got out of the house every day to do a little something, but as I mapped out these blog posts, I realized the best and most pictures I had were just of us sharing a meal or the kids playing together. We had lots of time to do this and I think their opportunity to reconnect became one of our favorite things about this trip.

Chris and Karen treated the whole family to an amazing Chinese feast after we had our pictures taken.  The girls were brave in trying lots of new foods, discovering many they liked, and hanging in there with the chopsticks!

Kristen took us all to see the movie Inside Out, which I can't say enough good about!  Fantastic movie (possibly one of Pixar's best?) and soooooo fun to sit in a  movie theater row with your 7 cousins!

One cool, but strange, thing for us on this visit was seeing Mom and Dad's new place for the first time!  This year they sold the big home Dave and his siblings grew up in and moved to a smaller condo.  Their new home is lovely and we're happy to see how much they love it.  We were also happy to spend several days taking advantage of the pool they now have!

Just for the sake of taking a stroll down Memory Lane, one night before dinner with Kris and Kyle we took a stroll around Grau Mill.  This was a place we grew up visiting and it was fun to head back.  Fun, that is, until the mosquitoes started eating us alive and we had to make a mad dash back to the safety of our car!

After church on Sunday we were able to spend some time with Dave's grandma.  We loved sitting around her, hearing stories about her mother-in-law, Ella's namesake.

Uncle Chris is also a chef!  He kept the incredible food flying as we stayed with them!  One morning he made a crepe-extravaganza for us!  Above, Delia gives the s'mores crepe a huge thumbs up.

For game-playing one night, our oldest children baked us cookies.

There were lots of piano performances!  Another performance we loved, but I have no pictures of was the Improv Show our kids put together for us.  With Aidan's sound effect app, Theoren's crazy costumes, and Delia on the drum set doing rim shots, it was legitimately funny!  

Lots of cuddle time with Aunties!

And games!  We played games every single day and night!

The kids had a movie night in Aidan's cool loft lounge.  Another night they all camped out together on the big sectional couch in the basement for a sleepover (which the girls will tell you was their favorite moment).  These quality times at home are truly what made the trip so great.  We're so grateful for all the hospitality and time our people shared with us!