Fun with Sorensens and the Seattle Jolleys

Right after Black Butte, we were greeted back home by the Sorensens! Have you seen my babies lately?? THEY ARE NOT BABIES ANYMORE!!! They are all grown up. It really is so fun to get to know them at every stage of their lives, even though it would be ok with me if they all stopped growing right now. Bethany drives. That ought to blow your mind! Nick is this super handsome, ladies man, high schooler! Ben continues to be the comedy of the family. I've always loved that boy so much. Bella and I share a deep love for Justin Bieber. She's clearly a smart girl. But seriously, she is really smart. And Joshie is precious. I love every chance I get to play with him. It was so fun to see them even though it was quick. I don't get to see Mel enough and love every chance I get. I hope to be even half the mother she is.

Immediately after the Sorensens drove away, I got in the car with Jill & kids for a week in Seattle. I was really looking forward to this as well because I haven't had a chance to play with the boys in way too long, I have been totally ROBBED with my Erica time, and I see Darren occasionally, but never Jill! Well the trip did not disappoint. If you want to talk about imaginations, these boys have it DOWN. Not to mention they are little smarties! There were multiple times where I had to stop and think if I even know what they were talking about because it was so advanced! We did all kinds of fun things! Downtown Seattle, zoo,the boys came home from Knight Camp in awesome armor, played outside, and most fun for me... watched Erica learn how to walk!

I nearly stuck her in my bag and took her to Hawaii with me. I love this girl. She finally learned to love me too. That there was worth the trip! She was SOO adorable. She was so proud of herself for standing up and taking little steps. And for good reason! One night, Darren & Jill went to a movie. Erica stayed up until 10:30 just snuggling me and staring at me. She would NOT let me put her to bed. She just tolerated me until her mom got home. It was so cute! haha!

Thank you, thank you for a great week!It was long overdue and very fun. I miss you all already!

Black Butte

Marc and Connie were so awesome to share their favorite place with us. Black Butte is a ranch/resort dealy by Sisters, Or. It is beautiful! And there is so much fun stuff to do. 4 great swimming pools, bike riding, deer running all over the place, canoeing, and beautiful homes perfect for a family gathering. It was so wonderful to spend time with my parents, some of my siblings and their beautiful children. I truly could watch those kids play all day. They are HILARIOUS! I'm kind of obsessed with the little girls right now because they're the only ones who aren't getting all big on me. And then... then... there's Cameron. It was sooo fun to get to snuggle him all week!

Some of my favorite things of the week:

-Winning every single game of Scrabble. Thank you, thank you very much.

-The kids excitement over the awesome crafts mom planned for every day.

-Easton telling my mom EVERY detail of how to play is imaginary Mario game. This took about at hour.

-Snuggling Cameron.

-Staying up late catching up with family.

-My sweet husband driving 2 hours each way, 3 times throughout the week to see everyone.

-Bike Ride!

-Carly trying to steal food from Erica and Erica shewing her away.

-Watching the little boys play ping pong.

-Jill's amazing patience in working on swimming with the boys.

-I could go on & on

It was a wonderful week in a beautiful location. Thanks everyone for all the fun!!

Much Apologies

You can always know when someone is off having the time of their life. It's when they ditch their blog for a month. That's what I've been doing. Since my last post, I've spent a week at Black Butte, had a quick/fun visit with the Sorensen family, spent a week in Seattle, and then spent a week in Hawaii. There's so much to share and I can't wait to do it :)

We're safely back in Utah after the best summer ever imaginable. We were very sad to leave Oregon and all the fun at home with Mom & Dad. But, the good news is, we've missed all of our friends here SO much and we're so happy to see them again. I think Steph and I have been talking for like 2 days straight and I love it.

I promise I will share all of our fun adventures with you. But for now, I'm off to finish reading The Help until I fall asleep. I'll leave you with the image that I fall asleep to every night... our view in Maui. It feels like a dream.