Emmi and Carter

Lu and boys stayed for a week and we soaked up all the little boy fun we could. 

Jeanne and Christian came to town Friday and Christian brought his motorcycle which was super fun. 

Emmett didn’t want a ride, but this brave guy did. 😍 

I cooked a lot and we played a lot of games and did not take a lot of pictures. 

On Saturday the crew met up with alli in DC and they all went to the Museum of Illusion. 

They all said it was smaller than they thought it would be but still worthwhile to go once. 

They had photo opportunities where they’d tell you where to stand and what to do to create illusions. 

I had a stake relief society temple day already scheduled, so I couldn’t go. 

And then on Friday night Matt decided to go to the temple with me. He did initiatorys and then set up the refreshments in the basement break room. 

I think this one is my favorite. 👇🏻 

After the museum they all went to Cheesecake Factory - #jelly. 

And then after CF they went to a few more Smithsonians.

They stayed out all day and had such a good time. 

I love love love that they like spending time together. It’s been over a year since I had all my babes together and it was wonderful. ❤️

We had 9/40 relief society presidency members, and 2 more were planning to come but got sick. A few had to leave early and then a few went to the distribution center, so we grabbed a pic with who we had left - McKenzie, Tracie, Susanne (my new counselor!), and me. 

Bubba and Damian picked up a dozen crabs that night and we spent the evening cracking away. 

They were delicious!

Matt took Emmett to the pool - it was unseasonably cool the whole week Lu was in town, so the pool wasn’t the most fun. Emmi still loved it, but Carter, and Mimi aren’t fans of cold water swimming. 

On Sunday after church we played games and we encountered something I’ve never seen before - a stalemate where both teams had the same number on their dominos. 

We sent this to papa and he weighed in on our quandary. He voted in favor of bubba and I, because bubba was the one that blocked the game. We ended up winning. ⭐️

Emmett loved Delaney’s magic set!

Matt and Damian took a ride on bubbas bike. He said he was super nervous at first, but then it was fine. 

Since we were all together we decided to take family pictures. We quickly coordinated colors and Sunday evening was our time, only it rained and threatened to rain all afternoon and into the golden hour. It was like 90% chance of rain when we wanted to go, but it held off. We finally decided to head out with umbrellas and even though it was soupy hot, we got it done! We just went up to the school, so the girls rode in the back of bubbas truck.

Damian took our pictures and the first 2 shots were the best of the bunch. 😂 This one wasn’t included in the best category. 

Jeanne gave everyone haircuts in preparation and then jeanne straightened my hair because Lu wanted it straight, and within 5 minutes of being outside it was giant and curling rapidly. My hair is a mess! 🤣

Delaney set up her best magic show yet that night. She made awesome tickets and we had a seating chart to choose our seats. She played recorded instructions for us in English and then Spanish, and it was seriously so creative. Everyone loved it!

Bubba and jeanne made the long ride home Monday morning, right after Lexi beat all of us at Skull King. Starting in January bubba’s gonna be busy busy at school and with no time off, so I’m especially grateful they came down. 

Lexi went out with friends that night and we loved on the boys. I’m grateful I had time with them in Montana, because we all share them when they come here. 

I had wanted to read them stories and put the boys to bed that night, but the girls wanted to so I let them. We've all got to share. 

That night after 9:30 Delaney came up and told me there was a cat on our deck outside our sliding glass door. I had seen our neighbor 2 doors down had lost their cat so I told Laney to grab it. After a few minutes we finally got him inside and he flipped out - running around and meowing loud as heck. I texted Erin but she didn’t respond, so we walked him over but she didn’t answer. At this point Matt wanted to let the cat go, he is an outdoor cat, but on her Facebook post she asked I that if anyone found him to hang onto him. Adi and Emmett have pretty bad cat allergies, we don’t own a cage, and Mr. James Bigglesworth was scratching furniture and being *loud.* I replied to the post on our neighborhood page and asked if anyone could keep him for the night, and wonderful Maria came right over with her cat carrier. He was hiding under the couch, so Damian lifted it and we all tried to coax him out when Maria grabbed his scruff and showed him who was boss. She did it nicely and firmly and we’re so grateful. Erin ended up texting at 11 that she’d fallen asleep on the couch and they were all so grateful to have their cat back. It was a cray cray night!

Early Tuesday morning I took the crew back to the airport. It was a quick and wonderful trip and I miss them already!