Quick Skip Ahead in Time...

...and then, I'll jump back and finish December.  Sometime.

Just after Christmas, our awesome friends, the Nordstroms, came down to CA to visit family.  We had met at Wymount, when their girls were just wee little toddlers (younger than Carson).  

We moved to Colorado, and they moved to Indiana, and then Nashville, so our visits were few and far between.  But, while we were still in CO, they moved back to Utah!  They drove through Denver on their move back, and we loved seeing them.  Then, we would come see them every time we went to Utah to see our family.

Let's complicate the story a little bit more, and we moved to California.  San Diego was just far enough, that it wouldn't make sense to get together when they came to visit their family.  :(  But, then, we moved to Orange County, which, meant we could meet in the middle when they came down.

And, that's exactly what we did!

It was kind of (okay, it really was) a last minute thing, so we met at Islands in Corona.

And, after a yummy dinner (I love their tortilla soup!), we realized we weren't done hanging out.  But, we were in Corona.  There weren't any malls close.  So, we improvised.  

We walked across the parking lot and sat on the patio furniture inside Lowe's.  For about an hour and a half.  Carson tried out every chair and couch (and rug!).  And, just to be safe, Megan made a purchase, so we weren't officially loitering.  But, by the looks of all the employees that walked by us, we clearly weren't an unusual sight.  Most people meet up with old college friends at the Corona Lowe's, right?  

Thanks, Nordstroms, for coming to see us!  Next time, let's plan on the lake!  

The High, The Low, and Everything In Between

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Utah with my parents and sisters and their families.  We had a great trip.

The High (temperature): 38 degrees, on our way home, just outside Grand Junction
The Low (temperature): -16 degrees (yes, you read that correctly), for a potty stop in Vail (great timing, Sadie!)

Now, for the actual trip:

Aren't Colorado mountains beautiful??  Now, if only Denver looked as picturesque as this...

We were up at 4:30 am, on the road by 5:15, and by the time we finished Thanksgiving dinner, dessert, and playing with cousins, it was past 10 o'clock!  Both of the girls were asleep within moments of laying them down!

I found these reindeer antlers at the dollar store and they were too cute to pass up!  I wish I had gotten a picture of all the kids wearing them together!

The entire weekend, these 4 girls played together so well.  We didn't have one issue at all and they spent A LOT of time together! It was so great to see them just enjoying their time together and having a blast!

At Thanksgiving Point, there's a Dinosaur Museum.  There's a sand and water part (I have to admit, I was very skeptical when we entered the room.  I was prepared for a bunch of messy kids!) and the kids just loved it!  Ben walked around collecting all the dinosaurs and lining them up!  He got so upset, though, when the water washed them out of his reach!  Poor guy!

Morgan worked on her Dinosaurs' "home" as she called it, very intently and was proud to show off her work!

After the sand and water part, you go into a room filled with sand and dinosaur bones.  Each of the kids grabbed a paintbrush and started searching for dinosaurs!  Here's Morgan and Afton.

This is a picture of Mei.  I included this one mostly for my sister.  After a long night, she stayed home while my dad, Brian, and I took all the kids to the museum.  Afton and Mei insisted on wearing their skirts, and I wasn't up to fighting them on it.  

On Friday, when we first met Baby Jack at dinner, Sadie was very jealous.  In fact, while I was holding him, she came over to me, started pushing him away and squeezed herself between me and Jack.  Then, she proceeded to push him onto the table, over to anyone else who would hold him.  She wasn't sharing her mom!
Later that night, I asked her if we could take him to our house and she even offered her bed for him to sleep in, but still wouldn't come near him.
This picture is from Sunday afternoon (the next time we saw the Jones').  Sadie walked in the door and said, "I hold "duck" (Jack)!  I hold!"  She screamed when Alex took him away to feed him a bottle!

 Morgan got a chance to hold him, too (barely).

We stopped by the Nordstrom's on Sunday night and Morgan discovered the dress up box!  Here she is in her "wedding" dress!  And, no, she's not kneeling--it's about 2 feet too long!  She was tripping all night!

Here are the girls.  It's amazing how they can have 3 years' age difference, and go over a year without seeing each other and still have a blast playing and enjoying the company!

We had a fabulous vacation!  I just realized I forgot to get a pic of our stop in Grand Junction to see the Deans and the Wrights, but we loved seeing you guys, too!

It's Always Fun...

...when the Nordstroms come!

Our good friends, Steve and Megan Nordstrom, and their girls, Kathryn and Juliana, are moving back to Provo from Nashville, so they stopped to see us for a couple of days (and to take a break from the road). We had lots of fun! We're so glad they're back in the west!

Morgan and Megan rocking out on the keyboard! Look at Morgan's stylin' shades!

Steve and the girls enjoying a book on the front porch.

Here's all of us! The crazy thing is, when we met, the girls were younger than Morgan! Now they're in kindergarten!!!! How time flies!