Two weeks ago, my parents, Maggie, and I left all my boys at home and made the insane road trip over a weekend to go visit some of my family and love on my little nephews whom I still hadn't yet met. This trip included Utah and Idaho, as well as lots of yummy food, lots of laughter, and lots of snuggling with my adorable nieces and nephews. I decided to post a few of the pictures (there were LOTS) here on my blog for safekeeping.
Of course, our trip coincided with my sister Molly's visit from college--she got there just in time to hang out for a few hours before we left.
Maggie loves getting kisses...
I love the joy in this pic!!
Being the only niece who lives locally has its perks:
Like getting totally spoiled by your teenage aunts.... Maggie looks like she doesn't mind too much, though.
Maggie was a TROOPER--for a two year old who spent over 30 hours total in the car, she did great!! Never any crying in the car, and she had a blast with all of her cousins!
These three were inseparable. It was so fun to watch.
We went to an animal museum on BYU campus, which was a fun diversion for my little girl who was a little tired of being cooped up in a car at that point. She had a blast!! (and you'll have to excuse my post-traveling hair/lack of makeup). We took a picture in front of the giraffe and sent it home to Steve--giraffes are his favorites. Because they're tall and have long necks...like his wife. :)
Bugs!!
Sadly, my phone died while we were in Provo, so this is the only picture I got of my newest little nephew, Baby G. Isn't he adorable?!?! I just could have held him all day long...those cheeks are so precious! (also, I'm sure my mom will want me to include the caveat that this picture was taken after us driving all night to arrive in Provo at 6:00 in the morning, so if she looks a little tired, that may be why).
While we were in Provo, we visited Shiloh and Danica's ward, and Maggie had a blast with a new nursery, while I had a blast actually sitting in Relief Society and listening to a lesson (can't tell you how long it's been since that's happened!).
When I went to pick up Maggie from the nursery, the leader stopped me and said, "Your daughter sat in a tupperware tub and read for 20 minutes straight!! I thought it was so cute that I had to take a picture!"
She got my phone number and sent it to me, and I agreed...it was pretty cute. Of course, I'm biased.
Note the "I am a child of God" choking hazard necklace they gave her that she refused to take off for three days straight (although I drew the line at her sleeping with it on):
After church and a quick lunch, we headed up to Idaho to see the other newest nephew, Aidan. He, also, is cute and adorable and soft and wonderful and sweet-smelling and absolutely everything a newborn baby should be....
And Maggie was absolutely smitten with him (again, note the necklace...)
I love this picture--my parents with four of their 10 grandchildren--definitely a joyful situation, but not the most picturesque...
But so much fun. I really do have adorable nieces and nephews.
While we all missed little Alma, I felt that he was probably enjoying watching the fun, as well.
Grandpa Flake with baby Aidan...
I wanted some pictures (now that I had a working phone again), so I asked my brother Jayze to take a picture of me with NaElle and Noah, two of my Idahoan siblings.
I later looked through my phone and realized that Jayze took no fewer than three DOZEN shots of this picture (including action shots where Ty insisted on being included and NaElle had to pick him up), but for the sake of brevity in this post, I've included only one.
My brother is quite the prankster.
Here I am with the very tired parents of a newborn baby... but it was wonderful to see them so happy again.
NanaDee and Grandpa with their youngest grandchild...
NanaDee claimed the majority of the baby holding time over this trip, but I couldn't really resent her for it. After all, the role of Grandma trumps Aunt every time. As it should. :)
We brought pizza, because every starving college student will appreciate free food any time it's offered, right?
Although I conceded that Grandma role trumps Aunt, I still claimed my own fair share of Aidan time. There's just something so powerful and sweet about holding a newborn.... remind me not to get baby hungry, okay? :)
Since Noah lives up in Idaho, he gets many of his own opportunities to see and hold baby Aidan, so he took upon himself the role of Toddler Whisperer--which he was pretty good at, too....it's fun to see how much Crue and Ty absolutely adore him.
Tuesday morning, we got up and made the 15-hour drive back home, which made this trip completely exhausting (my mom even brought out the big guns--Dr. Pepper--for the trips), but also completely worth it.
So grateful for family, new babies, and excuses to see each other!
Comments