the fam.

the four lovely days we spent with our family were a blast.
the weather was perfect, the food was plentiful and the smiles all around.
every morning, the kids would wake up and ask, "what time are our cousins coming over again?"
they could not wait to have more kids around to play with, laugh with, follow around like little puppies.

my aunt sue is so special to me.
i'm pretty sure she knows it already, but i feel closer to her than anyone (besides my own mom) and she is one of my most favorite people on the planet.
no doubt.


she's loud, she's proud, she's smart and funny.
she laughs at herself. and i admire her.

my cousin jessica was my very best friend growing up.
we are now both super busy working moms and rarely get the chance to see each other.
and that's really unfortunate because when she was here, it felt like no time had even passed since we saw each other last.


she is such an amazing mom. i watched her while she told stories about her boys and all the while, she beamed.
she's proud of them, she loves them, she loves being with them.
she and her husband are in love. that's obvious too.
they are adorable together.
they are living a wonderful life together and without sounding too mushy here, i am so proud of what they have become.
successful, funny, cool, happy, loving parents.
i wish we lived closer. i can only imagine the fun we would have together.

the boys were on their best behavior.
they were kind and patient with my younger, more needy kids.
josh and colby hit it off right away. they are clones of each other.


moonie was holding back the whole time. he wanted to tell jokes and get the party started, but he held back. (but that didn't stop him one second from yelling "ROLL TIDE!" at everyone)


and tyler, oh my goodness. tyler is 14 and six feet tall. he is practically grown.
he was very patient with the little ones, even when ben pulled his pants down and took off his pullup and pranced around the backyard naked.

the only thing that i could complain about is that no one wanted their picture taken. i literally have five pictures. FIVE! no one wanted their picture taken. don't they know me at all?!


so i have to apologize to my lovely family for posting such bad pics.
that's all i had.
next time we get together, we are all going to coordinate outfits and take a big family picture.
just kidding! :)

i guess i figured out a couple of important things while they were here.
a couple of really important things.

1. one drink is enough to make my dad spout off dirty rhymes. let him have two, and then the little kids need to go to bed.
2. laughing burns a lot of calories. and eventually makes your cheeks hurt.
3. frogs say "ribbit", not grasshoppers.
4. chocolate peanut butter mousse is pure evil. (especially when i finished it off for breakfast. then it is pure super evil!)
5. one visit every four or five years isn't cutting it.
6. our family rocks.