Nonstop

This summer has been pretty crazy so far. Mandi and the kids arrived in Boise on June 19th. I only had Thursday and Friday off. It was a mad dash to get everything ready to leave again plus have the time to see Mandi and the kids. Friday evening my cousin, Angie, stopped by to stay the night. Broden had so much fun playing with Q. I always look forward to spending time with Ang and was so glad I was home and not working. 

I headed back to work Saturday until Tuesday night. Wednesday my mom, Brandon, Broden, and I jumped in with Ryan and the kids to drive to Moses Lake. Frogley's drove up Thursday. So did Mandi and the kids. We were lucky enough to catch the Bates crew at Grandma's house before they headed to Seattle. It is a rare opportunity to get to see my cousin Mitch. I was thrilled to see him and have the chance to meet his girlfriend (who is so cute!) To celebrate Mitch being in town, a little Chico's pizza was necessary. I love any chance I get to talk with the girls but it just wasn't long enough. 

I actually convinced Brandon to go running with me Thursday morning. Then my mom joined us for the obligatory stop at Wal-mart. We also picked up some tacos from a new little Mexican place called Tacos Mi Casa. We did a little trip down memory lane and drove my two of my parent's old places. My cousin, Sam, came by Grandma's in the afternoon with her kids. We talked and the kids swam.

Late Thursday afternoon everyone else rolled into town. We were sad that Nena, Collin, Corbin and Kelsie couldn't make it. It was a somewhat impromptu get together. I didn't know about it until a few weeks before. An old family friend, Liz Muirhead, and her kids arrived from Calgary that night to join us too.

Friday the kids swam their guts out. The guys went golfing and my Uncle Dough joined them. Grandma did scones for lunch. Scones bring everyone out in full force. David, Peggy, Kylie, Pat, Lori and their kids (as well as Pat's college friend Lewis), Jeff, Becky, Kelsie and her new baby, Doug, Connie, Sam and her kids all came by to partake of the scone goodness. They all came an left around the same time and I definitely didn't have enough time to get caught up with everyone. I LOVE my family. Friday afternoon the girls went to get pedicures. 

The kids were in the pool for hours. It really made we contemplate eventually having a pool. They had such a good time. They were so worn out by that night and some of their sun burns were pretty gnarly. Broden wasn't too interested in the pool. He was, however, fascinated with the horses. He wanted to see the horses constantly. He mimicked what Brandon did to get the horses to come over. He wanted us to grab some grass/weeds and hold it over the fence while making a a kissing or clicking noise. He would join in making the noise. He wasn't too sure about the situation if the horses got too close though. 

Saturday the extended family were in and out at different times. Allie also arrived in town.  David came by ready for a mad game of pool basketball. The boys went several rounds. By the end a few of them were bleeding on their feet. Then David orchestrated a dive contest of the kids. It is amazing what kids will try when money is on the line. Sam's son, Owen, was literally doing flips off the diving board and I could tell he had never attempted that before. Beckham spent several minutes after all the other kids got out of the pool trying to learn to dive so he could qualify for the $5 payout. I love David. He's so much fun! Overall, a lot of good food and good company. 

The weekend flew by. My dad got up early to drive me to Pasco so I could catch a flight back to Minneapolis Sunday morning. As we were deplaning in MSP someone said "Hey Earl." It was a guy that graduated with Ryan. Small world. Of course, I can't remember his name. I need a year book to remember. 

I worked Sunday through Wednesday and then flew straight to LAX. Brandon and Broden met me down there. Dennis picked us up from the airport. He brought my nieces, Pyper and Prestly, with him. We drove to my sister-in-law, Mindy's, new house. They were literally moving in that day. The moving truck was still their when we arrived. We had a grand tour of the house. It is beautiful and has a big back yard for California. We are so excited for them. We ordered some dinner and watched a movie.

The 4th of July we went to the beach. Broden mostly played in the sand and loved following the birds. Pat and Mindy's friends, Bow and Maressa joined us with their kids too. We didn't leave until around 5:30pm. Then we showered, changed and went to a BBQ at Bow's house. Broden passed out at 6pm. He slept through the BBQ and fireworks. There is a really nice hotel called the St Regis. It puts on a big firework display for it's guests. We went to the golf course just below the hotel where they launch the fireworks to watch the show. It was an awesome show and getting in and out logistically was a piece of cake. I'm sad Broden missed them. He was just so tired. 

Friday Brandon and Pat went to track down some shelving for the garage. Then Brandon, Broden, and I went to visit Rob and Heather Cowdell. They were in our ward in Tustin. We then stopped by Adolfo's house. He bought a new house a year ago in city of Orange. It is a historical home and has a 1/2 acre lot. He gave us a tour of the property. We chatted for a few minutes and then hit the road again. Next, we went to Greg and Becky Linton's house in Chino Hills. Greg had to work but Becky and the kids were around. I always have fun spending time with Becky. It was really nice getting caught up. Then we headed to Brandon's Dad's place for a BBQ. Pat and Mindy came too. We stayed the night at his Dad's and then Dennis took us to the airport Saturday morning. We had considered staying Saturday. I would have to take the red eye back to Minneapolis and Brandon would have to do a connecting flight. We decided that taking the direct flight back to Boise Saturday morning would be better. That gave us Saturday to do laundry, get some groceries, work in the yard and pack up for work again. We were also able to fry up some bacon and water chestnuts in memory of Kemy. This was one of her favorites so it's our tradition to make them every year on her birthday. 

It was a blessing to be able to spend the 4th of July holiday weekend together and with Brandon's family. It had been 9 months or so since we had seen Pat, Mindy and the girls. It was a lot of craziness in the last few weeks but it is all well worth it!