eleven thousand feet

I can't believe it's already the 13th! Happy Birthday Andrea! We have had a very fun week at our house, but I'm so exhausted that the blogging had to take place in my pajamas and it's 12:15 in the afternoon. My dad is from Pennsylvania and all of his family still lives back home in a tiny little county called Bedford that some of them rarely leave. Somehow my dad convinced my grandpa, who will be 80 soon, his brother and sister to come and visit us here in Utah! Grandpa and Kelly have never been on an airplane before so this really is a very big deal. My aunt Erin has visited us before but it's been six years so we were thrilled to have everyone here.

The men are all golfers (Erin is too but didn't bring her clubs), and so my dad has been in charge of entertaining the men all week. This means that they drive to different golf courses and play until they can't breathe the thin Utah air any more. Then they come home, order KFC or pizza and watch sports. :) So, we have been having a ton of girl time with my aunt Erin which has been so fun. My mom took the week off and so that has been a special treat for me too because it's been a long long time since we spent every day together doing lunch and everything else under the sun.April has been along for the ride for most of it too which is fun, unfortunately, Leah starting school was bad timing with the family visiting and so we haven't seen her as much, but hopefully more this weekend. So, to re-cap, they arrived Monday evening and we loved just sitting around mom's house talking and catching up. Tuesday was shopping and to the Outback for dinner YUM-O.

Wednesday was pedicures and lunch at Cutler's and it was way fun to have Allie along for the girl's day. She has been so patient and helpful to babysit Ethan this week that it was my treat to her to say thanks. It's crazy that she's old enough to be just one of the girls. The best was the Vietnamese lady that was bullying my mom and April into getting flowers painted on their toes. They finally relented and we got a cute picture at the end. Later that night Jake, Erin and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie and it was AWESOME! One of the best movies yet, very scary but loads of fun. Then yesterday everyone, including kids, went up to Snowbird for a day of tram rides, alpine slide, zip line and bungie jumping. I'm exhausted but it was well-worth it, the kids had a riot and it was a glorious 58 degrees up there! Way nicer than the 100 degree weather we have been facing all this month. We rode the tram to 11,000 feet and the view was absolutely breath-taking, Uncle Kelly couldn't stop taking pictures, it was great. Seeing sites like that make me love our mother earth even more and appreciate the beauty that God put into making her. In the picture of me and kids, the "V" in the mountains to the left of us is the Salt Lake Valley! Holy moly, awesome! Ok, this blog is forever long. I guess what I really want to say, is how grateful I am to be part of this family that laughs and plays hard and makes everyone feel welcome. It's been so fun to just hang out and soak up each other's good energy and to be lifted up by their smiles. I'm grateful that my kids could meet grandpa and the rest of the gang and maybe know grandma Jackie a little through them.