Family

Did I tell you that my mother came to visit?  No?!  Okay. My mother came to visit.  

So did my brother. For a whole week!  It had been over a year since I'd seen them.

And my other brother and one of my sisters came to visit too, though just for one night.

It was wonderful.  They melded into our little home like... well, like they were family.

We made no big plans. Life just kind of happened.

Like Aubrey's trip to the ER an hour after they arrived.

We thought she'd need stitches. The ER doc thought some "purple magic", aka glue, would do just fine.  The handful of stickers sure helped too.

We brought them to our favorite store here in Flagstaff - Bookmans.

We shopped ourselves silly, or sore rather, two or three times in the course of that week my mom was here.  It was a lot of fun. Especially when something like a box of donuts in the Walmart aisle became funny enough to send us into a fit of laughter.

My brother's birthday is today (Happy Birthday Peyton!). So while he was here, we had a cake, or rather birthday brownies, for him.

He was a lot of help while he was here. He watched the boys for us, helped on Aubrey's ER trip, entertained Elaina numerous times, and even helped me in the backyard.

Before they left, Dean and I took advantage of the extra adults around and got out alone on Saturday morning. It was extra nice since he had been away for a long weekend with his own family in Minnesota to remember his sweet Grandma who recently passed away. 

We went on a hike then headed downtown for some brunch.

I think only when your company is your mother do you leave your company babysitting your kids. ;)

Thanks Mom!

We will miss you like crazy.