Cousin Time

Doug and his family were here for a summer vacation and I want to quickly capture some of the highlights of our time with them.

We went to an arcade called Nickel City where the kids earned all kinds of tickets that they turned in for cool prizes. (Anne was staying with us for a portion of the time Doug and Isabel were here. It was fun for our girls to spend time with cousins from both sides of the family and I think Anne and Anna especially enjoyed getting to know each other too!).

Looks like Meg got hold of the dishes.

And it looks like Doug got hold of Brita.

We went to Classic Skating where the kids mostly played on the inflatables. I love watching Meg run around with these big girls and just blend right in.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was putting on a performance for the 24th of July. Typically it's impossible to get tickets to these performances if you live in Utah, but because Doug lives in California, he was able to score some tickets for us! It was our girls' first time going and it was fun to share that experience with them.

Meg got her hands on Kiki:

And Kiki seems thrilled.

Then Meg turned her attention to Doug:

Then Leah jumped on board:

It didn't take long until he'd had enough:

 We went to the park one day so the kids could swing

I use the term "swing" loosely here:

Then Doug's big moment for the fireworks finally arrived. Doug is all about fireworks in July and pies for Thanksgiving and he doesn't scrimp on either.

I always enjoy the fireworks because we get to visit and just be together

...and because other people take care of my kids.

To cap it all off, we spent a few days at a cabin in Midway where we had some absolutely beautiful views.

We went to the park for a good game of kickball and it was so much fun to have my cousin Tim and his family come spend some time with us that day.

We tried to find a good hike, but that turned out to be a little bit of a flop. At least we found a nice backdrop for a photo.

We went horseback riding. It freaked me out a tiny bit, especially when Leah's horse took off on a canter unexpectedly.

We finished things off by going to Park City where we went down the Alpine Slide.

We crammed a lot of stuff into the time that our California Cousins were here, but no matter how much we do or how long they get to stay, it never seems like enough. We just say goodbye only to look forward to the next time we get to be together again.