Colorado Part l : Family

For Memorial Day Weekend we drove out to Colorado, a brave thing to do with 2 little kids! Our main purpose in going was for Will's little sister Hannah's high school graduation.

We had a great time with family. It was the first time all the kids were together in a very very long time (between 3 missions, one sibling going to school and Hawaii, and one sibling being born only 4 years ago, it gets to be a pretty tricky thing!)

Here's some highlights from our trip:

Grandpa and Grammy (Will's mom and step dad) with baby Lincoln
Grandma Carol and Lincoln
Me and my Darling Boy

Reagan had SO much fun. She would be gone for like an hour just playing (something that doesn't happen very often at home, she usually wants me to play or be involved in everything she is doing) but there was so much to do:

She LOVED the piano
LOVED playing with Aunt Rachel (crazy that she's her Aunt, hahaha) They have so much fun together!!! As you can tell from the picture, Reagan really looks up to her Aunt. Rachel is the perfect age for Reagan's playmate because she loves playing with older kids. She likes to follow them around and try to do the things they do.

They kept ringing the doorbell and Rachel would say "Who's there?" This was a perfect game for Reagan because she will often walk up to perfect stranger's houses and try to ring their doorbell when we're taking walks! It's just so enticing!
Reagan loved playing with all of Rachel's cool toys! It's not like kids don't have toys at home but someone else's toys that are completely new to them is like the greatest thing ever. She especially loved the vacuum cleaner and lawn mower. She literally pulled every single book Rachel owns off the shelf and ran, carrying it with an air of utmost importance, into the living room to plop it down, forming a massage heap of books for Omi to pick up. She was on a mission! And wouldn't let anyone stop her. She is hilarious when she gets so busy like that! If someone would try to interrupt her she would put her hand out to push them away and with a huge smile say, "no!"
Rachel and Reagan also had a ball in the bath tub filling up pots and pouring them out and playing with all the bath animals. I wish I had gotten a picture of that in action!

Making cinnamon rolls with Omi. They were delicious, thanks Mel!
Just waking up! Reagan and Uncle John, whom she loves!

Our little family. I love to see pictures of us all together. There is a saying in my family, "Just like a real family." It came from the mouth of a little Robin when my parents were dating. My dad and mom were ice skating and Robin, holding my mom's hand looked up at her and said, "This is just like a real family!" How sweet. I'm so grateful we are a real family!!! And a family forever! But seeing pictures of Will and I with our two kids makes me feel like we are a real family and I LOVE it!

We had a lot of fun playing outside in the front yard. Will taught Reagan how to play soccer. He kept telling Reagan to "kick" the ball, to which she would immediately pick up the ball and hand it to Will! He would say, "no kick it" and she immediately pick it up and hand it to him again. Then it clicked, "Oh, hit the ball with your foot" and she KICKED IT!!! It's so easy to forget that their vocabulary is ever growing and she had never heard the word kick before! hahaha. She had a great time kicking it and actually did a great job dribbling the ball around the yard (I got it on our video camera, it was too cute!)

Emma.

This picture perfectly captures Will's sister Emma, she is always quietly serving and she is GREAT in the kitchen! She is going to be the most incredible wife and mother!

Will used some vacation time to enjoy some video games (something he does not do at home because I absolutely hate video games!), looks like Reagan liked it too!

Reagan and Opa. She sure loves him. Sometimes she would walk straight passed me and plop down in his lap. I was sure demoted this weekend and it was great!