The rest of the trip

  As I mentioned in my previous post I helped Dad drive his car home from Phoenix to Seattle.  We broke the trip up into two days of course, and took a day off to spend with my brother Phil, his wife Heather, and their two boys Maddux and Aidan.  The last time I saw my nephews was at Chris and Alex's wedding in November, so we were overdue for a visit.  We had a great day.  I got to see some awesome homemade Lego movies, and one of them even had a trailer too.  Aidan also showed me almost all the Lego sets that he and Maddux have.  We had breakfast at the boys favorite place IHOP and Grandpa took them to the new Planes movie while I got to hang out with Phil and Heather.  Then that night we went and had cake at a place called The Chocolate in Orem.  I had some pretty good yellow cake there.  It was great to spend time with everyone, and I hope next time Daryl and the kids can be with me for some silly cousin fun.

Maddux and Aidan

My pregnant self and the boys at The Chocolate.  Aidan loves to do silly poses for pictures.

I love those cheesy smiles!

Aidan is quite the character and always has something to say.

Meeting Hudson

    My sister Alex had her handsome little guy on the July 10th, and I was lucky enough to fly out on the 18th to go visit him.  This was a week after we moved, but I managed to get the house ready enough for my absence.  Hudson was 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19.5 inches long when he was born, so he was cute and tiny when I met him.  I was so happy that I got to see him shortly after he was born, and without my children.  I know it would have been fun for them to hang with their cousins, but the trip was so much more enjoyable for me personally.  Without the kids I was really able to have some quality time with Hudson.  

  My parents had already driven down earlier and my Mom wanted to stay a while.  Dad needed to be home sooner though.  I stayed through the weekend, and then I helped my Dad drive back to Seattle with a layover at my brother's house in Lehi (that will be another post). In the meantime enjoy these pictures of hanging out with Alex and her husband Chris and their kiddos Sam, Addison, and Hudson (I managed to not get a picture of oldest girl Mackenzie). As well as my sister DeAnna and her husband Brad.

We held up this X-box controller for scale.

Hudson with a doll that is supposed to look like Russell Wilson. 

DeAnna and Hudson

Alex, Chris, and Hudson

Addison

Sam looking very dapper with crossed legs and hands off to one side.

This is apparently what happens when you leave your camera unattended at our sister's house.  Selfies with the dog.

And you get pictures of both the cats.  Here's Corona.

And little Cracker.

Vampire Baby

   Emery finally decided to double her chewing pleasure and grew two teeth up top.  Except her eye teeth came in before any of her front teeth, so she kind of looks like our vampire baby.  She's such a funny girl.  Enjoy the couple other silly pictures.

Emery really is our giant couch potato

All Moved In

  Last Friday was moving day for us, and now about a week later the main floor of our home is more or less set up.  The girls have been great about moving.  Avery tells me all the time that she loves this house and doesn't want to go back to our other house.  She especially loves her all pink bathroom.  The house was built in 1957 and you can tell in that bathroom.  The kitchen and master bathroom were updated, but the rest of the house hasn't changed much.  The basement in particular I think still smells like 1957 down there.  We like to think of this house as our giant storage locker since the basement has a lot of space that is pretty much only good for storing stuff rather than to be used as living space.  

The family room

It's a pretty good kitchen

The dining area with a deck off of it.

The master bathroom

Avery and Harper's room

Emery and new baby's room

The pink bathroom

Don't be jealous of this pink tub with the pink fake marble surround.

The laundry room

The basement

Basement storage room

The master bedroom

Questionable basement bathroom

Fourth of July Weekend

   We were happy to have my sister Nellie and her two girls Reagan and Ashlyn come visit us this Fourth of July to help celebrate our Dad's birthday.  It was also Ashlyn's eighteenth birthday on the third, so we celebrated that as well.  Due to Aunt Joanne's fall we weren't sure what was going to happen this last weekend, but we were all pleased that she was doing well enough that Mom, Dad, Aunt Dianne, and my cousin Lisa came over Friday and Saturday.  

   On the Fourth we got together for a barbecue and cake for my Dad.  Daryl and I were also lucky to have a brief visit from his cousin Michael and his family.  We wish had more time, but it was nice to see them in the first time in a while.

  Saturday we had brunch at Salty's on Alki with everyone including Adam and Angie of course too.  After brunch Dad, Aunt Dianne, and Lisa left to go be with my Aunt Joanne again.  It was good to see them even if it was a brief visit.

  The girls had a great time visiting with Reagan.  At one point Reagan, Avery, and Harper were all very enthusiastically singing "Let it Go" and it was so pretty that we asked them to go to the basement to sing.  Avery was also very excited to show Ashlyn her "room" in the basement.  We have a spare bedroom with a twin bed in it and Avery always referred to it as Ashlyn's room.  Emery also took her first couple of steps on Saturday, but hasn't replicated that success since.  We are pretty close to walking now.

Emery mooching off of Reagan.

Ashlyn got an ice cream cake for her birthday and Avery was very excited to help blow out candles.

For my Dad's birthday we were able to get the huge chocolate cake from Costco.  It was delicious.

Avery very enthusiastically sang Happy Birthday to my Dad.

Emery hanging out with Adam.

Emery enjoying a piece of cake.

Avery helping Grandpa with his presents, and Grandma helping Emery with her presents.  Since we were all gathered together anyway we celebrated Emery's birthday.

Here's our silly Harper.

Reagan gave me a beautiful smile at brunch.

Grandpa and Emery

My Aunt Dianne and cousin Lisa

Grandpa with his two youngest grandchildren Emery and Reagan.  They are about to be dethroned by two baby boys soon though.

Our Aunt Joanne

  Sometime probably on Emery's birthday my Aunt Joanne fell down her basement stairs on the way to the laundry.  She wasn't found until later, and ended up being life flighted to the hospital in Lewiston, Idaho.  She had fractured her skull and had several bleeds in her brain.  It was a pretty serious situation, and no one was sure what would happen.  We wondered if we were going to spend our Fourth of July saying goodbye.
  It was decided that surgery would be needed to stop the biggest bleed if there was going to be any chance of the swelling to go down.  It wasn't without concerns of course because the bleeds were located in sensitive areas of the brain that could affect personality, but there really was little choice.  The surgery went well, and then we had to wait to see if the swelling went down.  The next day she was greatly improved, and responded to others and said my mother's name (which is odd since this is my Dad's oldest sister).  Friday she was sitting up in bed and convinced that she was ready to get out of bed.  When the nurses asked her what she would like to eat she told them she would like some chocolate, so for now she seems to be our Aunt Joanne still.
   Friday morning my sister Nellie and I were able to face time with her very briefly.  Her recovery seemed nothing short of miraculous.  Somehow after she fell she was able to prop herself up at the bottom of the stairs into a sitting position, and that is probably why she is still with us.  Since she was doing so good on Friday my parents came back into town to celebrate my Dad's birthday and my niece Ashlyn's birthday.  My Aunt Dianne and cousin Lisa also came along, and it was really good to see them too.  We know that Aunt Joanne has a long recovery ahead of her and we are going to take things one day at a time.  There does seem to be reason to be optimistic though.  We are grateful for all the prayers and positive energy and thoughts sent her way, and the excellent care she is receiving from the hospital staff.  Aunt Joanne is not very far from our thoughts these days.  Hopefully I will have good news to report in the days ahead.

This is from February of 2011. Starting at the top my sister Nellie and I, then my sister Alex, Aunt Joanne, and my sister DeAnna.