Washington

May also brought us to Washington! This trip was LONG overdue. The last time I saw any of my family was  in August. It was probably the longest stretch I've ever gone without seeing them. When we moved to Oklahoma I made Chris promise me I could go home whenever I wanted. He's done a really good job keeping that promise but between his job and school we didn't have any time off. Anyway...to the pictures!

This was the first night at Mom's house with all the cousins together. There was a mattress pulled out in this bedroom and Kate and Hayden started jumping on it. We all told them they couldn't jump on the bed. After I put the bed away Kate asked if they could jump on the blanket. So they did. For like 20 minutes. It was hilarious! Laughing and screaming and playing. I loved it. Chase missed out on all the action but he was happily engaged with his dinner so he didn't feel too bad.

I love how Cindy is pinning Cayla's head down in this pic. They were sooo hyper.

Kate really took a liking to Hayleigh. Hayleigh drew a picture for Kate and she carried it around for like 2 weeks after we got home saying, "Hayleigh made it for me!"

So, Mom always says how Cayla's smile can light up a room so I devoted much of my time on this trip attempting to capture it. This is not it...

I'm telling you, Kate LOVED playing with the cousins. This is my mom's backyard. On the lake. Sigh. It's so beautiful. If you know anyone looking for lakefront property in Central Washington, let me know. She's selling soon!!

One of my good friends always makes a trip out to see us when we are in the area. Thanks Eliza! It's so nice to see their family and visit for a while. This is little Weston. I think he and Chase are like a week apart.

And this is all of us. Facing the sun. The kids aren't looking. Seriously, we took like 20 pictures and NONE of the kids are looking in ANY of them! (Now that I see how we're all squinting I can't really blame them though.)

Kate made a new best friend. My sister Kim was very patient with Kate following her around all the time. Kim did Kate's hair so beautifully, don't you think?

My cousin has a cute little dog that Kate just adored. She let Kate take the leash and walk around with him. Kate thought she was pretty cool stuff. She was on cloud 9 until she tried to snap his head off by dragging him around. And that was the end of that.

And this is Jake. He's the cutest, most serious little man I've ever met but I did manage to catch a little smile.

This is definately not the smile that lights up the room. This is more like, Chrissy, get that camera out of my face!

All the cousins and my gorgeous sister.

My aunt and her grand daughters, Hannah (the infant) and Kaelee (the toddler).

Kaelee has the hugest, most gorgeous eyes ever. So cute!!

Kate thinking she's big stuff playing frisbee with the big kids.

And the biggest kid of all is my husband. :) Konnor is pretty close to passing him up though

Proof that I was actually there!

I think she needs a grandbaby, don't you?

Yeah, so for any of you Okies that try to tell me that Oklahoma is flat and brown. I tell you, you haven't seen flat and brown until you've been to central Washington. Here's proof. This is the most scenic view around ML.

Nothing like sharing some ice cream with Daddy. I just remembered that we snuck this out of the freezer. I don't know if Aunt Paula knows we stole this but she does now! :)

Yeah!! I finally got it!!

Roasting her first marshmallow!! It was the most perfectly roasted marshmallow you ever did see.

Did she eat it?

Nope.

The kids had so much fun they were plum worn out. So were Mommy and Daddy. We just don't have the luxury of falling asleep wherever/whenever we want to.

It was a fantastic trip. We love seeing family and we miss everyone!! Until next time...