Friends and Family

We have had a fun past few weeks with some friends and family in town. First, we were able to get together with my freshman roommates. It had been several years since everyone was in Utah at the same time, so it was great to all get together and have "roommate dinner". I love that we have kept in contact with each other and I still consider each a good friend. It's crazy that it was 8 years ago that we were emailing each other back and forth trying to find out as much as we could about each other before moving in together at BYU in the fall. My favorite story about that was that each one of us thought Alixa was black because of her unusual name and the fact that she was from Georgia! (I hope I don't sound racist, it's just a funny memory)

With our kids (minus Logan):

Here's one of us from back in the day!

Secondly, my sisters from out of state, Rebe, Carrie, and Jenny and their families, came into town the last week of June. We were able to go up to Bear Lake for a few days and had a great time! My parents had rented a lakeside house and it was fully equipped with a trampoline and a big hill, perfect for a slip 'n slide.We spent one day at North Beach. The water was pretty cold, so we didn't do much swimming other than wading. We had rented a boat for the afternoon, but it suddenly got really windy and wavy and we had to return it early.We drove to Minnetonka cave and had a tour through that. It was cold inside, but cool to see all the formations.Brady's cousins had a fun time playing with himWe also enjoyed several shakes each, the boys got to go golfing, we had 2 campfires, and enjoyed catching up with each other while in Garden City!
I was able to go to Lagoon with the Authiers. My mom stayed with Brady while I got to ride the rides. It worked great for both of us, since my mom would rather not go on the rides (even though she will since she's a good sport) and I could go be the cool aunt (is there even a close second?).
Brady and I also went with Carrie, Jace, Eli, and my Grandma Melville to the zoo one day. I was glad Carrie was there with her diaper and wipes supply because Brady pooped 4 times that morning and I ran out! This picture is at the end of the day when all the kids had had enough fun for one day!

We've also been able to spend some time with Dave's side of the family. His Grandpa Cates passed away last week, so Bonnie and her family flew into town from Michigan. I enjoyed hearing stories of Dave's grandpa at his funeral, since I didn't know him very well. I also really appreciated them for thinking to include Heidi in his obituary. It meant a lot to me. Here is Brady with his Grandma and Grandpa Cates and all of his cousins:
Brady also has 2 new cousins, one on each side (and 2 more coming soon)! They are both adorable, and I'm glad he has cousins close to his age on both sides. It's amazing how quickly I've forgotten how tiny Brady was!
Here he is with Frederick (Emily and Alejandro's):
And with Grace (Bonnie and Chess's):
We had a great past few weeks spending so much time with family! The only problem is with so much going on, Brady has been lacking any sort of sleep schedule. This week, I have just been trying to concentrate on getting him back to his formerly good sleeping habits! He just took a 3 1/2 hour nap :)