Swimming for the Babies Too

Rori and Matthew finally got their turn at swim lessons after sitting through weeks of Kai and Amanda's lessons. They were so cute and loved it. Rori was especially excited to get to take this class with her Daddy. I really think I heard her say "DaDa?" when I opened up the car door to get her out of her carseat for the last lesson. Another neat thing about this is Kai and Amanda took this same class together when they were the same age as Rori and Matthew. Fun!

Busy Playing with the Mullins

When we got home from San Diego the Mullins had just gotten in town for a 3 week visit which has been very exciting. We have been trying to get in as much play time with them as possible which explains our lack of blogging.

The beginning of their trip was marked with 3 big birthdays. Dave had his 40th, then Emme had her 4th, and then finally Kate had her 1st. Lots of partying and lots of cake. I'm sure Kirsten will be quite happy to not have another birthday party for quite some time.



We had Emme signed up to join Kai and Amanda in their swim lessons and Jake took a bigger kid class at the same time. They had a blast and have really been getting better at their swimming skills.







We've also been:

Hiking:









Lance did his own hike first to Catherine Pass and then met up with us at Silver Lake. Here are some pictures from his hike too:







Eating at Tarahumara in Midway (love the salsa bar):



Touring the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was really neat to get to take the kids though with us:





Going to the Bees Game and Watching the Awesome Fireworks Afterwards with all the Cousins (Thank You Tyler!):





Celebrating Pioneer Day (July 24 -which is a big State holiday here) with a BBQ at the Flynn great grandparents and a sparkler they gave us back home:



Wrangling the Twin Cousins:



Putting on Talent Shows:



And probably lots more that I'm forgetting and/ or I didn't get pictures of. We've got one more week with a few more fun things planned. How we wished that they lived closer.

Some Favorites

On our trip to San Diego my cousins wife Stacy snuck in a small photo shoot with our kiddos and then an entire family shoot another day. She is opening up her own photography studio in Chicago so we were super excited that she was willing to capture everyone together. It was no easy task for her to be in many of the photos, have to try to get the attention of our kiddos and Whitney all at the same time, and just deal with such a big group on such a tight schedule in the heat and bright sun. Here are some of our favorite shots (in addition to the whole family one at the top of the last post):

(Our very favorite of the kiddos- now up in our living room in 8X10- love it!)

Family Reunion in San Diego

We got back last night from a great family reunion trip to San Diego. All of my Mom's side of the family (they all live in IL) met up in San Diego. We had a fabulous time and got in lots of fun activities in the great weather. Highlights of the trip included pool and beach time, yummy dinner at Anthony's, visiting Mt. Soledad (to see great grandpa's plaque)checking out the Seals and a huge Squid in La Jolla, some shopping, family karaoke, my cousin Michael's wife Stacy taking getting some professional photos of everyone, golf for the guys at Torrey Pines, exploring Old Town, and just being together.

Kai and Rori were spoiled beyond belief by everyone. Silly little Rori flirted with everyone but would only let the guys hold her- she is at such a funny little age. Kai was in heaven having so many people to do puzzles with, take him swimming and on and on.

As always I left wishing so badly that we lived closer to everyone. Despite living so far away I've always had such a close bond with them. My cousins Michael and Matthew have always been more like brothers and it is so fun to now have their cute wives to hang out with too. I also really love that our kids got to spend time with their great grandparents.

Lance left Sunday night and then the IL bunch left after breakfast on Monday morning. The kids and I had lunch and hung out with grandma and grandpa Whitney before catching our own flight last night. I happily survived both flights on my own with the kiddos. It was wonderful to all be together!