Monday, June 26, 2017

Birthday Conclusion

We spent the whole weekend at the cabin as a family. It was pretty much heaven! So, so relaxing -- and funny, because we find ourselves hilarious. We ate and visited and played lots of hand and foot and phase 10. We even had a camp fire and I introduced my little brother to the wonders of roasted starbursts (you're welcome, Nick, for changing your life).
The little ones were kept very close but the non-littles had free reign and enjoyed every second of it.
Leighna and Liv took about a million pictures and they had a blast doing it. Leighn got some really cute ones, like this one...
 And this one...
 And this one! A budding photographer, for sure. Liv was a very willing model, as you can imagine.
It was just so great to play together. We are such good friends besides being family and truly love to be together. I know that is a huge blessing!
 Monday morning we woke up to colder weather and packed up quick. We met at Mom and Dad's for lunch and then everyone crashed. 
Tuesday the Double B was supposed to cut down their tree as his gift to Dad, but thaaat didn't work out. The machine was too big to get into the backyard. Poor man was practically despondent, he'd been working and planning for so long! Then, when he got back from St. George, he realized he'd left the key to the machine in his pocket!!! It was so tragic that it was funny (to clarify, it was NOT funny to the Double B). I told him I'd get the kids dressed and we'd take the truck we'd borrowed back to Sabrina and head down to St. George, but when I got everyone dressed he was gone. So I headed over to Sabrina's, and there was the Double B, sadly trudging up the hill from her house on the busy highway, head down and looking as Charlie Brown as I've ever seen him. After we returned the accidentally stolen key, I took that poor pathetic man to Chuck-a-Rama for lunch and he drowned his sorrows in scones and fried chicken and ice cream with all the other old people. Bless his beautifully-intentioned heart!
Look, KJ has outgrown both of his Grandma's! And this is just the beginning, folks!
 Grandpa really and actually does give totally awesome snuggles. And there's a side for each of them, so that really works out great.
 On the day of his actual birth ('Cause we'd been celebrating for quite awhile at this point), Dad wanted to go up to Zion. So we loaded everybody up and spent the afternoon in the Park.
It's nice when you're Benson and you have fifty best friends. Papa takes the cake, though.
 Don't let the walking fool you. That lasted about two seconds and then he got carried the rest of the river walk! Also, he stole Porter's water bottle. Porter is basically the nicest kid ever and let him keep it! That's a valuable cousin to have, I gotta say.
These kids, though, were hiking champions. And Kate the Gr8 led the whole pack, the whole way! I was shocked but very proud. 
When we got to the end the kids played in the water a bit and relaxed. Trina was very nervous about all the rabid squirrels, and I really enjoyed that. Also, we saw a deer!
 The shuttle was fun and the kids loved it. My Mom, not so much. That thing was PACKED on the way back down and that made for some interesting claustrophobic moments for her! She took it like a champ, though, and even had us laughing about it. The ladies standing next to my seat were French, and yes indeedy, I did sneak a glance to see if their armpits were shaved. Disappointingly, they were.
 When we climbed off the shuttle Benson happily waved at it and called out "bye, bye, school bus! See ya tomorrow!" What a cutie. Our shuttle driver was HILARIOUS. He basically just spoke his thoughts all the way down and was cracking us up. He kept saying "and I thought to myself" and would then tell us what he thought to himself. Truly delightful.
We all had dinner together that night, ate a million yummy cookies my Mom made for my Dad, and gave him his cards.
Best birthday celebration ever. Or at least it was for us! But I think it was pretty great for my Dad, too.
The next morning, we headed back to Vegas, but not before stopping to see Uncle Nick and his helicopter.
 Uncle Nick is Benson's imaginary friend, Benson thinks it is SO COOL that "Unca Nick fly a helicopter!" And he carries his little toy helicopter around all day (that apparently Uncle Nick pilots), and he gives him wild flights around the house. It's pretty cute. He LOVED running up to the helicopter and seeing it up close, but did get pretty nervous when Uncle Nick let him sit inside it. He much preferred just letting his imaginary friend carry him all around it on the outside.
He woke up from his nap on the way home with a gasp: "Mom! I flied with Uncle Nick!!!"

This has been the faithful retelling of an awesome week.
Amen.

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