At the end of October my sister Emily and my brother-in-law Chris brought their kids (Mary 7, Ben 5, Will 2, Lily 5 months) out to visit Chris's family here in Utah...so we were able to visit a little with them too!! Belle and Parker had a blast swimming with their cousins at their grandparents club house (their community has a super nice hot-springs swimming pool and a couple of hot tubs that were perfect for the chilly weather).
We also met them up in Salt Lake one afternoon and checked out the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum...Belle has a blast going fishing off of Nephi's ship (with magnetic fishing pole), and dressing up the dolls from the nativity scene (paper doll style but made from wood with felt clothing). There was also a kitchen and farm area, interactive computers with games and puzzles, an area to dress up and learn a traditional Mexican dance, and this sweet truck featured in the pictures. They divided responsibilities with the truck...Belle is the Driver and Parker is the Parker....haha bet you didn't see that one coming;-).
At the beginning of November we had more visitors who came for a less happy reason... Jake and Lanie and baby Jakey (who is not much of a baby any more) came to pack up all of their things to officially move to Chicago:-/ It was a pretty wild week of packing, cleaning, and playing. Some how this is the only picture I got of Jake and Belle playing together...we are really going to miss them and I'm so glad Belle and Jake got a little time to play together now that they're finally old enough to do so (we learned that between the two of them they could trash the entire house in about 35 seconds:-). I will REALLY miss having Lanie here (and Jake too I suppose;-) to do things like watch BBC mini series, talk about literature, swap naughty-baby stories, and generally enjoy life together as only women can. I am so proud of my baby brother and the decisions he's made with Lanie in their life together; it is a joy to see all of their hard work beginning to see pay off for them. Have a blast in your new adventure...we will miss you!!
At the end of it all my dad and sister, Charie, and her boyfriend Ryan came out to help drive everything back to Chicago...and when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING! Ryan took our little red 1988 Honda Accord (which my parents had given me as a college car) and we traded Jake and Lanie, Quinn's motorcycle for their Dodge Neon...we went from 5 vehicles to 2 in one weekend!
Seeing the red Accord go made me pretty emotional...it's the ending of an era (graduate from college and lose my college car to another college student I suppose). Quinn also shared his thoughts on the matter, "goodbye and good riddance!" Whatever Quinn, Take care of my car Ryan!
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I will forever remember the "girl nights" we've shared and hope there will be many more as infrequent as they may be. You were the best friend I could have hoped for. Thank you for all you did for me and all the love and laughs we shared. I miss you already. Love you and your cute family.
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