Family Ties and Other Fun Stuff

This past weekend my whole family converged on our little home front for a fun weekend.  My brother, Ethan, flew in from school out west, my parents and other brothers came from home and Ethan's fiancee joined us for some fun family times.  Ethan & Lois are getting married this summer, but for now are doing the long distance relationship and so they treasure the few visits they get every little bit.  This weekend coincided with Ethan's birthday, so we celebrated with him in person for the first time in about 4 or 5 years.

Obviously, we partied hard. :)

It was a little chilly, but that didn't keep Papa from a little quality time with sweet little Paige.

Ethan was still recovering from a nasty cold, so we didn't actually let him blow out his candles.  But there was plenty of help.  It was delicious, too.  Lois outdid herself with the yummy dishes she fixed, including this ice cream cake.

Me and my siblings.  Many pictures of the four of us included some crazy, silly, ridiculous or otherwise inappropriate pose or expression by one of the boys.  This one is actually normal. :)

Mis Hermanos:  Ethan, Logan & Adam

And a couple of pictures of the happy couple.  They are so adorable.  

 

 Our little family.  We are a cute bunch.  It took about two hours for us to get ready and about 30 seconds to get a couple of pictures of us.  What an ordeal.  

This baby just gets cuter and cuter...if that's possible.  Somehow it seems to be.

Maybe its because she's taking after her big sister.  This girl keeps us laughing.

Our biggest challenge with Ian was keeping that white shirt clean.  That's like asking a bee to stop making honey.  You guessed it--impossible.

Elise was in full model mode.  She was working the camera!  There are many, many more pictures where this one came from. :)

Dang it, we're a cute family. :)

And in two, completely unrelated items, Cory took the older kids to Elise's softball practice, while I stayed home with the two little girls.  Ian had wanted to watch a little bit of Star Wars tonight, but we had told him if he went to practice with Elise he wouldn't have time for Star Wars.  In the car Elise said to Ian, "I can't believe you gave up Star Wars!!"  He said, "Well, I love you more than Star Wars."  

I was working on laundry while they were gone and at one point sneezed really loud.  Merry Grace just looked at me and I asked her, "What was that?"  She answered quickly, "A bless you!" 

Then, it look like I'm doing about 15 lbs. more laundry these days, but its gotten oh-so-much cuter. :)