While Eric and the girls were in Japan (yes I'm stalling again!) we had a bridal shower for Raycelan at Allison's house. Sadly I only took these 3 pictures:
1. Owen and Jenna being adorable together. The last few times we have been together they have been so cute playing and pretending together so nicely. I am so excited for their cute friendship to continue! I just think of how much fun we had with our only boy cousin Wade Jr. when we were pre-teens and teenagers, and imagine them being like that.
2. I took a picture of this because Kent did it and it was so cute! He was super helpful getting ready for the shower, and then he took Derek and Jonathan and the little kids out for a little "bachelor party" during the shower. It was awesome!
3. We took this picture at the end when we were leaving because we forgot to take a picture with Raycelan! Or with Derek and Jonathan! Anyway the shower was fun, we took a fun video of Derek answering questions about Raycelan and their relationship, then I made up a multiple choice test for the guests with the same questions, and we had Raycelan answer them for us and tell some stories, and then watched the video. It was fun and cute. Allison made great food, and it was cool to meet Raycelan's mom and other relatives.
So then I took Melissa and Jonathan home, we slept, and we got up at 6am and left for Madera! (Okay, actually Melissa never slept, she stayed out all night with her boyfriend Carl lol! But that's a whole other story!!) The 12-hour drive was the best and fastest ever for me, because Melissa (and Jonathan some too) talked to me the WHOLE WAY! and helped so much with the kids. It was SO much fun!! Melissa has learned so much in college, and was so ready for her relationship with Carl. More on that later. :)
We stopped in Ivins for an hour to see the Cravens, since Melissa and Jonathan hadn't seen Hazel yet!
Maris and Owen love their cousins.
Seriously, Owen is the luckiest kid. He has so many cousins close to his age to play with! And they are all so cute.
The next beautiful Craven baby!
Sunday in Madera was so much fun. Owen got to go to Grammy's Sunbeam class; she is such a good teacher. Donny and Christine came to hang out for the whole day; they are living in Clovis until Donny starts his Master's program in Monterey in the fall. So Owen got to enjoy more cousin time with cute Evelyn. They got along well, it was super cute.
And I got to hang out with 4 of my siblings, always a good time! Also Virat Kang came for dinner--Jenae's best friend/almost boyfriend. He was really nice and seems like a great guy.
Monday we hung out at home because Mom didn't have to work, it was great.
Tuesday I took the kids to hang out at my grandparents' house in Chowchilla! It was so neat to see them playing on the same swings and with the same toys from my childhood. :) I got to have great conversations with both my grandparents. I wish I lived closer so we could have a hang-out-with-the-great-grandparents day more often!
Also my Grandpa has an awesome hat/jumpsuit combo. :)
Owen and Maris on the push-me pull-you
Grandma got out some old picture albums for us to look at. This is her parents taking a fun picture at her wedding reception with her mom wearing her veil. Bill and Dora Hinze, my great-grandparents who lived for many years in Salem!
A younger Bill and Dora with their two oldest children, Phillip and Delma.
My grandma with her siblings- Phillip, Delma, June, David, Grandma (Dorsmae), and Roberta.
playing with the classic old toys!
a picture of baby Derek- his hair was strawberry blond like Maris!
Little Melissa, doesn't she resemble my kids?
Me with my strawberry blond hair!
Owen playing my grandparents' piano
and back outside! the slide,
and the tire swing,
even Grandpa went for a swing!
Great-Grandma and Maris!
Owen and Maris with their great-grandparents!
Then Wednesday we went out to the farm-- Owen loves tractors and he was in heaven!! He didn't want to drive in one- too loud- but he kept climbing back and forth between them pretending to drive.
He was so happy!
Maris liked the dogs- and it was here (in California- Jenae has a dog at home too) she started saying dog/duck!
Then we met my friend Gina (Dawson)Reed at Woodward Park and ran the 5k course!! It was so fun to run that course and remember the many races I ran there, and to do it with my old teammate!
We met Donny and Christine and Evelyn for lunch,
And we stopped by the Fresno Temple on the way home. I wanted to show it to Owen.
We walked all around and it was really nice.
other than that we just hung out with the fam, and it was awesome. Maris got more comfortable with Melissa
and Jonathan.
Owen and Melissa had painting time, so cute. I love that Melissa has been teaching preschool for her college classes, so she knows EXACTLY how to interact with Owen, it was the cutest thing.
We enjoyed lots of trampoline time,
play time with Grammy's toys,
and got to see busy Jenae a little bit here and there!
Oh and this is my Grandpa's scriptures from when he was younger. The day he met my grandma he was at a church meeting and asked someone her name and he knew she was going to be important to him so he wrote it down in his scriptures where he had them open! So cool!
And before we knew it we were driving home! Jonathan kept me company on that drive, as Melissa is working in Madera for a few weeks. Eric and the girls came home the next day and it was a sweet reunion. :)
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