The shower, Boise and Gratitude!

Wow. I have tons and tons of pictures to post. This weekend was a whirlwind and I'm just barely recovering. Thank goodness for that stinking tent that is still up in C's bedroom - it has kept the kids occupied for almost an hour allowing me to unpack and get reorganized for the week. But man, we are tired. I held the baby shower for my friend on Friday night. It went great and we had about 25 people show up. I almost ran out of places for people to sit! So here is my cute friend Tracy and I at the shower. Allen was a great help, as always, and took the kids to the McD's playland for dinner and play! (PS - can you tell that I chopped my hair a couple weeks ago - I love it now that I get how to style it).

We drove to Boise early on Saturday morning. The assumption was that if we got the kids up early, they would fall back asleep in the car. WRONG. Yikes, they were both awake for the entire eight hours. You would think we would know better by now. The weather in ID was amazing - in the 70s both days we were there. We spent the entire afternoon at the park and even ate dinner there. This is my SIL Meghan and daughter Lauren with the kids at the park.

My SIL Laurie made this cute shirt for Carter. He literally wore it for 2 days straight and sobbed when we wouldn't let him wear it to church. He even begged us to let him wear it under his church clothes. Laurie thinks it is hilarious that we all have pirate names in our little family and made these shirts of Carter. Carter's pirate name is Knobs because he is so stinking knobbly and skinny. Finally, here we are with the handsome missionary himself, Al's brother Jake. He did a great job at his farewell and we know he'll be a great missionary. We're so proud of him!

The gross/funny part of the trip is that we ate at McD's every day for 3 days. So gross but it is the only place to take kids when you are traveling. We chose the outdoor play area over the food. Yuck-o!

Gratitude: I really can't think back on this weekend without being so grateful for Allen's wonderful family. I feel so blessed that not only is his immediate family amazing, but so is his extended family. Many of his cousins live in the Boise area and it was so great to see everyone. I have to say that the Litster family (Al's mom's side) are some of the most generous, giving and supportive people I have ever met. It is a huge blessing to be part of this family!