Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Ahntee Rachel

I was able to take a few days off work this last week and go visit my sister Mara and her family in Arizona. What a great trip! Ben and Mara were the best of hosts and I loved every minute with little Jade. She is such a great baby! I hope all my babies are that good. (and that cute:))

Of course, first on mine and Mara's list of things to do was to go shopping. We had a very important task....to find coordinating outfits for Mara, Ben, and Jade for their family photos. We spent a fair amount of time in stores, but we had lots of laughs and came home with these sweet matching shirts:
Haha, we are nerds.

The weather was beautiful there. Even a little too warm at times, but I won't complain. We got to enjoy a lot of nice walks and some swings on the hammock. I even got to dip my feet in the pool for a bit. Mara, Jade, and I were able to go miniature golfing one morning. I love miniature golfing, but there aren't any good courses here in Iowa, so it was a great treat. Plus I won, which is an awesome bonus haha.


Jade especially enjoyed the golfing. :)

Mara and I got in touch with our inner craftiness during this trip as well. Mara's ward had a craft activity that she wasn't able to make it to because she had just had Jade, so we decided to do the craft that she signed up for. And then we decided to do it again. And again and again. Here are the results:
Really all the credit goes to Mara. All I did was sew the lines around the edge of each headband. She made all the flowers and sewed them to the headbands. I think they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!
Me and Mara modeling some of our handiwork.

With Ben off work on Saturday, we go "out in the wilderness" and take a little hike and enjoy some yummy foil dinners. The weather was perfect that evening.

Ben says I look high in this picture, but it's not nearly as bad as the first attempt. I guess I was tired or something.
I love her hat!
No need to worry...Ben was there with his trusty companion to keep us safe.

Thanks for letting me crash your life and sort of steal Mara for a bit Ben! Sorry for your lack of sleep, but thanks for staying up to hang out with me.

Jade loves to be naked. It was my favorite to see her right before bath time at night. She would be so talkative and smiley. Way too cute.
Look at the joy that simply being without clothing gives her.
There's a Jade look for you.

Although playing games and hanging out with Mara and Ben was tons of fun, and having great conversations and laughs with Mara during the days was wonderful, the highlight of my trip was definitely Jade time. I love being an aunt. This is number 12 for me, and it still hasn't gotten old. So I will now supply you with a plethora of photos of me and Jade enjoying our time together.

Ben referred to me as auntee Rachel (pronounced ahntee) on this trip. It always made me laugh.
Right before I left. So sad to leave them all. :( I miss them already.

The trip was great. I love being with family and wish I could see Mara more often. We were sure to burn the candle at both ends, staying up late and waking up early to maximize our time together. It made for incredible fatigue by the end of the trip, but it was well worth it. Thanks Mara, Ben and Jade for a great vacation!

2 comments:

  1. Such cute pictures! We had a great time with you, thanks for coming! (You shouldn't have put that picture of Ben up though :) )

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  2. Super cute photos of both of all of you. That Jade is sure a cutie (and you and Mara too). Glad you had a great time, nothing beats sister time.

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