Visiting Marcus & Lauren

After our vacation in Tahoe with the Holm family, we followed Marcus' family three hours up to Danville to play with them for a few extra days. They live in such a pretty area and were awesome tour guides showing us around. Paige loved getting more time in with her cousins, Ben loved playing basketball with Marcus and tagging along with him to work, I loved chatting with Lauren, and we all loved the food Lauren made and took us to :)

One day Lauren took us to downtown San Francisco to see the sites. It was abnormally cold and windy that day (we even stopped for hot chocolate at one point), but that didn't stop us from having a great time!
Ben helped Paige try out the concrete slides

Baby Lyla loves slides!

And we couldn't pass up the carousal

Next up was Pier 39!

 A view of Alcatraz in the backgroud

Then we met up with Marcus for clam chowder sourdough bread bowls, and finished the night off with ice cream at Ghirardelli Square!

Another great part of this trip was being able to go to Jeff and Brooke's wedding at the Oakland Temple. Ben and Jeff were really good friends at Duke, and Jeff and Brooke had spent Easter with us, and a business trip to Cape Cod, so we were thrilled to be there for their big day.

Then we met up with the family for an adorable little train ride, followed by delicious cinnamon rolls at Cinnaholic in Berkeley.

We couldn't resist lining these cute cousins up in their Sunday best :)

Sunday afternoon the Hales came to visit us. We hadn't even met their adorable son, Henry, so we were especially excited to catch up with them.

And as if our CA trip wasn't fun enough, we got to see some of our best Duke friends, the Busby's! We celebrated Chase's birthday and caught up on the few weeks we had been apart. And then I bawled my eyes out as we drove away. Oh how we all miss our little Busby's... :(

We loved our short visit in CA! It was so fun spending time with Marcus and Lauren and getting to see all of the fun things around them. Thanks for being such good hosts!

Family Pictures 2014

Our sister-in-law, Lindsay, is a very talented photographer, and was sweet enough to take our pictures while we were at Lake Tahoe. She was very patient dealing with a almost 3 year-old that hates smiling at the camera, and a squirmy 9 month old, and Tyler was an excellent assistant. (I already posted a lot of these on Facebook, but for documentation purposes, and because I love them, here they are again.) Thanks Lindsay & Tyler!!!

Holm Family Lake Tahoe Vacation

(*I still need to add a lot of pictures from other family members to this post later, but am forcing myself to get caught up now)
We moved out of our town home in Durham and into a hotel for 3 nights while things got packed up, and then flew to Lake Tahoe for a Holm family get together. It was a long day since we had stayed up late the night before saying bye to friends, and then woke up at the wee hours of the morning and had 2 stops, but we made it! Most of Ben's family hadn't met Deacon yet, so it was a very exciting reunion! Six of Ben's siblings and their families were able to come, and his Grandma May, but we sure missed Dillon & Amy, Gregg, and Jordan.  We stayed in a huge cabin with a big backyard that was perfect for all of the kids. The kids had a blast running around together and playing in the tree house, while the adults chatted, went on walks to look at all the beautiful giant cabins, and enjoyed some late night mafia games. We had a blast!

Our kids loved all the attention they got from aunts and uncles and cousins. Michelle and Hannah are the best at entertaining the kids, and Paige especially loved how sweet her older cousins, Katelyn and Kylie were to her. They also taught Paige the lovely phrase, "first, let me take a selfie"....:)

There was a tea party going on at all times

Lyla and Deacon enjoyed stealing food from each other. It was my first time meeting baby Lyla and I instantly fell in love with those cheeks!

The backyard was the perfect play area!

This trip made Ben and I way more out-doorsy than we normally are. One morning we snuck out for a walk without children, we took a couple of other long walks with his siblings, and went on two different hikes.
Ben took this picture to document how awkward I look wearing tennis shoes with normal clothes...they made me very uncomfortable.

Yes, that is SNOW behind us!

We had a great day playing at the lake. The water was absolutely FREEZING, but it was gorgeous.

Proof that Lyla let me hold her for a few minutes and that Ben was the total baby whisperer with her.

We were so thrilled that Great Grandma May came on the trip. I loved watching our kids get to know her better.

One of the best things about getting together with the Holms is watching Ben with his brothers. It gives me a peak into what their childhood must have been like with 5 boys so close in age. Swapping clothes, cracking jokes, talking sports...it's pretty cute. They were even crazy enough to jump in that ice cold water together!

All the Holm grand kids (missing Vince)

Everyone who could make it (minus Lindsay, Casey taking pictures, and Hannah who had to fly out early)

We had so much fun on this trip! Ben has so many siblings that it can be tricky getting everyone together, and therefore doesn't happen as much, so it is extra special when we can be with so many of them! I loved watching Paige play all day long with her cousins and aunts, Tahoe is absolutely beautiful, and listening to Ben with his siblings is pretty entertaining. And one thing I am always reminded of when we are with the Holm's is just how incredibly short I am... ;)