Visitors

We have been so lucky to have family come and visit us this year! In March we met Sarah and Scott and their family at Disneyland.

Then in June, Hannah and Kendall and their family came and stayed with us a few days during a work trip in San Fran for Kendall. The arrived on a Saturday, only minutes before CJ and I kidnapped Hannah and took her to a Justin Bieber concert.

A 12 hour drive for Hannah and then another couple hours to the concert. Boy was she a trooper! I probably would had fallen asleep during "Baby, Baby, Baby oh!". The men were left home with 7 children to take care of.

They were triumphant and amazing!

The next day, Hannah and Kendall came to church with us and Hannah got to go to Young Womens as Ben introduced CJ to the Young Women (it was her first Sunday). Everyone came home from church and the kids played while the men slaved away in the kitchen.

We took them to Newhall Park and fed the ducks, played tag, had races, and tried to do cartwheels and backbends. By the way, Kendall can do a wicked backbend. You should ask him to do one for you!

Hannah and Kendall explored San Francisco the next day on their own. We met up with them on the following day at Golden Gate Park. Pretty much the funniest park around! The kids rode the carousel, slid down the cement slide and climbed the spider web.

I loved hanging out with Kendall, Hannah and their boys.

Dodge was so tiny and cute.

Everytime I tried to take a picture of Brigg, he would make a silly face. I must have caught him off guard in this picture.

Luke amazed me with his, "I wonder. . ." thoughts. "I wonder how this works. . ." "I wonder if I do this. . ." and so on. I think he is going to be an engineer someday.

Sam is the big brother and leader.

All of my kids had a ton of fun with the Andersen boys and couldn't stop talking about them for days! I hope they come visit again!

And a month later. . .

We were blessed to have Andy, Joe, and their kids come out to visit us. Woops, I should also include Reggie, their dog. She definitely was a highlight!

They arrived on the evening of Livy's birthday! What a fun birthday gift! A trip to see her favorite Asian aunt, and movie maker uncle. We made cupcakes for Livy and sang "Happy Birthday" to her!

The next day we went to San Francisco. We did the favorite Golden Gate park.

And carousel.

We then headed to Oceanside beach.

Watching the excitement of Joe and Andy's kids as they played in the water was entertainment for me! They had never been to a beach before and were having a ball!

The next day, we took them to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. I think the walk from the car to the park was longer than our walk inside the park!

The next part, was probably the favorite for everyone!

Stinson beach was magnificent! It was a beautiful day and we spent hours playing there (and I guess an hour finding parking! JK). I loved watching Ben and Joe, two big tough guys playing in the waves.

It was seriously a perfect day at the beach!

We were going to go to Adventure Playground the next day, but we were not prepared and so the men decided to make marshmellow guns for the kids.

We took the kids to the park and had a marshmellow fight and then ended with a waterballoon fight.

The next day, Ben gave them a tour of Pixar and we ate at Burger King which was a first for the Joe Porter kids! Later that evening, the kids put on a talent show. It was darling to say the least!

I think Jes' talent should've been this:

I love each of their kids!

I wanted to record Mira's little voice. It is the cutest thing to hear! I loved hearing her speak.

India is a little sweet girl! She has got such a cute personality.

Addie worked her magic and knew she could ask me for anything and I would just give it to her. How do you say "No" to her?

Jes is the man! His IPOD touch was a hit with my kids and they keep asking me for their own now.

Livy is the kindest most geniune kid around! I WANT TO KEEP HER FOREVER! If I want to feel good about myself, I just need to ask Livy to say the family prayer. She'll thank you for everything!

We hope you come visit us again!