a way long time ago (in march!)

It seems like forever ago that my family came to visit us but I have to document it.

This will be a very big post...just to warn you.

And by big, I mean long!

My whole family came out for spring break...

my parents and brother, my sister, her husband, and their three kids!

They all stayed at our house for an entire week.

It was bliss.

Crazy and full but we loved every minute of it.

We did A LOT.

My sister, David, and my brother hadn't been out here

since we moved here so we had to hit all our favorites.

It was two weeks after they left that we had to move out of our house...

so glad they got to come see where it all began before we had to move!

We started the week off with such a fun night...

Wicked!

It was our Christmas present from the Nances.

This was a long time coming for Trav and I,

so we were SO excited to see it.

It far exceeded my expectaions!

And definitely cried during the song "For Good"...
maybe the kind of cry where people around you start looking at you. 
It was the song that was playing in our car as we pulled out 

of the city of Boston for the last time. 
Sandra had made me a CD and that was the first song on it.

Can't ever hear it without loosing it.

God has been so gracious to me in my friendships.

Thank you Nances for the gift of "Wicked"!

Then we of course came home and the girls had a little ice cream 

to top off the night.

Love my fun nieces!

The next day was In-and-Out...

(yikes, so many burgers!)

baseball for Ellie and the Nances before church that night.
(Ellie's first snow cone...Aunt Allie has given her several of her
"firsts" when it comes to treats! Guess aunts can get away with that!)

We also took them on one of our favorite outings...
hiking "A" mountain at sunset!

Claire and Ellie

Emmy, me, and Caroline

David and Allison
So cute and still in love...after 15 years of marriage!

Emmy, me, Allison, and Caroline

Then down the mountain and straight to Fuzzy's!

Yum! Our very favorite tacos in town!

And we ended the night by heading down the street to Slickables for
some ice cream cookie sandwiches for all!

We also saw a LOT of baseball.
Which actually has a little history behind it.
My first trip ever to Arizona was soon after I had moved to Boston.
I flew out and met my family for spring training.
Travis and I were "friends" at the time and I have a vivid memory of talking to him on the
phone while I was there and telling him how it was so beautiful...
and how surprised I was that I liked the desert so much.

Oh the irony...not only did I marry that "friend" but we brought our whole
family here to see God's kingdom established in this beautiful desert.
Love how God prepares our hearts for what He has in store for us.

So baseball...we did see a lot of it!
We followed the Rangers all over the valley!

It all started with this man...and his love for the game.
He taught his kids all about it.
I remember him getting me to memorize the pitching
rotation and the batting order of the Texas Rangers when I was really little!
Love my daddy.

Rangers fans.

Mama Claire

Poor thing didn't get many naps that week!

Fun times on the berm!

 
Getting autographs

 

And though we didn't know at the time that t-ball was in her future,
she definitely learned a lot about the game while we were out there
from watching and playing.

Getting a few pointers from Cory across the street!

And we couldn't miss a little self serve fro-yo...
there's that aunt at it again!

Guess my kids are serious about their yogurt!

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole week.
The last night they practiced and put together a worship/concert for us.
It was awesome...wish I had a video of Ellie's face...
she was super into it.  They all really were.

Here's the cover for their first album! :)

Signing autographs after the show.

As hard as it is not not live closer and to not get to be in their every day lives,
time together is so sweet.
I've always loved that about staying together under one roof...
you're together when everybody goes to bed, and you're back together again for breakfast!
You get to do normal life with them for a few days where nobody says good bye...just good night.

Our last breakfast together before they headed out. :(

It really was such a sweet time all together...
we were all so sad to see them go.
Ellie especially.
She told me about half through the day that they left,
"I just can't make it go away, Mommy."
I asked her what she couldn't make go away...
"My sadness."
Then later on she brought me this little wooden bear and showed it to me
to express how she was feeling.

 We love our family!