brothers

this last weekend i got to see all three of my brothers and their families

one of my brothers lives nearby but the other two don't 

so we don't see them often

my brother ben and his family stopped by friday night to saturday morning

on their way back to texas

and it was so cool to see their family, even if it was short

here's noah, hazel and olive with kami and olivia

 here's sienna, kami and eleanor

 me and ben

 we had a nice breakfast with chris and ben's families here on saturday morning

here's jen and tawny

then that night my brother ryan and his family came to stay with us for a few days

on their way to california

michael and ryan had so much to talk about 

because michael's research is in the same thing ryan does for a living

they loved chatting about work

 ryan's oldest son holden is so sweet and endured hazel's obsession with him :)

i don't often feel "old" but remember holden as a newborn as he's now towering over me

is kind of crazy and did finally make me feel old

 olive and seth look like they could be siblings for sure

holden and hazel reading

 the kids all got along soooo well, it was awesome

here they're playing xbox together

 and it turns out we have matching vans

 sunday night we went to dinner at chris' house

ryan and chris played scrabble (family tradition) while michael watched

 chris, ryan and me

 we finally cracked open olive's birthday pinata

the kids loved it

 we all took turns getting beat up by ryan on the trampoline 

michael thought it was hilarious

 chris and ryan were pretty funny to watch, too

 and i was pretty much just terrified

but laughing through it, feeling like a 5 year old again 

 cousins

 monday we spent the day with ryan's family first at the dinosaur museum

 and then at the petting zoo at thanksgiving point

 looking at the chickens

 chatting

 pony rides for hazel

 olive

 miriam

 justin

 and noah

 eleanor was content in her stroller

 then we spent a few hours at temple square

 they left yesterday

and now our house doesn't look like this anymore 

it was so much fun having them here

and i loved everyone stay with us

family is the best