Saying Good-Bye

Today we spent the morning and afternoon and early evening up to our eyeballs in laundry, changing sheets on beds and general cleanup of the Joshua and Kristene May household. They have been so generous to allows us all to descend upon their home like locusts and fill it to the rafters with all our laughter and noise. We have all played, stuffed our tummies with good food and treats galore and hugged and kissed to last us all another year or so. The children, well, I'm not sure what the children will do without one another. Cousin love, a beautiful thing to behold.

Now our time to depart arrived. Kisses, kisses, kisses all around. Hugo and I are driving down to Oceanside, CA with the Price family to spend the next two weeks at their house. Cesar smooshed into the van with us and we drove him down to the airport in Salt Lake to fly back to the City. I don't do very well with good-byes. I tend to lean toward the teary side. It was nice to be smooshed close with him for that bit of snowy highway.

A sister-in-law (I won't name names because you know who you are!) arrived with a stomach bug which flew through our holiday party. Sunday was my day to get it. I was not looking forward to the drive through all the mountain passes. I willed myself to sleep in my chair surrounded by all the kids. Millie turned around as I was closing my eyes and pointed out the "bucket" - for just in case. Before long, I was awoken by that sound. That sound which you know is your child and your child only. I grabbed the bucket just in time. Fun trip it was. By the end of our long, long drive I was fearing my head might implode from all the pressure within my plugged ears, my throat was terribly scratchy, my body all achy and I had nearly used up an entire box of tissues all by myself.

Trent drove through Vegas for me to see how much it has grown since I was last there. Amazing. I couldn't get over all the growth. It was a lot to take in. The lights and colors and palms were all so beautiful but so... crowded. The photos below are my drive-by tour experience from the back seat of a packed mini van. Enjoy!