As I mentioned in the last post, our trip took on a semi-unexpected turn the night we flew into California--my aunt passed away. My aunt Marty (my mom's younger sister) battled colon cancer with the most courage, determination and grace of anyone I know. On Tuesday March 30 she lost that battle, but won huge since her final resting place is with her Lord and savior, Jesus. She married later in life (almost 7 years ago) and adopted two children - Lisa (5) and Nathan (4) - from a Russian orphanage. My aunt (Aunt Goo as we called her when I was younger) and her family live in a suburb of L.A., so we had already planned to visit them at the end of our trip. My parents worked feverishly and figured out flights/rental cars/hotels/etc. so we could all stay for the memorial. What was originally going to be a 10 day trip turned into a 16 day trip. That's a long time to be away from home with two young kids, but we were so grateful to be able to be there for the memorial and to spend time with my uncle Stephen and cousins Lisa and Nathan.
Marty used all kinds of natural/homeopathic methods to fight her cancer. One of these methods was a foot detox bath. I was so intrigued by the brief research I'd done on it and wanted to try it--my results are the bottom right. Nasty, right?! I forget what the colors mean, but I think it was detoxing yeast from my system and detoxing my gallbladder.
A little time in the hotel pool--I love that Ashlyn and Maguire are such buddies! Also, spending time with Lisa, Nathan, my Aunt Diane and Granny. Doesn't Maguire look like a typical teenage boy mowing the lawn? Well, minus the binky, of course ;)
Ashlyn and Lisa, memorial flowers (bright, cheerful and fun--just like my Aunt Marty!), extended family, our family of four. So interesting how--unplanned--navy and white was what so many of us wore!
One of our last days there, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's with Stephen, Lisa and Nathan. The kids had a blast together and it was good for us all to go do something fun and lighthearted together. Did you notice in the lower left picture how Maguire is planting a kiss right on Lisa's open mouth?! LOL! What can I say; he's a lover :)
If you think of it, please please pray for these precious kids. My heart breaks for them and for my uncle who lost the love of his life. The thing that takes away the sting in this all is that Marty is in her eternal home and we WILL see her again one day. What an amazing God we serve. For all who serve Him, death does not win in the end!
I know this will come as a complete shock to you all {read much, much sarcasm}, but I took a ton of pictures during our recent trip to Palm Springs with my family!
I'm sitting here, trying to think how to put into words my immense gratitude to my parents for yet another fabulous Palm Springs vacay. Emotions overflow but words fail me. Mom & Dad...THANK YOU! I love you and love the 2 weeks we were able to spend together.
Our trip started right at naptime, so the kids were good and tired, right? Nope :) Because we were using FF miles and it was spring break, our flights were less than desirable. We flew out at 1:30pm and (after 3 flights) landed in Orange County at 10:30pm (aka 1:30am EST). We were worried about how Ash and Mac would do staying up so late with no naps, but they did great! They both slept (with a little Benedryl help) on the last flight from Salt Lake City to OC. The frustrating part came when we landed and two of our bags hadn't arrived with us. Poor Kyle had nothing, but luckily we had my bag and most of the kids' stuff and Delta provided us with some very interesting toiletry bags. An hour and a half later we were all snug in our hotel beds. The next morning Kyle and Maguire went to pick up our rental car and we got the news that my aunt (my mom's sister) had passed away. (I'll write more about that in the next post) With heavy hearts, we drove the 2.5 hours to Palm Springs to meet up with the rest of my family.
We had a blast hanging out with Uncle Nate, Aunt Brittany and Baby Oliver for a few days before they had to leave. We always love our time with them, but it never seems long enough! :)
The kids loved spending time in the pool and I was extremely grateful for swimmies and life jackets and the fact that both my kids were great about wearing them whenever they were around the pool. (see this post and this post for the reasoning behind my paranoia)
Family time!
We had lemon, lime and orange trees at the house we rented, so Ashlyn and Maguire loved making fresh squeezed lemonade and orange juice with Papa.
Our Easter celebration was very laid back this year. We had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard, read the Easter story out of the kids' Bible and then watched the Veggie Tales "An Easter Carol". We didn't go to church anywhere so I didn't see any reason to get all dressed up :)
Aren't these boys (young and...not-so-young ;) ) so cute! Papa and his grandsons
