Cathcing up

Time for some updates. More China pictures will be coming soon, as soon as I can get Josh to tell me the stories behind the pictures. You know, more than just "this is a place we went in China that had this stuff." He's goofy. :)

My brother Ryan and his family came into town last week for my SIL's grandmother's wedding. It was so good to see them! They have been living near Buffalo, NY while my brother is going to school. We didn't think we'd get to see them this year so we were so happy when this opportunity came up for them. Of course I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I'm sure Des will post some on her blog when she finally has the time.

Bubbles with G-Pat

Cousins Sasha and Violette. V is only 5 days older than Sasha. Des bought these cute matching outfits for them so we were glad to get the chance to put the girls in them side by side, instead of just comparing pictures. Sasha is a couple inches taller than Violette, but V has about 6 pounds on Sasha. They were pretty cute playing together.
I just loved Sasha's face in this one!

Me, Sasha and cousing Penelepe

Josh's Aunt Gwen moved to Colorado a few years ago but this week she has come back to visit so we had a picnic on Wednesday night with all of Josh's family and some of Gwen's kids at a park in Centerville. It was great to see Aunt Gwen, it's been a long time. Uncle John had to stay home. The poor guy- he has alzheimer's and it would have been very difficult for him to travel. So Aunt Gwen checked him into a rest home while she is gone so that he will be well taken care of.

Aunt Gwen has a little dog, not sure what kind it is, but Sasha is in love with animals! She was playing with the little puppies and squealing! Then Josh's brother brought their dog Harley to play at the park and Sasha squealed even more! It's too cute! Saturday morning we went for a walk and she dogs acrossed the street. She sat up in her stroller and started squealing again! I can't wait to take this kid to the zoo!

Sasha loves it when Grandpa Howard plays the guitar or banjo and sings to her. She just stares at him, then when he's done she gets the biggest grin on her face! Melts his heart everytime.
A rare Lakin family photo. Funny how when you try to plan these things out they never work. Well, we all ended up at the park and realized that everyone was there just before it got too dark so we hurried and snapped a picture. Not the most glamorous but hey, it proves we were all in the same place at the same time. With Paige back east at school and everyone going a million different directions with work, school and kids it can be kind of tough sometimes. So we take what we can get.
Saturday we went to Lowe's and went a little nuts. We've been talking about what we could possibly add to our backyard to make it that much cooler and we decided we needed a fire pit. So we bought a fire pit. And a hammock. And some chairs. And some patio furniture covers for the outdoor furniture. But in our defense, most of it was on sale. SO if you want/need some patio furniture- go to Lowe's! It's all 50% off right now so its a great deal!

Here's me and Sasha, chillin in the hammock.

Then we invited Howard and Lily over to make S'mores by the fire. It was fun. We decided the fire pit was the perfect addition to the backyard. So come on over anytime, there's always something to do at our house!