The Cousins

We have had some exciting occurrences as of late.
Well . . . mostly one exciting occurrence. Visitors!
Visitors from out of state at Grandma Trudie's house to be exact.
Cousin visitors from out of state at Grandma Trudie's house to be even more exact.

My oldest cousin on my Mom's side, David Honeycutt, and his sweet family ventured from the east coast to the west coast in the last couple of weeks. We were lucky enough to be a stop on their way over! I had not seen Dave for almost ten years! Having only briefly met his wife at that point in time, it was great to spend some time with them and meet their kids. It was especially great for the kids to have little cousin friends to play with!
We spent an evening here, an afternoon there, and by the end of those few days the kids were great friends.

The most remembered events of the visit for my kids was the storytelling abilities of "The Mom Cousin" and "The Dad Cousin."
Here are some shots of April telling them a grand story about a witch of sorts.

As you can see, it was all very entertaining.

Then it was Dave's turn.
James was especially enthralled with the story about the 3 yr old cowboy.

Man . . . I need to practice my storytelling skills . . . I don't think I have ever held my kids' attention like this!

We, of course, had to bring them over for some ballpit play.
Here, we have the whole group:
From the front back...Cousin James (my kids loved that he had the same name as one of our own), Baby Katie, Bethany, James, Ben, and Amber...who had unfortunate timing with that ball toss. No face for her apparently!

Bethany especially liked playing with Baby Katie.

And really . . . who wouldn't? :) She is so darling.

We had so much fun getting to know The Cousins, as they came to be called. They are a wonderful family and super fun to spend time with! We are glad that they are somewhat close to us now! Maybe someday when I'm brave enough to road trip with my children, we will pay them a visit in Vegas!


In other not as exciting news...but news nonetheless...we made bbq chicken pizza this week.
. . .what? That's news worthy, right?
Well, anyway, it was good enough to be . . .

Bethany is a huge help in the kitchen this summer. I have been baking and cooking a lot more and she loves to be involved!

The boys are pretty eager as well . . . mostly whenever they realize they are going to get cheese.

Turned out wonderfully. We did a pretty good job.

As you can see, I was not to be bothered with any big production this particular evening.
Pizza.
Cherries.
Yum and yum.

If I ever keep my word and get recipes posted on my recipe blog, this one will most certainly be on there!
And . . . I promise I will.
And . . . it will not include the recipe for gluten free bread that just finished baking in my oven.
It looks like mashed potatoes.
That is all.