Javier's Mom, Senora Ruth, his Abuelita Maria, His Tia Ruth and, his little cousin Telmo Andres came to see us last month and we had a great time! Seeing them here with my family, getting to show them our life was like something from a dream. We had so much fun with them and we miss them so much!
I don't have any pictures of this part but Javier met them all in LA and took them to Disneyland for a day before coming back to Boise.
Sammy turned 4 while they were here, sweet little man. I didn't get many pictures. It was Easter Sunday so it was fun for him that he got to have an Easter Bunny birthday cake and I also made him some monster cupcakes at his request. His presents were a tipi that I made myself over about a week. It was a labor of love and some super hero masks that I also made and some new paints with a better color selection in them. He liked them :)
Sammy does a great Batman impersonation. When he says, "I'm Batman" He sounds just like him and it is hillarious! He can also do venom.
I liked this picture. Everyone looks awesome and the boys look so funny because they are just funny boys. I love those sweeties!
We went to the zoo with them and had so much fun!
When we saw the Wallabys a zoo worker let the boys touch a piece of Wallaby fur. Sammy looked up at him with a mixture of shock and hurt and said, "You killed a Wallaby!" That is a story I have told a hundred times since, it was so funny!
Sammy at the end started hugging stuff. "Goodbye Platypus, Goodbye dolphin..."
Javier's aunt Tia Ruth was so sweet!
We also got to go minigolfing!
My mother-in-law was so kind and sweet. I think she really enjoyed getting to know her namesake. It was also so heartwarming to see my dear husband get some time with his mommy. I hope we spoiled her a little. She is such an amazing woman and she has sacrificed so much for her children, I just wanted it to be beautiful for her.
At the end of the vacation we loaded 16 suitcases and the 10 of us into our 2 cars and drove down to Utah for the last couple days.
Did I mention yet how much my kiddos loved Telmo Andres? They sure did. They wanted him to stay forever and be their brother. He is such a sweet kid, I would totally go for that. He loved everything and got so excited about cute things like jumping on a trampoline for the first time and getting his first little lego set. Seeing him and Max and Sammy I couldn't help but think that Javier and his brothers must have looked just like that a few years ago. Three little stair steps so close together.
We had so much fun showing them temple square. Javier's Mom was just in awe. And Abuelita Maria kept saying it was like something from a dream. We really had a fun day!
The boys were pretty pooped by the end of it though.
The next day we headed down to BYU. We saw the beautiful Sacred Gifts show at the Art Museum with gorgeous paintings of the Savior. They were so beautiful and touching I could not stop crying. It was amazing!
The kids liked taking little turns in Abuelita Maria's wheel chair :)
The family history center was pretty neat!
It was special to be able to share this huge part of ourselves with people we love so dearly! We all share a deep and abiding love for our Savior and a deep gratitude for all he has done for us. I think before they came Javier's grandma and his aunt might not have known that about our religion. People have some strange ideas about what the mormons believe, but after seeing so much evidence of our faith, all the art and media and talk about Jesus I think that was undeniable. I was so grateful to be able to talk about Him with our loved ones and to share the stories about my ancestors and many other members of our faith who loved the Lord so much they sacrificed everything to follow him and to serve their fellow man. I love this gospel! I love Javier's sweet family! I love my sweet family! I am so grateful to know that if we live well that we can live and love together and with Christ forever!
