Warner and Hannah

Here are A LOT of pictures from our recent trip to California to help my sister Julia with her two beautiful babies, Hannah and Warner. We had a great time and it was really a treat to see Julia with her gorgeous babies. I was so impressed with how well she and Grant are doing with such a huge new responsibility. She's a great mom. And those babies are just so adorable!


Franny kept telling me how excited she was to be on an airplane. Our flight left at 8 PM, which is normally bedtime, but she stayed awake for the entire flight and most of the hour-long ride from LAX to Corona where my Dad lives. She had all kinds of questions on the plane- most of them about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She wanted to know all about Violet Beauregard and what happens to her after she turns into a blueberry. I hope she doesn't think that's what is happening to me.

Franny holding Hannah for the first of many times. She fell in love with the twins just like I did.

I was so happy when I found out that my grandparents were going to be visiting while we were there. It was SO good to see them. They live in Utah and we just don't make it out to see them enough. Before we moved out to the Midwest, we got to see them all the time, so I have missed them a lot these last past four and a half years. This is the classic picture my grandparents take with every new baby in their family. This one wasn't even posed, it just happened like this. I have a picture of them holding Franny just like this and my parents have one of them holding me just like this. I love it.

Grandma helping Franny hold Warner. A snapshot of the girls in their jammies right before Grandma and Grandpa were heading home to Utah.

My sisters Annie and Maggie, and Maggie's boyfriend Ryan. It was so good to finally meet him. They've been dating for over a year now and we finally got to meet him! They make a really cute couple. We had the entire family together (except for Bobby- wish ) that Saturday night and it was so nice.

Franny was so sweet with the babies. She wanted to hold them several times every day. She'd walk up and casually mention, "I haven't held Warner today..." And then as soon as she finished holding Warner she'd say in the same casual way, "I haven't held Hannah today..."
We loved seeing how Hannah likes to snuggle in towards Warner when she sleeps. Very sweet.
I miss them!
Richard and Kristy made it up to my Dad's twice while we there. It was great to see them. Franny was really proud of herself for picking up their tiny puppies. The poor little dogs didn't seem to happy about it, though.
One night after Sophie fell asleep, Franny stayed up to make snickerdoodles with Grandpa. They turned out delicious and it was then that we learned that Franny knows how to crack an egg by herself!

Friday was a lot of fun. Julia took the girls and I to get pedicures. We went back to Julia's and we fixed dinner and then Dad and Annie picked us up and we all went to Chuck E. Cheese. Was that ever an intense experience! Try going on a Friday night in Southern California when it's been raining all week and people are ready to get out of the house and you'll see what I mean. The girls had fun and I did, too. I find that sometimes my taste in food regresses a little bit when I'm pregnant. For example, I found myself sneaking over to the salad bar with my paper plate to steal some ranch dressing for dipping my pizza in. I love Chuck E. Cheese pizza! I know it's not any good, but it just reminds me of when I was a little kid and everyone was having their birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.
Saturday night was a lot of fun, too. My Dad went to a BYU basketball game with some friends so we decided to have a girls' night in with take-out and a movie and a sleepover in the family room. Annie brought blankets and pillows and mattresses down. We went to head out the door and realized my Dad had taken his car keys with him, but Julia saved the day and brought us Rubio's for dinner. We had rented a couple of redbox movies, but we didn't need them because Julia's husband Grant has a cousin who works for Disney and she was able to score us an in-home viewing of "Princess and the Frog"! That was pretty cool since the movie hasn't been released to DVD yet and the girls, who had already seen it once in the theater, are huge "Princess and the Frog" fans. So Julia saved the day and we got to hold the babies a little more that day. My girls had SO much fun with their Aunt Annie. She was adorable with them- playing games, straightening their hair, sharing her old toys with them... I was so grateful for her!
Here's a picture we faked. Sophie had a hard time keeping her eyes closed, but bless her heart for trying.

My Dad arranged a family party for the last night we were there and it was so great to see everyone. My uncle Lauren came, Gayle and David were there with two of their kids Will and Alex, and Wayne and Cindy came with Vanessa. Gayle came to Julia's earlier in the week when we were at Julia's and brought presents for baby Claire AND for Franny and Sophie. The girls were thrilled and so was I. It was so thoughtful and meant a lot to me. I really loved how much the girls talked about the fairies that Aunt Gayle bought for them. When we got home and finally saw Daddy, that was one of the first things Franny said to him. "Do you want to see the fairy that Aunt Gayle gave me?"

Sophie is a dog-lover just like her Dad. She asked me once after we got home if Julia's dog Cooper was her cousin.

My Dad is the sweetest grandpa to my girls. We hadn't actually seen him in about 16 months, but you never would have thought so thanks to ichat. The girls were so happy to see Grandpa and interacted with him like they get to see him on a weekly basis. Which I guess they kind of do. Although on the car ride back from the airport Sophie was saying things like, "We can see Grandpa tomorrow." Also, while we there we went to Target to pick up a few things and we saw a box of Good & Plenty's- my dad's favorite candy. I told the girls I thought we should pick up a little present for Grandpa. Now every time Sophie and I are grocery shopping, she looks for Good & Plenty's on the shelves of the candy aisle and calls out, "Mom! MOM!! That's what Grandpa likes!" So cute. We had a great time and I am so thankful we were able to go. We miss you all and love you!