Family Visit

A perk of moving to western Colorado is that I am closer to my oldest sister, Jill, and her family. I hadn't seen Jill since my brother's wedding in January of 2012... and I hadn't seen her 4 kids since 2008... and her husband?? Well, I'm calculating that I hadn't seen him since my 2003 wedding. (He really dislikes Kansas... and he's a busy working man.) Well ALL 6 OF THEM CAME TO SEE ME!! Yay!! AND Aunt Jaime came too!! She couldn't wait to come see the boys in Colorado and they couldn't wait to see her. 

Camera shy teenage boys... Brendon and Cole.

We introduced the boys to UNO FLASH... they didn't comprehend the "Flash" part... slow motion was more their style. 

We will rename Brendon, Brendon "Draw 2" Tolley. Hehe!!

6 cousins at Hanging Lake.

Bad idea taking a pic of us in the sun... funny!

Silly Sisters!!

These are the good girls who represent the Jayhawks in Utah!
Sydney and Samantha.

We had a fun weekend... my camera didn't make an appearance enough.

Friday night we just hung out and got reacquainted. Saturday morning we walked downtown and then floated the river on tubes...I was nervous that I was the most experienced of the 10 of us that floated (Jake had to work) and my experience only consisted of floating once...2 months previously. Well, I'm happy to report I didn't lose anyone and I'm pretty sure we all had fun! We even sat in a natural hot spring along the way.

Sunday was Hanging Lake... a difficult hike, but hey, it's FREE!!!

After hiking Brian treated us to lunch and then they had to get back to Utah... hopefully we make it out there soon!

Side story: Imagine not seeing your aunt for 5 years... and you are only 11. Do the math, you were 6 years old then, and you don't remember a thing about your aunt or your cousins. Well, Sydney was not real keen on spending time with us. We were complete strangers and it made me very sad. She didn't really talk or interact with us while here. I can understand... I was probably the same way as a kid. A couple days ago, I got a text from my sister. 

"Soooo, Sydney came up to me and asked if our cousins would be visiting for Thanksgiving or Christmas or anything, and after I determined she was talking about the Glenwood Springs cousins I said possibly and then asked why. Her response? She simply must know about this other sister I have named Jacque! Very cute!"

Aha!! I did not scare my pretty niece off... now I just have a mission to get her to warm up to me!!