Favorite Aunt Status Update

This trip to Colorado was not quite as I expected, but it was so much fun! I love seeing the kids and I love love love the chats with my sister-in-law Tina! I flew in last Friday and Tina and the kids were all going to come and pick me up. I got in around 8am and checked my phone. I had a message from Tina telling me that Nathan was sick and she had to take him to the ER so my brother, Tyson was on his way to get me. He brought the four oldest and it was a grand old time riding back with them. Because it was Friday, Tyson had to go to work. So, on our way home he drove me close to where there new house is and told me directions on how to get there, then we took him to work. He lives really close to where he works, so that made it easy for me to find my way (and the kids are very smart and know how to get home). I was very glad that I went out that day, and that early in the day because I was able to help them out so much by watching their kids. It made it so Tyson was able to go to work and get the project done that he had been working on, and Tina could be at the hospital with Nathan and not worry about her kids.

Around 11:00am the girls had dance class so I got them all dressed and loaded them up in the van and we went to get Tyson to take us to class. He told us that Nathan had croup and they wanted to monitor him for 24 hours. He was quarantined to his hospital room because croup is very contagious so Tyson wasn't sure if we would be able to go visit him.

While Emilee and Katelyn had their tap class Tyson, Andrew, Maren, and I waited upstairs for them. As you see each nephew or niece I will give you the "favorite aunt status update."

Here is Andrew, 7 years old... we all know that Niki and Celeste are his favorites, I didn't stand a chance:

Here is cute Maren, I am again her favorite aunt. She is 6. I took her Hello Kitty bedding and we put it on as soon as we could! She had no problem laying down for bed after that!

Here is Maren with my wedding ring on... tricky:

Katelyn: Ok, I thought I had this one in the bag... apparently not. On Sunday afternoon we called Jerusha. Katelyn is 2 and she loves to talk! She talked to Jerusha for a good 5-10 minutes. When she got off the phone with her she went up to her mom and said, "I love Jerusha, she is my best friend." What the heck!?! Oh well, I guess I can't be everyone's favorite.


And here is Emilee. Jerusha and I got to hold her when she was just a couple hours old... She must have liked me more because ever since then I have been her favorite! She is 4 and she is so cuddly and fun. She isn't in school yet, but she loves to read and write!

This is Emilee and Katelyn after their dance class. We took them upstairs. They are eating goldfish. I asked them to smile for this picture and this is what I got:

Here we are being mean like tigers:

Emilee, the little stinker, thinks it is funny to not smile for pictures. I thought we were supposed to smile for this... guess I didn't get the "frowny face" memo (she is pretty good at that):

Like father, like son:

After dance class we were able to go see their little 1 year old brother Nathan! We stopped to get lunch at McDonald's on the way. When we got there we all put on these masks. Aren't they so cute!

Here is the little sick dude. He was scared of me at first, but warmed up to me after a bit. He was so excited to see his daddy and brother and sisters. He was running around the room having a great time. Hmm... "favorite aunt status"... I think daddy is his favorite, or maybe his big brother Andrew... not sure if he has a favorite aunt yet... I'll have to work on that!

Maren and me with our masks:

Here is Nathan in the crib with Andrew and Maren looking in. He was ready for a nap, but wasn't able to sleep very well there... who does sleep well at the hospital?

Nathan was able to come home from the hospital Saturday morning! Before he got home and before Tyson had to go into work, Tyson took me and the kids swimming. We had so much fun. Their pool has a big kids water slide that Andrew went down lots of times... a GREAT accomplishment. It also had a lazy river that we took the kids in. Andrew and Maren were big enough to stand so they could be by themselves, but Emilee and Katelyn had to have either Tyson or me with them at all times. Both of them got the confidence to "swim" by themselves next to us with floaties on their arms! They are so cute!!

Saturday afternoon Tina and I did some yard work while the kids played outside. Sunday Tina and I took the kids to sacrament meeting while Tyson stayed home with Nathan. After sacrament meeting Tyson and Tina swapped so Tyson could teach his primary class. I went to Relief Society all by myself. I sat on the back row, the aisle seat. I was so glad I did because the junior primary came in to sing us a song... that means Andrew, Maren, and Emilee all came in! I was the proudest Aunt EVER!!! Emilee was on the front row and was singing at the top of her lungs!!! As they walked by me to leave the room I gave them all hugs. When I hugged Emilee the woman sitting next to me said, "I was wondering who that cute girl belonged to."

I had a GREAT time. Next time I'm taking Michael with me, I'll make sure we go when he is not working! I had a blast! Thank you Tyson and Tina for allowing me to come!!!