California

We had a fabulous trip to California! Ben's grandma is turning 90 this year, so all Ben and all of his six natural siblings gathered to celebrate. We spent a lot of great time with family!

At Gramma's open house:
(Clockwise) Ben, Kandy, Gramma, X, L, Buster

We were staying at Ben's aunt's house along with his brother and his family. Seven little girls and two little boys, total. I spent the first evening holding six-week-old "X" as he slept, thinking how grateful I am to be having another baby. As he cried through the night, though, I had my doubts. ;) He did better the next night!

Friday evening, we went to dinner with Ben's nephew (who is only 6 months younger than he is) and his family. We haven't seen them outside of the occasional family party, so it was nice to have good time with them again.

On Saturday, we spent the day at Aaron's, another of Ben's brothers. They have a beautiful swimming pool. I enjoyed the water so much that I stayed in long enough to get a beauty of a sunburn. Oops. That evening, we left all the cousins together, and the adults headed out for dinner at Macaroni Grill. After we got back to Aaron's house, we gathered to listen to Ben's dad and siblings share their memories of Gramma.

Sunday was the open house for all of Gramma's other family and friends to wish her a happy birthday. We started back home Sunday night.

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but it was great to see so much family.