California Trip- A Week With The Cousins

 After Natalie's house, we headed to Sacramento to catch up with a friend and then continue on to Danielle and Garret's house! The kids were more than excited to see and spend time with their cousins. It was a fantastic week! The kids all got along very well and even were game to do some school days together! While there, I got to take some time to visit with Kara & Claudio and George & Becky. Levi & Family and Bethany came to see us at different times through the week also! It was so nice to catch up with the 4 of them! Upon leaving, I still didn't feel like I had been there long enough. Cousin time is so special and I miss the days when we would gather and stay up all night being crazy and wild!

The kids had some chores to do and so went out as a group to shovel the yard! My kids had great fun doing an unfun job! Yay for new experiences!

Georgia was gifted a pony for her birthday.
She and Blaire (7 weeks apart in age) have a love for horses!

Auntie Danielle helping Blaire to feed the horse.

Seeing as the girls are so close in age, I always enjoy taking their pictures when we gather!

Blake and Amelia are 10 weeks apart, but he played well with David this trip!
The boy fun and wildness seemed to be a bit much for Amelia at times and I'd find her with a good book sitting by the fire!

Auntie and Blaire checking on the chickens.

We made a batch of sugar cookies (a bit too sugary as a certain child ended up puking later in the night!) and decorated them with homemade icing! Each kiddo got to cut out their own shape and later decorate it!

Blake and Amelia - 10 years old! Well, Blake's birthday would be in another 2 weeks!
That would be blueberry stain from the bowl she'd just finished eating!!

Georgia and Blaire

While Addie is younger, she and Blaire played together well. She's such a bubbly girl and Blaire mixed well with her! They played with horses and babydolls the whole time! Addie seems to always be smiling and enjoying life!

Danielle managed to get all 8 kids smiling at once! She is a master of mothers!! She has such a natural ability to love her babies and interact well with each one. She seems to be able to juggle discipline and mercy without missing a beat. I know mothering comes with it's challenges, and I'm sure she has that much more with 6 children, but I'm always so encouraged by her graceful approach to life and parenting. God has definitely blessed her with a good husband to help, a wonderful mindset toward life, and lots of babies to love on. I'm always in awe of her!! Whenever she comes up in conversation, I always tell people that she was made to be a mother. Nothing else would suit her so perfectly. When I struggle at home, I ask myself, "What would Danielle do?!" Seriously, she is on my mind often!

The first night, all the cousins got to sleep in the same room. After not being asleep til almost midnight, we all stayed in our own rooms after that!

Blake and David
Blaire and Addie

Post dinner chores!

Uncle George and Aunt Becky

They call him, "Papa Candy" because he always gives out the candy when they leave!

Kara and I went out for dinner the night before we left town.

Sunday! I always listen to Danielle's brother-in-law preach on Sundays after we get out of our church. Their church is my "Church away from home" and this was the first time I've gotten to visit in person! It was so neat to finally be a part of the service and see people I've not seen in quite some time.