Crazy Weekend!

There's really going to be a tough time to top this past weekend!

John Michael, my oldest nephew, turned 18 this weekend, and anybody who could get there did, and then some!

His cousin Natasha drove over from Boise, and she was our FIRST surprise!

I had never met her before (she's a daughter of my brother-in-law's brother) but I knew her parents and met them at Jill & John's wedding when they were expecting her. Natasha is so beautiful and it was so neat to see her and the joy on John's face seeing his cousin for the first time in a long time.

Then his cousins Tien and Kevin came with their Mom (John's Aunt Kathleen) from near Jackson Hole...and we thought we were done with surprises!

(Tien is second from right and Kevin is on the left, with Erik and John in the middle and Tasha there on the right).




This one of Nora with her cousins was neat. Tashi ended up playing with Nora a TON and really watching her a lot of the night! Nora just took to her like she was a cousin she's known all her life!

Then Saturday was John Michael's birthday!
Then the surprise to ALL of us as my brother JOEL flew in to town from New York -- and he didn't tell ANYBODY!

We were all so thrilled to see him!

I love this picture of Joel and Jill.


Mom was a little stunned that she had her five kids together, so we of course had to get the group shot to prove it all. In order of importance, (or in order of reverse importance, as the middle child it makes NO difference to me, LOL!) That's Jeff, Jill, Julie, Joel, and Jeremy, with Mom in the midst of us...

And this morning Joel and Mom were very nice about smiling and keeping their eyes open for the picture, once the flash was turned off. :)

Well, any weekend that starts with lunch at Thai Heaven with my friends -- three people I went to high school with -- all of whom are friends on Facebook including Auntie Helen, who was brave enough to pull Nora out of her high chair, then follow her around the restaurant as she wandered into table tops and the like (Nora, not Helen).

Helen made Nora some very nice little blankies when she was born that we still use (Blankies by Helen), and if you want one, contact me and I'll put you in touch!