9/11 weekend - family post

The weekend of 9/11, Tyler's parents came out for Tyler's cousin's missionary farewell. It was great to spend time with so much family under one roof.

L to R: Tyler's Grandma, mom, Aunt Jennie, cousin, Aunt Mary, dad, Uncle Stan, and Aunt Lou:

This is Tyler's cousin's wife and baby. Her little girl could be a model. She hadn't had a nap and she was getting a little bit fussy. But the second I pulled out my camera, she started flashing the biggest smile and cheesing it up for the camera. 

What a little dolly.

Here's Tyler's uncle who hired Tyler. Annie loves to announce, "Hey! You work at my dad's office!" whenever she sees him. Little does she know that Tyler is really the little guy working at this guy's office!

These two are just so kind and generous--such gracious hosts to everyone at their place.

Here's the man we were celebrating, Emerson, (on left), and his little brother Cooper.

 And these are Emerson's lovely sisters, Maddie and Nikki:

 Thanks for watching the kids, honey!

 

Dad's got everything under control...

Oh my word.... their house is just amazing. This is the view when you walk in. Shannon looks like a little ant.

And this is just the formal living room off to the left of the main entrance. I refrained from taking 200 more pictures of their place.

 Oh, and Tyler's uncle's friend came to pick him up in a sweet car...

I think Tyler was drooling at that point.

Tyler's parents were leaving after lunch on Monday, so we tried to pack in as much as we could. We dropped the kids off at school and then took Annie & Shannon raspberry picking.

When we got home, Linda had the kitchen humming as she taught me how to make raspberry jam, homemade spaghetti sauce (by using up the huge box of roma tomatoes from our u-picking the weekend before), and baking homemade bread. 

Yes, all 3 of those things were going on simultaneously in my kitchen. And I think we only had 2ish hours to accomplish all 3 tasks. I'll say it again: my mother-in-law is an animal. We zipped over to the airport as fast as we could and they made it just in time to board their plane. Phew! Can't wait for their next visit!