Cousin Adventures, Part I

While the boys and I stayed five days in Sacramento without Jeremy, we had a ton of fun with their twin cousins!! Here's my effort to document our adventures with them.

Big Play Place 

Katie found this fun center for kids that has lots of climbing stuff. 

At first the kids were hesitant to play. We tried playing with them, but were told by management that we couldn't because we did not have socks on our feet. Gramz came to the rescue by going on a shopping quest to find cheep socks for us to wear. (The play place was far from home). As soon as we had our own socks, the kids played with us on everything. We had a blast! 

Tanner worked really hard to build bridges and houses with these foam blocks. They were heavy!

Everyone climbed and climbed around these jungle gyms and went down the rocket-speed slide.

Even Grandma climbed!!

Tanner made it up to this net tunnel. He climbed out as quick as he was in. I don't blame him because it was pretty scary!

There were lots of places to hide.

We all had a great time!!

Buzy Kidz Town

Katie found another cool place that was a mini town for toddlers. Our kids first shopped at the grocery store.

Everyone was excited to have something to push.

We were so lucky to have my Aunt Lorna join us at Buzy Kidz. Tanner was the doctor and took care of Lorna at the health clinic.

They had bikes and cars to ride and an "engineering room" with cars and trucks and tools to play with.

My niece was so adorable with her toy stroller. She put on a princess dress from the "costume studio" and strolled her baby all around town, over and over again! 

We went to Chevy's for lunch. Since it was Tuesday, kids got free meals!

Then we came home for the older three to take a nap. Dallin got some one-on-one time with Auntie Lorna!

It was a super fun day with the kids and especially fun to be with Aunt Lorna! I love her so much!!

Zavoral Toyland

Grandma Z has collected a lot of toys that were all perfect for these little guys. Our children were well entertained by this toyland, usually until late hours of the night! 

While the kids played, we adults sat back and were fully entertained. We cheered on any child that went down the slide, made silly faces when someone made eye contact with us, pushed kids away from our laptops and phones, yelled at the dog to stop eating the kids' snacks, scolded the children for feeding the dog their snacks, and tried sneaking into the kitchen to eat left overs and treats without the kids noticing. Tanner took the following pictures of his adult audience.

These cousins sure had fun together! Stay tuned for Part II of their adventures!

Uncle Matt

Tanner loves his Uncle Matt! We love him, too. He just barely started his fulltime two year mission to teach the gospel to the Spanish people in Atlanta Georgia.

While we were in Sacramento, it just so happened that Matt was going to receive his endowment in the Sacramento Temple in preparation for his mission. We didn't know this when we booked our flights, so Jeremy made a last minute change with his return flight so that he could be in the temple with his brother. It was a wonderful day! 

Jeremy also got some one on one time with Matt playing disc golf and shooting hoops in the swimming pool. Jeremy left early Sunday morning to get back to MN for work.  I stayed in Sacramento with the boys 5 more days. Dallin and Tanner had some good times with their uncle! The boys enjoyed dinner at Red Robin where Uncle Matt worked. They also liked swimming, shooting hoops, playing with the dog, playing McDonald's restaurant and chillin' with Matt.

I had fun helping Matt clean out his room. It's not easy deciding what to do with stuff that you won't see for two years. We spent a couple hours organizing and tossing and packing. It was also fun playing racket ball with Matt (Steve, Katie and DadZ were there, too). Matt was surprised at my racket ball abilities, which made me feel athletic!

Saying goodbye to Matt was no big deal for Tanner. We tried explaining to Tanner that he wouldn't see Matt for more than two years, but he didn't really get it. Finally, at the last minute, as we pulled out of the car, Tanner waved and gave Matt a high five. 

I'm so proud and happy for The Matt, as he calls himself. I met him when he was only 10 years old. That means I've known him for almost half of his life! Every time that I've seen him, he has gotten a little taller and a little more mature than the time before. (Jeremy's blog post The Matt) Two of my favorite memories with him were when he shadowed some of my classes the first couple years that I taught elementary school and when he and Katie convinced me to ride the X2 roller coaster not just once, but twice. (Blog post about X2) Also, one cannot forget when Matt got nailed in the head by a kite surfer at our beach. (Matt's Accident) 

Matt is funny, charming, spiritual, kind, observant, courageous and goofy. Can't wait to see how much taller he gets while on his mission, both physically and spiritually! 

We love you ELDER Uncle Matt!

Great- and Great Great- Grandparents

While we were in Sacramento, we got to spend time with all of our wonderful grandparents. 

Here is Dallin and Tanner with Great Grandma Ginny. 

She is staying in assisted living right now, and Tanner was a little uncomfortable with the place during our first visit. He didn't mutter a word unless it was requesting to leave. I explained to him that all the grandmas and grandpas that are sick stay here until they get better, but that didn't help him feel any more comfortable.

Luckily, during our second visit (just me and Tanner), he felt much more comfortable! Tanner was a little chatterbox with Grandma! There were so many sweet little moments, I couldn't believe it. 

He asked her lots of questions: "Grandma, is it okay if I sit on your bed?" "What color do you like the best, Grandma?" "Do you like baseball? I loooove baseball." When he asked her what she liked the best, she said "I like being with you the best." 

He sang her the ABC's and This Land is Your Land and Goodnight Grandma. The two of them compared hand sizes and gave hugs. So precious!

Tanner invited Grandma to his house. "Grandma, when you get better, you can come to my house and play drums with me and my daddy!" And he invited himself to stay with her. "Grandma, when I get sick, can I lay in that bed?"

On the way home, he asked if he could bring grandma a snack next time. I told him that would be great, but I'm not sure she can eat our snacks. Tanner was quiet for about a minute, then asked, "Can I bring Grandma Ginny flowers next time?" I said yes! So a couple of days later, we brought Grandma red flowers because she told us that was her favorite color.

He was really excited to bring them to her.

Grandma was so happy and said that every time she looks at the flowers she will think of Tanner. We sang her several songs before giving hugs and saying goodnight.

Tanner also had fun with his Great Grandma Davidson! He played tickle games with her at the 4th of July party.

Tanner and Dallin played songs on the piano for Great Grandma and Grandpa Davidson.

We were able to get a picture of Dallin with his living heritage of FIVE generations! (We also got one with Tanner when he was 1 yr old). Here is Great, Great Grandma June with her son, Great Grandpa Davidson, and his daughter, Grandma Zavoral, and her son, Dada Jeremy, and his son, Baby Dallin!

The boys got to visit with Great, Great Grandma June at her house. She read them a poem she wrote.

And then they played imaginary baseball!

Grandma pitching, Tanner hitting.

Later in the week, Tanner wanted to mow the lawn with his toy lawn mower. After he was done with Grandma Z's lawn, he wanted to keep mowing. I told him to just mow the lawn again. "NO! I already mowed this grass. I need to mow a different grass." So I took him over to Grandma June's house and he worked very faithfully mowing her lawn while me and Grandma visited on the porch.

We are so blessed to have these Great Grandparents in our lives! It was especially fun to watch Tanner build relationships with them. What a blessing!!