Roommate Reunion

Pheewww. . . . I am tired, but we had such a great time with our visitors. A few months ago Brad's Best Buddy Kent (from BYU) planned a little roommate reunion. Nicely for us, this reunion included coming to Maine. Kent, his wife Elizabeth, their daughter Annika, LaMar (another roommate) and his wife Amy drove up from D.C. and N.Y. on Thursday night. They met up with Brad in Portland, ME and the guys split off to hike Mt. Washington in NH and the girls drove up to spend the day with me at the coast.This is me with the Ladies on Thompson Island after our Picnic lunch

After lunch we went down to Bar Harbor, where we looked through shops, took a walk along the shore, and enjoyed a taste of Lobster Ice Cream....Yumm (ok, I'm kidding, well we did have lobster ice cream, but you wouldn't exactly want a whole cone...)While we were enjoying our seaside adventure, Brad, Kent and LaMar were having a little adventure of their own. They hiked to the summit of Mount Washington and back in one day. 13+ miles in all. Before they left, they were bragging to us about how Mount Washington has the worst weather on earth... It has snowed at the summit in all months of the year, and the highest recorded wind velocities ever were recorded there. They came back exausted, and sore, but they had a great time together non the less. This is them on the summit...I guess there wasn't much of a view.

Saturday, we went back to Mount Desert Island, so the boys could experience the coast of Maine as well. Here we are enjoying the harbor.Saturday was also Annika's birthday, so we celebrated ocean side. I thought that was neat. (Annika and Gwen are only 2 weeks apart.) She was fun to watch, she is a total ham, and she is an amazing communicator. She can say Pup pup, for dog, and duck, and fish as plain as day. I was totally impressed.

I love this picture of Brad with Kent. Kent is such a great friend. I absolutely adore him. He is really like a brother to me. And I also just love to see him and Brad together. Kent, LaMar, Brad

P.S. You know I post all these pictures to convince you to come visit!

Oldest ChildLiv is my little Socialite. She has always loved people, ever since she was 4 months old and her friends would play with their toys and she would play with their ears, and stare at their faces. All of this preface, to say, FINALLY, I am not the only one in the house she can play with during the day!! Yeah!! (Don't get me wrong, I love to play, but I do have things to do!) Starting this week, Liv and Gwen have actually been playing together, alone, in Liv's room, while I have been able to get things accomplished in peace.....It was wonderful. Aren't they sweet

Say Cheese....

My great friend Megan was nice enough to let me borrow her kids this morning to take some pictures. (Thanks Megan!) It was so much fun for me, although I am always a little stressed, hoping they are going to turn out well in the end. They are beautiful children and incredibly photogenic! As promised, here are some of my favorites. (Megan I hope you don't mind, if you do , let me know and I will take them off.)

When I grow up......

I want to be---->
or--->Click on these images if you are in the mood to browse some amazing photography. Now, if only I knew exactly how to get these skills....

I'm Back, And we had a great time!
Well, I feel like I have done so much in the past 2 1/2 weeks that I am totally overwhelmed with the thought of blogging it all. I have been at my Holt family reunion, which included my parents (2), me and all of my sibblings (5), our spouses (4) and all of our children (13). 24 people in all. Loads of fun! (Once we actually got there, I will spare you all the details, but just say, we could have driven to Kansas City from Maine in the amount of time it took to fly there, 3 days, no joke!)
Our reunion started at my sister Angi's house in Kansas City, where we visited all the church history sights in Independence Missouri, and

We attempted to take family pictures-Then we drove to Branson, Missouri and went to Silver Dollar City- A really fun amusement park with roller coasters and Kids play areas and rides.
And to Wet and Wild-
And to the beach-
One of my favorite parts of our trip was definitely watching Liv play with her cousins. They had such a great time running around after each other. We are sad that they all live so far away. Can't wait to see you again guys!!