Perfect Timing

We've been home from Utah for a couple of weeks now and I am still on a high from our wonderful visit with family and friends. I have a to admit, when Kelli and Merit started talking about getting married 6-8 weeks after me having the baby, I got really nervous thinking about travelling and recovery. But, it was perfect. All of our family and friends got to meet Wes as a perfect, tiny babe and smother him to their hearts content. Our friends back here adore our little man, but it sure is something else to watch our families LOVE our kids. It really makes me tear up just thinking about it.

Everything about our visit was perfect, from the wedding, to the blessing, to just visiting. So that's where the posts will begin...Just visiting.

(WARNING: My iPhone camera isn't as good as I thought it was, but it was the only thing I had the whole trip. There is a lot of blurry pictures, and the flash does no favors for anybody. I apologize in advance.)

First place to visit: Logan, Utah


The Accounting Department Head at USU was one of Brian's professors and has been a great mentor to Brian over the past few years and played a major role in us pursuing and accepting the opportunity to come back east. He has visited us back here, but we have missed him our past few visits as he has a CRAZY travel schedule. He was headed out of the country the day we arrived, so after landing in the early morning hours and getting a few hours of sleep, Brian, Wes and I made the trek up to Logan to have some breakfast with him before his flight out. It was a wonderful breakfast despite Brian losing the $300 key to his mom's Lexus. After breakfast Brian headed over to campus to be a guest speaker in Larry's class while I headed to Breanne's to surprise her with our arrival!

 Breanne was genuinely surprised and got a little emotional when she saw us on her front porch.

I love that about this gal. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and it has made me feel special more than once.

 Chatting and spending time with her is priceless and these 2 precious boys meeting for the first time was definitely the highlight of our visit. 

Again, perfect timing.

After Brian riding with the tow truck guy, and Larry graciously giving Wes and me a lift back to SLC, we headed to Aunt Brigitte's to begin introductions to the family.

 Leah liked holding the baby, and Aunt Brig thought he was to die for.

 Our girls better have hair is all I have to say.

 Dinner was spent at Cafe Rio to spend time together with Kelli and Merit as they would be gone for the majority of our visit. How dare they? 

Last stop on our hectic first day:

The Madsens of course!

I couldn't wait for Heidi to meet Wes because she loves my boys so much and doesn't hold back on smooching their cheeks! I know he loved it even if he was asleep.

It was nice to have a while alone with Heidi while she waxed my armpits. Yes. I get it done every Utah trip.

Beautify Me

The majority of Day 2 was spent doing things like this:

 Thanks to Brigitte I was able to be beautified for the wedding in one day: hair, nails and babysitting while I spray tanned. She's a miracle worker!

 All of that was able to be done even after a busy morning of getting pictures with all of the Wilson cousins.

Hence Wes being so pooped with Grandma Cindy. :)

 The night before the wedding was spent being with some of our favorite people and making sure last minute things were taken care of.

It was so fun for all of the Monsen siblings to be together!

 This girl getting married and this baby getting blessed were the next big things on our agenda (obviously, as they were the exact reasons we made the trip in the first place), but they each deserve their very own posts.

Back to just visiting...

 We got to see a lot (considering our time is spread pretty thin) of the Madsens, and it was so great to have leisure time with them.

 These two got along most of the time.

 And these two got to meet and fall in love.

Again, perfect timing.

 We love the Madsen ladies and a lot of the reason is because they can all be themselves around us.

 Another big reason is because we have arranged marriages, so we have to love them.

We're so glad we could meet for last minute lunches and have some extra hands to get us packed up.

  

 Matches made in heaven is all I have to say.

Love you Madsen beauties!

OH BABY!!

Rylee (1/31/12).Wes (1/22/12).Amelia (1/13/12).Harper (12/5/11)
Seriously?
It was so fun to get together with our babes being so close in age!

Sarah & Rylee.Kelli & Amelia.Angie & Harper. Mommy & Wes
 These are some of my sweet girlfriends from high school and it is so great to keep in touch and watch each other go through the different phases of life.

(I just had to throw this one in because Cohen was the only big kid there and he had to get in on the picture-taking action...so cute!)

Lunch with Niki is always a must!

Another thing we can never miss is meeting in the Middle:

 Haley has the perfect party house as her neighbors share the backyard so the kids can run wild and then Bre and I only have to drive half the distance and we can all enjoy the night together!

 You would think the kids might be a little bored as Haley and Dan don't have any kids.
You thought wrong.

 Haley is so sweet with all of our kids and we're always so glad to spend time with her in her beautiful home.

Brielle stole from Haley.
No wonder the kids love being at her house!

We of course had to make our rounds at Whitehouse and Co. to show off the new little one.
Wes was a great show off and cooed his little heart out. So sweet!

I could go to dinner with these ladies every night and we would never run out of things to talk about.
We need to start planning girl's trips.

 Here's sweet Kache holding Wes.
My awesome older brother, Riley, said he would watch the kiddos while I went to dinner with the girls above.
I told him I'd be about an hour. Why would I even say that?
Try multiplying that hour by three!

Just had to slide this sweetie in.
I love when my children sleep.

Kind of random, but that's where this post ends. Our visits were superb. We are so grateful to all of our friends and family that work around us and squeeze us into their busy lives when we are in town. We love you all so much!!