Coping & Cousins

In my line of work, I've had the opportunity to help a lot of my clients figure out what they can do to cope with trauma and loss. Well, it turns out that one of the best ways I've found to cope with a huge loss is to hang out with family as much as possible. We've been so blessed to be able to spend so much time with my family these past few weeks...


We are so glad to have family that lives nearby:

We got to attend a couple of Clay's baseball games.

And we've also been able to go to several of Cole and Clay's football games. Scott looks hilarious in this pic.

That's a little better. :)

Lucky for us, Faith prefers to watch Hannah over watching the game.

Cole may look intimidating, but he's definitely the friendliest football player you'll ever see. :)

On the other hand, Clay would surprise you with his intensity.

One last roasting over the campfire in the canyon with cousins.

The weather was perfect.

And so were the dogs and mallows.

Hannah LOVES sleepovers and snow cones with her cousins.

Karaoke was a big hit. I loved that Faith got disappointed when she realized that "Puppy Love" wasn't actually about a puppy. :)

Maelie got in on some karaoke action too.

We are SO grateful that we have been able to see Melissa and her kids a couple of times this month:

They came up to celebrate Rylan's 8th birthday at Chuck E Cheese with the whole family.

What an adorable birthday boy!

The Clayson and Nielsen families celebrated together. Notice Hannah in Scott's arms, trying to avoid the scary stuffed animals playing music at the front. :)

 Despite the scary animals, Hannah thoroughly enjoyed her first time at Chuck E Cheese.

Almost every day she asks me, "Do you remember when we went to Chuck E Cheese?"

Katelyn and Hannah are such good buddies!

Hannah was thrilled with the massive sucker she got with her tickets (plus an extra dollar from nice Aunt Jana).

Even the Reyelts fam made it out from Colorado to celebrate Rylan's birthday and to watch Conference as a family. It was great to have the whole family here.

Silly cousins!

Rylan and Katelyn had a sleepover with us one night. Fun!

 The Nielsens ended up staying a couple of extra days because their sweet little 3-year-old cousin, Dayton, died of cancer just a month and a day after his Uncle Braydon died. So, so sad. We made the most of their extra time here and went to the pumpkin patch with them and their Nielsen cousins.

Later in the month we got to see these cute twins perform in their school's dance festival.

And then last weekend we got to spend more quality time with the Nielsens when they came to visit for their Fall Break. We shopped, went to Trafalga, visited Jana's class, went out to eat, had a girls night out (just me, Melissa, and Jana), and visited with extended family. Fun!

I could NOT believe that Hannah dared go on this dropping ride, and she LOVED it!

One last bonus pic of the cutie sisters.

Wow, I sure am grateful to have such a wonderful family!