Family Comes to Visit and our trip to The Salato Wildlife Education Center

We were planning on blessing Aven early August so my brother and his children were able to drive down from the Washington DC area (thanks so much Jennie for letting us borrow them for just a bit ;)  ) and my sister Desiree' and her husband and twin daughters flew out from Utah for the blessing as well.

July 30th--I had so much fun getting to visit with all of my siblings! One of the first activities we did was celebrate my Grandmas birthday (aka Darlin, who passed away give or take 15 yrs ago). We celebrated by going out to Jacobsen Park and eating KFC with the fam. Unfortunately Desiree', Chuck, Charity and Harmony were unable to make it because they missed their flight and didn't end up getting here until really late that night.

One reason we ate KFC to celebrate Darlin's birthday is because Belle and Dave Harman (my grandparents, my moms parents) built and ran the Kentucky Fried Chicken "Big Red Barn" in Tempe, AZ for over 15 yrs and franchised 12 additional KFC restaurants.

It was a pretty big deal ;) Anyways, the kids had LOTS of fun playing at the park and Rodney was so nice to watch all of them while I got to chat it up with my sister Charisse and Christian and my Mom and Dad.

This picture cracks me up when I look at Copper's expression...so funny. My brother Christian was taking the photo and Desiree' and her family was still traveling at this time.

Some of the kids playing on a nearby jungle gym

Christian meeting baby Aven for the first time. He's a pro at being an awesome Uncle.

Aug 2nd-- Happy Birthday Christian! My brother was in town on his birthday and we ended up going to visit the Salato Wildlife Education Center in Frankfort. The kids were able to go fishing and see some really neat things such as a bald eagle, wildcat, bear, snakes, hawks, etc....Unfortunately the night before going, Bentley threw up in the middle of the night and ended up staying home with Rodney. 

Christian and his family arrived first so they got to look around and play for a bit. My dad aka Grandpa Marlow drove up with me and the kids and my mom rode with Des and her family I think..... Unfortunately my dad had the camera and didn't make it into any pictures! Frowny face :(

Look at this cute bunch (Emma, Xander, Anneliese and my brother Christian)

P.S. Emma made the shorts she is wearing! My mom took her to the store to buy the fabric and they sewed them the day before. Impressive!

When everyone else arrived it was lunch time. Don't worry we ate lots of yummy things including these Lays chips shown here. I remember a big hit of the eating experience were the cherries. Hi Uncle Chuck **waves** !

Grandma holding Aven

Chuck, Harmony, Desiree' and Charity!

Xander took the place of Bentley in our family picture ;) (As written above, Bentley was sick so we didn't bring her along) (Please disregard how nasty I look in the following pictures, I just had a baby)

They had a 'donations' barrel inside where I let Paisley and Copper put in a couple dollars. When I lifted up Copper to put the money in, she FREAKED out when she saw the bear claw at the top of the barrel. Long nails must scare her. It was hilarious.

This bear was so adorable. I wanted to take it home with me

Check out the kids in a recreation of an eagles nest. The largest recorded nest size is 20 ft tall and 10 ft wide and weighed two tons!

Harmony and Charity at this time never held their own bottles. The kids were glad to help (even though it doesn't look like it in this picture)

Anneliese was the only one who caught a fish that day. Yay Anne!

After the Wildlife Center we drove back to Lexington to eat at Mi Picana Hacienda (which is a traditional place we eat at for my brothers birthday) and right when we got to the parking lot to go inside his youngest daughter Anneliese threw up outside. They immediately got back into the car and ended up driving to my parents house to put the kids to bed. It was so SAD!!! There it was, my brothers birthday and he didn't even get to celebrate. I ended up going inside and eating at the restaurant with Paisley, Copper and Aven also with Charisse and my Mom.

THAT night I was beginning to get VERY nervous. Bentley had thrown up on the evening of the 1st with no other signs of sickness after and Anneliese had thrown up the evening of the 2nd (I was beginning to think they maybe caught something at the park when they played together) I also was worried that someone else would get sick and wouldn't be able to attend Aven's blessing. We had a personal family prayer (myself, my husband and our kids) and asked Heavenly Father to keep us all healthy to be able to attend Aven's special day....thankfully no one else got sick for the next week or two.