The Young and the Restless

Young lovin'

And I thought California was looking a little sparse lately. Just wait 'til we got to Vegas. But it's a good thing we weren't going there for the scenery. Or the nickle slots. It was for Grandpa Young and we loved spending time with him. He took such great care of us, treating us to duck and cold cereal (seriously, the kids are a fan of both), and stepping up to the plate as the tooth fairy when the occasion arose. And I loved sitting around the breakfast table as he shared memories of escaping from the communists in China when he was young, he still recalls his mom lying to the soldiers as they were shining their flashlights through their hotel room. I would love to record his stories, what an incredible heritage my kids have.

I feel bad that I didn't document his first lost tooth. It happened a few days earlier in Cali when I was about to hop in the shower. I usually defer any and all tooth pulling duties to Jason, (or Kylie for that matter, I believe she gets credit for all but a few of Jayden's lost teeth), the popping and cracking of roots just make me cringe. But it was barely hanging by a thread and I was a little too naked to find someone else to do it, so I got the courage and pulled it out. And that was that. The tooth fairy took her lawdy dawdy time, but eventually she left him a gold coin. Apparently she only carries NZ currency. I'm glad I at least got a picture of his second tooth. And I'm glad Kylie was there to pull it out. He accidentally left his tooth at Grandpa's house that night, but when we came back the next morning there just so happened to be a crisp dollar bill waiting for him. Crisis averted.

And let's talk for a minute about my mom fail. When I put sunscreen on Ryder's face at the beach I was being ever so careful to not get it in his eyes, which resulted in an awful sunburn under his eyes that turned to a massive blister. And I don't know what happened when it came to covering his forehead, I totally missed the mark on that one. I felt so awful, it looks so painful. But still with a smile always on his face. I guess American luxuries like cold cereal will do that to you.

It's always sad saying good bye knowing you won't see them for another year. But we were excited to head up to Utah to be reunited with more family.

We met up with Jason's sister's family who happened to be camping in Southern Utah and Jason's brother's family who were traveling back home to Vegas and made a pit stop. I forget how much I miss being close to family until I see all the cousins playing together. And it's crazy how much they have all changed in only a year!

His poor sunburned face, it breaks my heart every time I see it and I hate that my negligence is forever immortalized in pictures. But these two cousins are pretty cute.

These three are all only a few weeks apart. I loved being pregnant with my sister in laws and we still laugh at the video we have of them as chubby babies all squished together on a couch sucking on any hand that got close to their mouth. Now just look at them...

Ryder loved playing frisbee

Until he had to throw it to someone else

My favorite part (besides the watermelon) was sitting there listening to all the cousins laughing and talking around the table. These are the memories they're going to treasure.

The next day Jason took the older two on a hike with his sister Andrea's family to the Kanarraville slot canyon. I debated whether or not to take the little guys, I love a good hike but them not so much. They had a great time and from the look of Jason's pictures I think this is definitely someplace we'll have to visit again. Another sad good bye for another year, but it was a fun hello while it lasted.