It all started with...

...a bath.

This is the calm before the storm!

Tuesday night, we prepared our home and us for the company of my sister and her kids,

while her hub. drove all their things back from Cleveland Ohio (where they have been in dental school, and just graduated!!!)

We waisted NO time!! First was a complete makeover for the home, inside and out, (a continual process for the 4 days) and then off to "girlie lunch" which has usually been just the girls of the fam, but with Auds 2 boys, and Charlie, it was much more then that! We had a GREAT time!!

And all the kids did great! When we went to order the quesadillas they didn't quite believe us that we had 7 kids, under 6. Actually, we had 8 kids under 6, Charlie just didn't need one!

So much fun!

Lucy and her cousins that are oh so close in age.

Brig, just 2 in Feb. Lucy, 2 in Oct. and Meg, 2 in May!!

And after hours is when we really kicked it into gear. Hair cuts and highlights!!

Which left no time to sleep! This is Lucy at an hour she typically doesn't see. 6:45 am.

We loaded up for the 5k run on Memorial Day!

We packed the kids in the double jogger, and headed off to the race!

Its such a fun event WoodsCross city puts on every year, its become a tradition!

Waiting to welcome the rest of the fam through the finish line!

Team Sanders!!!

After the race, we headed up to Midway, where we began with a fish hatchery tour.

Perhaps we were the only family growing up that got tours of nearly every fish farm in the western united states, but it had been years since I'd been to one. Jeff had never been, and all the kids loved it! You ought to check one out, especially if you fish locally!

The rest of the day was spent at the park, eating, playing bocha-ball, eating, relaxing, eating...

we just had the time of our life! It was a real vacation, that we truly needed!!

Oh, and plenty of kisses to go around!!