Hanging out with the kiddos, just for a couple minutes.

Sunday morning I had the grand privilege of skipping church (which is always a treat, I'm not going to lie) so I could drive to the other city of the valley and pick up some stuff that needed a ride from Spencer's house to my parents. Since I was on a tight schedule (the ice auger needed to be in the East Valley so it could make its ride with my friends who were headed back up the mountain at 1:00), I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with Spencer's kids. We (Seth, Con and I) were incredibly bummed that we only had an hour together before I had to leave (and they had to get ready for church - I didn't commiserate with them too much on that front, it's better for kids not to know how much I hate getting ready for church myself). In order to lessen the pain of separation, we got out a calendar and marked a day for an Aunt/Nephew Play Day. The day chosen was the day formerly known as Presidents Day. It is now known, in our family, as President Laurie Day. Connor took it upon himself to call the judge and let him know there is a new administration (can you tell the kid's dad is a lawyer? "I'm gonna call the judge" - ha!).

Anyhoo... I do love these kids. They make the goofiest faces (and noises - Con's snort makes me laugh so hard that I almost pee my pants, I'm not even kidding). Here are a few little prizes from Sunday morning.

Ahhhh... Seth. The only kid I could convince to be in a picture with me. Bless him.

And here he is again. Truly, the kid is the most adorable giant I've ever known. He's 9 and a half and last time we measured, was 5'3". Ack! ... He did tell me on Sunday that no matter how big he got, I was always allowed to grab him and hug him. (I'd been worried that once he was bigger than me, I'd be cut off the impromptu hugs, so that was quite a load off.)

Connor is also pretty darn cute. He's at the "I must make cross eyes at the camera" stage, combined with the "I love Aunt Laurie, but refuse to be in a picture with her, because I'll have to smile like a normal kid" stage, but I do still love him. He makes me laugh so hard.

I got creamed by Seth two times in a roll at Tether ball. I mean, creamed. (The string kept almost wrapping around my neck, and twice the ball hit me in the face.) In his defense, the kid wasn't trying to kill me. I'm just that bad at athletics. (And yeah, I just called Tether ball "athletics" - that's how bad I am.)

My brother made my sister-in-law this Tether ball for Christmas. Brea told me that when Spence had asked what she wanted, this was her answer. Isn't Brea great? If she and my friend Whitney weren't already friends, their mutual love of Tether ball would have made me have to have a lunch date with them so they could meet each other. ... Actually, a lunch date with both of them would still be fun. I'll have to get on that and see if one can't be arranged. (If I say the words "Cafe Rio" to Brea, I'll bet she'd drive right over.)

Anyway, Seth kicked my can at Tether ball, which was to be expected. (This is why the boys always want me to play with them, so they can beat a grown up. It's okay. As long as I don't die from getting hit in the face with the ball too many times, it's all good.)

And, at long last, here's a pic of Baby Hillary. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of looking at the camera when I'm taking her picture, but she's so cute that I'll forgive her. She is freaking adorable. I love that she looks half like Con and half like Seth. I can hardly wait for her hair to grow long enough for piggy-tails, except for the fact that when she's big enough to piggy-tails, she'll be a big girl and not a baby anymore. Seriously, how cute is this baby?!

And those are all the pictures I have from Sunday. It was a crazy day, what with all the road closures and the driving from here to Kingdom Come (the unofficial name for the city Spence and Brea live in ... it's not actually that far, but when a 45 minute drive got turned into a 110 minute drive, I had to rename it, if only for a day or two).

I so love my nieces and nephews!