Cousins

Justin's twin brother Chris was in town last week with his two children Emma, who is 9 the same as Blythe and Alex who is 4 1/2.  They came down to Moab with us for the weekend and we had a fun time hiking, biking, geo-caching and visiting.  The kids hadn't seen each other in almost a year and  a half so they had all changed quite a bit.  When we got to Moab I stashed my camera on the top shelf of the bedroom closet where it would be safe from Barrett and it stayed there almost the entire time.  I took 2 photos of Emma and Brynne curled up on the sofa while watching a DVD.  The rest of photos are from after we got back. 

Justin got a new mountain bike last fall, which he needed since he was still riding his 1987 Specialized Stumpjumper.  This was our first trip to Moab with his new Santa Cruz Superlight and he was pretty excited to try it out on the slickrock.  He and Chris planned a Saturday morning ride and were joined by my Dad and my cousin Brian and his friend Elias, who were also staying at the house with us.  About halfway into the ride Justin took an uphill fall and broke the derailleur off his new bike.  He had to walk back while everyone else finished the ride.  Luckily, he came across some other bikers who had some tools so he ended up removing his chain so he could at least coast down the downhills instead of having to walk the entire way. It was a less than auspicious inaugural ride on the new mountain bike.  Blythe also has a new mountain bike and my parents took her and Emma on a fun ride from their house to Rotary Park.  We met them at the park and the kids had fun playing on the playground and making lots of noise on all the musical instruments made of pipes and such.  Barrett was ecstatic to be on a slide again since our playgrounds are still covered in snow.  He had been begging me to take him to a playground and I kept promising him that I would take him when we got to Moab.  It was a fun trip, but we could have done without Barrett getting carsick on the way home and throwing up in Spanish Fork Canyon.   

Emma and Brynne watching the Nancy Drew movie.

Alex and Barrett at our house

 the last morning the  cousins were here.

Blythe and Emma.

Emma, Blythe and Brynne.

Brynne harassing Gray.

Blythe, Gray, Brynne and Emma.

We had a family party on Sunday night at Justin's grandparents house in Salt Lake so that everyone could see Chris and the kids.  The girls had fun tormenting Justin's cousin Gray, who is a good sport and is always up for some rough housing.  I should have taken a photo of Barrett with Gray because Barrett just loves him and calls him "My Gray," but Barrett wasn't cooperating.  Gray has two brothers Miles and Wyatt who haven't been living at home for awhile, who are equally fun to play with.  The girls are looking forward to May when all the boys will be back home.