July 4th my sister Dawn and her two amazing kids came for a visit. We spent a few amazing days together, and I was reminded, once again, why living so far away is so hard. The kids had a fabulous time together, and Dawn and I reminisced over wine. Our time was much too short, but I'm grateful for the opportunity.
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| 4th of July! |
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| Laila's first sparkler! |
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| Cora with a sparkler! |
The kids had a chance to light a few sparklers and throw snaps on the ground. It wasn't much, but my kids are still little and in AZ, we don't light much on fire!
The girls (Cora and Laila) were on a baking streak the entire visit! They started with chocolate chip cookies and strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing. All from scratch!
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| Strawberry cupcake with strawberry icing! |
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| Cora and Laila icing cupcakes together. |
Who doesn't love a good game of "Mustache Smash"? Aunt Dawn and Little Dustin had a fun time playing this together.
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| Dustin and Aunt Dawn |
Dawn and I spent an evening listening to oldies, drinking wine, and looking through old photos and notes. It was refreshing to have sister time, it's one of the things I miss most about home. Seeing a familiar face at the end of a long day. I call her all the time just to see how she's doing. I wish we could do this more often.
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| Sisters. |
We completed a few adventures during their visit! The Science Center was on our list but one I wasn't sure we would get to. It's pretty expensive for just a day's admission, so when we realized Dawn's membership would get us all in for free, we couldn't pass that opportunity up! The kids truly loved it, we've only ever been once before so the kids had plenty to explore! I'll spare you photos of every exhibit. But these were my favorites from the day.
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| Heading to the Science Center! |
I love photos of people walking together. Look at this group. It makes my heart so happy.
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| Group Photo at the Science Center! |
This was as we were leaving. Do you see my Godson? He's HUGE!! Joshua, you can stop growing now!
And the baking continued. We raided the refrigerator and pantry and made the most epic cupcake of my baking career. Blueberry lemon cupcake with blueberry icing and a candied lemon on top. It was the hardest, yet most rewarding baking I've ever done. The girls did an exceptional job! I was impressed!
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| Candied lemons! |
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| The final product! |
We didn't stop there! Banana chocolate chip cupcakes were next! I always have tons of bananas in the freezer so this was a no-brainer! The icing was a swirl of chocolate and peanut butter. Can you say, "YUM!!"? This was my favorite of the week hands down.
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Banana chocolate chip cupcake
with chocolate peanut butter
swirl icing! |
Laila and Cora enjoyed spending time together, it was so neat seeing them bond over baking, music, and all sorts of things. Giggling and playing, it made my heart full. No visit would have been complete without a sleepover in the living room!
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| Laila and Cora |
Dawn snagged these hilarious stick on mustaches at the dollar store and broke them out the day they left. I laughed until my stomach hurt as Joshua busted out his Swedish accent and pretended to be "Sven". The kids were trading 'staches like pokemon cards, it was hilarious!
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| Kenadi! |
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This may be one of my favorite
photos ever. My silly boy! |
No visit will ever be long enough, and I miss them daily, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity to spend time together this summer!
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