Girl's reunion, tea parties, Alyx, etc.....

Hey everybody! Sorry about the long lapse in blogs, but we have been quite a busy family in the last few weeks- and there's so much stuff coming up! So- we just got back from a lovely trip to Twin Falls to visit Marmee and GG, and Auntie Meg's family, and Alyx! I went down mostly to visit Alyx, but also because my friend Meredith decided to put together a reunion of some of our old friends, most of us have known each other since second grade or so! It was soooo funny- we watched old movies that we had made, our junior high school video yearbook, and exchanged life stories until 4 a.m. I haven't stayed up that late since I think the last time we all had a sleepover! So that was really fun to catch up with everybody, even though we were missing a few dear friends. After that, Marmee and GG brought my girls up to Sun Valley to pick me up. We had lunch at Gretchen's (just for the hot chocolate) and the girls watched the ice skating for a few. Then we got back in the car and headed to Meg's.... (we were in the car more than we weren't). We had a great time there, hanging out with our cousins. Peri is the silliest girl- she is an excellent ice skater! Tay and Calli were like best friends, and we got to see Ashton for only a bit the next morning. Thanks again Meg for taking the girls! So- in the meantime of all that, Mom and Dad and I went to visit Alyx in St. Anthony. I was pretty surprised at the setup- there are no fences, and it looks more like a big campus. She was having a hard day with her group, so we didn't get to spend very much time with her, as they kept getting called out to have a session. But, for the time we did see her, she was doing really well. We had some hard things to talk about, but she is really making progress I think, and she really wants to come home, of course! She sends her love to everyone, especially all her grandparents up here in CDA. Okay-long story short- we headed back to Twin, watched a very disappointing football game (we were rooting for Vikings), had a tea party the next morning and then got back in the car again to get to the airport! All in all- a wonderful trip and it was so great to see my family. I love you all- here's some pics of the whole thing!