playing mom in arizona

a few weeks ago my sister shawni and her husband took my niece lucy to washington, d.c. to participate in a medical study. when they offered to fly me down to arizona to spend five days with their other 4 kids (aka my favourite people on earth), i cleared my schedule and excitedly made the trip.

i've got to play mom with these kids a few times before, but every time i go i am amazed at how good they are. we had so much fun - swim parties, a pizza/root beer float/popcorn/movie party at my brother josh's school, elle's orchestra concert, gracie's soccer game, bike rides in the heat to the grocery store to buy popsicles, a wicked dance party, a frozen yogurt trip, etc. etc. i also got to go to "shadow-a-student day" with elle at the junior high - it was seriously a blast, and a blast from the past.

we were all soooo excited to see lucy when she returned home, the day after her 4th birthday! she loved the surprises we left her in her room. on sunday we enjoyed all watching general conference together and celebrating with cake and ice cream. we love lucy so very, very much.

of course the trip included several batches of chocolate chews, a rousing game of yatzee, and a long sister talk until late into the night. i am so impressed and inspired by each of the pothiers - shawni's extreme blogging abilities and absolute goodness, dave's endurance in the st. george marathon, max's teenage coolness, elle's mad skills at tennis, gracie's wonderful sassiness, claire's wicked dance moves, and lucy's sheer adorableness.

love you guys!