Time for Tea!

Well, here I am blogging from the ol' Boise homefront having just spent the weekend in Utah. I drove with the kids (am I brave or what?!?) Thursday morning from Las Vegas to Salem, UT where my mom was staying at her sister's house after having dropped Taylor off at BYU to start his freshman year.

Isn't he a handsome little devil? He's officially a Budge Hall boy with lots of hard credits this semester to get his feet wet with... Good Luck Tay!

Anyway, we spent Friday morning with my good friend Emily Judd and her 2 boys (we've been friends literally since 2nd grade-- I can remember the teacher introducing her to the class at the beginning of the year-- then roommates at college, etc.) at their new house in Riverton, UT. Then we met my mom and aunts at the new IKEA in Draper, met Taylor for dinner at Zupa's in Provo, and headed back to Salem to spend the night. Saturday before leaving for Boise, my Aunt Patty hosted a tea party for all the little girls in the family.

Anything like this is obviously right up Lucy's alley, so she was SO excited all morning as the aunts were preparing food in the kitchen and setting the tables with the pretty china dishes and decorations.

Here's the spread! We had gourmet ham and cheese sandwiches, cucumber tea sandwiches with a balsamic cream cheese spread, fruit tartletts, Russian tea cakes, lemon cake, brownie bites, and lots of fruits and veggies to round things off. And of course, some herbal tea. Yum!

Here are the aunts who put it all together (my mom's sisters): Aunt Patty (hostess), Aunt Pam, Aunt Kay, my mom. After we ate they shared some stories about our ancestors (great grandmas and grandpas) so the little girls got a taste of family history which was great.

The little girls! Lucy LOVED being including in this big group of cousins/princess-enthusiasts, and when it was finally time to leave for Boise, she cried, "But I want to play with my sisters!" I think she'd heard my mom refer to her sisters so much that weekend, she assumed these girls were hers.:)

Some of my long lost cousins that I haven't seen since before dental school! Right to left: Tricia Thomas, me, Kelly Mickelsen, Allison Woidka.

Thanks to Taylor who babysat Zach for me, I was able to enjoy some one on one time with Lucy at the tea party. It's defnitely SO great to be close enough to family to be involved in family get togethers again! So now we're in Boise hanging out until Labor Day, with lots of things in store-- hopefully even some canning and freezer jam, bonfires with Grandpa Tom Tom, and swimming. We'll keep you posted!