Heather came to visit!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my sisters? My sister Heather came to visit at the end of March! She lives in sunny San Diego, and while I feel jealous of that, I mostly just miss her when we aren't together. She was even here on her birthday, so we had to celebrate!
 

Sophia and I met Erin at the Trax station. Soph was so excited to actually be on a "choo-choo" and she let everyone around her know it.

She loved sitting in her own seat and kept saying "bumpy!" This girl brings a smile to my face. Her cute ruffle skirt was made by my talented sister-in-law Kristen for Sophia's birthday. You want one, don't you?

We met Megan, Heather, Brady, and my mom at the new City Creek shopping center. It was beautiful!

Sophia loved the fountains and she loved being with everyone. I did too!

I think I mentioned that it was beautiful... it was also cold... very, very cold. We tried to keep my scarf wrapped around Sophia's head to keep her warm. City Creek had only been open for a week, so it was still really busy, so we had to sit outside. In the cold. But it was okay, because food from Kneaders is yummy and it was worth it.

Later that night we had a fancy dinner at our house to celebrate. Isn't the birthday girl beautiful?

Sophia loves her aunt Heather! She calls her "Helly" and she loves to be with her.

We were glad Meg could come too!

Self-portrait queens Heather and Liv

I did something I say I don't believe in... but I have done a couple of times and checked the kids out of school early so we could go up to the cabin with Heather and my mom... we always go on the same little hike to the top of a hill that overlooks Heber Valley. My mom is so full of energy... it took both of us to keep up with Sophia who wanted to run up the mountain.

I love this picture of my cute kids... even though they don't always get along, they really do love each other.

Another great picture of my mom with Coleman.

We are so grateful for the time we get to spend with our family members! It was great to have Heather in town!

So Long, Farewell

We are so excited for Ryan's brother Scott and his family for a new adventure... but we are so sad for us since their new adventure means they no longer live in our state. Even though we didn't get to see them often enough, it was nice to know they were only an hour away.

We were glad to have a quick minute to say goodbye before they left at the end of March.

Sophia loves Kristen... what's not to love?

How many shots does it take to get five Harper kiddos all looking and smiling at the camera? Too many... I took a whole lot and this was our best :).  Sam and Coleman are the goofiest of goofballs!

Liv and Alyza have a great time together! She is such a sweet girl.

I have been blessed with wonderful sisters-in-law. Kristen is an amazing woman with so many talents and a generous heart. She has been so supportive of me in so many ways. As I said before, I am so excited for her and the new opportunities they will have, but I am selfishly so sad for me that they are gone.

Scott and Ryan with their girls... see the family resemblance?

They've been gone just about six weeks, and we are already counting down the days until we can be with them again!

Disneyland! 2011

Santa was good to us and mailed us three day park hopper passes for Disneyland and California Adventure! We had a lovely time and played hard in February. We were excited to spend time with Ryan's family and my dad and my sister Heather came up for a couple of days too! Here are a whole bunch of pictures, in no particular order, because I'm not committed enough to organize them.

Sophia and I rode on King Triton's merry go round a few times while the big kids were on California Screamin'. She doesn't look too happy in this picture... but I think she really did like it.

Cute kids in front of the castle...

Sam and Coleman were happy to strike a pose at any given moment, whether a camera was around or not.

We went on the ferris wheel and my dad thought it would be a good idea to go in the rolling car.  It was hilarious when we started rocking and Olivia got a panic-stricken look on her face and tried to hang on to anything she could. I was laughing so hard... until the nausea set in and I thought I'd lose my lunch. Coleman was happy to hold the motion sickness bag that they so graciously provided for me. Thank goodness I didn't actually need it, but I was humbled and stopped laughing at Olivia.

Coleman, Sam, and Alyza were waiting to get in line for the Toy Story Mania ride... one of our favorites. They LOVED spending time together.

I love that they have a teacup especially for taking posed photos.  Bruce thought it was a great place to rest and realized that it was a photo-op spot when a young dad asked if they could please take a picture.... I wish I had a picture of Bruce lounging away, oblivious to the line of families waiting for their turn :).

My dad and Heather were so fun... they have annual passes (SoCal discount!) and go often enough that they were happy to do whatever we wanted to do. We loved hanging out with them.

Coleman and Olivia were trying to pull the sword from the stone... when I was 10 or 11 I was invited (by Merlin himself!)  to pull it out. They couldn't figure out how I could have been strong enough to do it. Hydraulics, baby.

We loved the Buzz Lightyear ride too.

We used Fast Passes for everything... hooray for the Fast Pass and for rider swap. Here we were in line for Space Mountain.

Heather and I in the same line.... do we look alike?

Closing time!

Sophia enjoyed the flowers in Toon Town.

Toon Town doesn't have a lot that I loved, but the bright colors were fun for pictures.

Sophia looks a lot happier on the merry go round with Ry.

Our whole family fit in this tiny phone booth!

Scott and Kristen were formidable opponents... but I'm pretty sure Ryan and I won :).

Olivia and Coleman had fun on the teacups with Bruce and Terri.

Oh no! TNT!

Not sure what Ry was doing... but it was a funny picture.

Olivia and Grandpa Cole had lots of fun together.

Liv got invited to help with the Incredibles Street Party... she is so strong!

I love this picture of us getting ready to take off on California Screamin'.

One more shot at the sword in the stone.

Soph and I rode on the rocket... she wanted to dive out of it!

We spent some time our last afternoon in the play area at California Adventure. Alyza and Liv were buddies.

Here's that picture of Soph that I love so much!

And a great picture of Coleman, too!

We had so much fun at Disneyland. We did most everything we wanted to and were exhausted at the end of each day. We are already talking about what we'll do when we go next time!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Gee Gee

We went and celebrated Ryan's Grandpa Harper's 82nd birthday (today!) a few days ago. We call him Grandpa Gee Gee because when Olivia was born his wife Lucille (who left us in 2005) wanted to be called Grandma Gee Gee (stands for "great grandma").  It was so fun to be with Denver and Jan--we are so grateful that we belong to their family. Happy birthday!

Fall Family Photos

What do you get when you have a rainy fall morning, a drive to the canyon, a few really good looking kids, some breaks in the rain, and one fabulous photographer? Look for yourself!