Family Time is the Best Time

My favorite shot of the weekend

When I was in college I was sometimes very envious of my friends whose family and friends were from out of state - they had built in vacations for the holidays, and a reason to go somewhere for the summer.  Even though those things would have been nice, I would have never given up having my family so close.  I consider myself lucky, and especially my kids, that we have so many family members that live close by.  We definitely miss the ones that love out of state and consider it a celebration whenever they are in town.  This weekend it was a total celebration since everyone was here for Jessica's graduation.

It's no secret that I adore this girl and have since she was born. I was thrilled when she decided to attend BYU and have loved having here so close for the past four years.  It has been incredible to watch her grow and learn and become even more beautiful both inside and out.  She is an amazing role model to my kids and the rest of the cousins and it was great for them to all watch her achieve such a fantastic accomplishment of graduation from college.   We are so excited for her future.

Tim and I had seriously debated whether it was a good idea to bring the kids to the graduation ceremony, but I'm so glad we did.  They did great and I was glad we could all be together to celebrate and congratulate Jessica.

In true Broadbent style, we stuck around after the ceremony ended for much longer than any of the other families.  We always need plenty of time for chatting and of course, photos.

These girls are so lucky to have such an amazing role model.

Nothing better than graduating with a best friend.

Somehow I was off my game and only got one photo from the graduation party.  Jessica's only request for a post graduation party was Jarin's ribs and we were happy to host.  There was plenty of fun with family and friends.   It may not look like much but this photo shows the fantastic reaction to her roller blades - thanks to Uncle Jarin for arranging the most fun gift of graduation.  

When Luke found out that Uncle Sean was coming to town, his first question was if he could come to his soccer game.  The game was scheduled for early Saturday morning, but Sean made it there first thing to cheer for Luke.  It was the most fun and Luke felt like a super star having Sean there.

After a few hours of running errands, we decided to head over to the BYU Baseball game so that we could get a little more Broadbent time before everyone had to go back to Texas.  There was plenty of sunshine and sillliness with the kids.  A quick trip to the Cougar shop resulted in new stuffed Cosmos for Luke and Ruby and solidified Sean as a favorite.   

After this shot, Tim finally decided to buy his own hat

These kids were so sad to say goodbye to Tad and Aunt Julie

Why is Texas so far away?

After a long sleep with their new Cosmos, the kids were begging for more cousin time and some Sunday fun at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We arrived and they got busy playing.

Jessica found the perfect partner in crime to try out her new roller blades.  Does it seem strange that they would head to the cemetery to skate?  Not in our family, it's our favorite place to spend Sunday afternoons.  Poor Luke, he followed along but wasn't quite able to keep up and Tim had to go intervene...he just so badly wants to be a big boy...soon enough my little one.

You can barely see her back, but the Forrest Gump hairdo is actually Jessica's hair.

Such sillies.

Of course plenty of time was spent playing with the newest and now most important member of the family.  Gracie is so cute and we are all quickly catching puppy fever.

The night ended, way too late, with Sean coming to our house for a sleepover.  The kids ran wild and Sean was happy to indulge and get them completely wound up.  After a quick game of Slaps, everyone finally collapsed in bed - Luke was asleep before I finished singing You Are My Sunshine.