Utah Part 2 - Aunt Susan and Cousins!

John's wonderful mom passed away 22 years ago.  She was a devoted grandmother, but my kids never got know her.  Thankfully, they did have a close relationship with their grandpa, until he passed away in 2006.  John's oldest sister Susan has always been kind and thoughtful, but since the death of her parents, she really took the reins to keep the family together.  She has kind of taken on the role of grandma to my kids. We travel to Utah once or twice a year and we almost always stay with Susan.  It hasn't been easy to have all (sometimes six!) of us there, but she is always a gracious hostess and we feel at home.  I shouldn't fail to mention her husband Dave.  He is lots of fun and keeps all of us laughing.

 Here are a few pictures so you can see what I mean.  Every time we see Dave, we have pictures like this!

 My kids love our trips to Utah because they get to see their cousins.  On John's side of the family, all of their cousins except one are older than them.  But they have a great time with their cousin's kids.

It was fun to introduce Lavender to her cousins, especially to Holly.  There is a 40 year age difference between them and they are first cousins!  Holly is Susan's daughter and she usually does the cooking while we are there.  Holly plans and prepares delicious, healthy dinners at lightning speed!

Marianne and Evan have a great time with Holly's son Josh.  He and Evan are pretty much inseparable.

We had a fun time with the rest of Susan and Dave's grandkids too.  They are my kids' first cousins once removed.

Malia, Anya, Kate, Natalie, Reagan, Maddie, Hudson and Max

Marianne especially had fun with Max, who appreciates a good self portrait as much as she does!

Here is Kate holding Sophie who apparently missed the big cousin photo shoot above.

      Finally, here is Lavender with the newest cousin Landon who was too young to join the party.