brother matty: senior photo shoot (what a looker)

Kevin and I got to take some Senior pictures of my youngest brother while we were in Utah. It's so fun to take pictures of people we're close to. Plus Kevin says the most ridiculous things to make people feel at ease and comfortable when they are getting their pictures taken, it is very amusing.

(And of course I finally just got them all edited, but, hey he's not even quite halfway through his Senior year so I'm good, right?)

Matty is and always has been sensitive to how other people are feeling. When he was still tiny he could always tell if my mom was a little sad or if someone needed a hug. Matty has become quite the stellar uncle, Lee is completely completely obsessed with "Matt".  Whenever we visit he spoils the boys with attention and love, always offering to put them to bed or coming home with friends especially to play with them. He is ridiculously intelligent and has an endless supply of random facts to share. Matty is also pretty hilarious, in an old-man humor kind of way. While I was serving as an LDS missionary in Hungary for 18 months he was still pretty young and every month or so my mom would have him and my brother David write me a little note on Sunday. Without fail every note I received from Matty was a Laffy Taffy joke...every time. He has always been quick to remind me how old I am too, (I'm 11 years older than him.) "you're getting old Shelle." It's pretty funny.

I am so grateful to have grown up in a family with each of my five siblings, they are all so different but my goodness we have a great time together.  I'm grateful my mom pushed through what had to be years of complete insanity when we were young because having all of my siblings means the world to me. 

We sure had a blast taking these pics Matty.

homecomings should be filed under "some of the happiest days ever".

We headed out to Utah (by car...and decided to drive straight through all 24 hours without any stops with a 2 and 1 year old...yep we're a bit insane but it sure was nice to have it over and done with and to get there faster.) mid-August for our big summer trip.

We waited so late into the summer because my sister, Annie was finishing up her 18 month full-time service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Perth, Australia mission.

Annie had about 30 hours of travel time with layovers to get all the way from Western Australia back to SLC, Utah. (yuck, luckily she sleeps really well on planes...) She had quite an incredible experience, check out her mission blog here.

These last 18 months have gone slow and fast, as anyone who's had someone gone for an extended period of time can attest to.  It really felt like a substantial amount of time when I thought about the fact that Lee was Drew's age when Annie left and that she'd never even MET baby Drew, who's now about 14 months old.

Her flight wasn't scheduled to get in until about 6 pm on a Thursday evening (and once we got to the airport it got delayed just a bit).

The boys didn't really understand what we were all so excited about.

waiting and waiting.

me and my youngest brother, Matty.

mom is so hip she even photo bombs. :)

Annie came home with a couple other sisters from her mission and several other LDS missionaries were also arriving home at about the same time.  Such a fun group to be a part of. Kevin isn't in any of our pictures from the airport because he was the designated camera man.  Of course after being reunited it was as if Annie had never been gone at all, weird how that happens too.

we see her :)

You'd probably never be able to guess it now, but when we were growing up the six year difference in our ages and the extreme similarity in our (sometimes intense) personalities made it pretty hard for us to get along very well.
Thankfully we got past that, especially when I moved out, and became the closest of friends.  Annie even lived with me two separate times after I got married when Kevin was getting his Master's at the same university she's attended for her Undergraduate degree.
Anyway, needless to say, after weeks of writing each other back and forth and keeping in the best touch possible for once a week contact, I was so excited to see Ann in the flesh again and spend some quality time with her before she got back into school and I headed back home.

meeting baby Nathan.

with Papa.

with Matty.

meeting baby Drew.

loves for Lee.

Chloe was a bit wary.

with Alexis.

with Kami.

with Grandma Twitchell.

with Grandpa Twitchell.

The two babies born in the family obviously needed a little time and space to get used to the aunt they'd just seen pictures of and heard about.  

It didn't take long though, leaving "her babies" was probably one of the biggest sacrifices for Annie, she loves her nieces and nephews intensely and is really gifted at being close to each of them.

We so missed having the whole family together, not sure when that'll next happen, isn't that one of the hardest things about families growing up?

I never ever think of myself as the runt of the family even though I'm more than 4 inches shorter than the next shortest person. :)

The whole airport group.

Annie, has a deep love for treats, and she brought home nearly a suitcase full of Aussie chocolate for all of us to try, as if having her back wasn't enough, I'll rarely say no to chocolate. :)

Yay! She is HOME. 

we love our papa.

>our boys sure love their Papa.
>i'm sure glad he cares so much about being a dad. he is a rockstar.
>we're sure happy we get to keep him around, forever.

>>happy father's day: 2014.

anniversary celebrations: then and now.

We *celebrated* our wedding anniversary the end of May.

Actually the celebration part is a pretty big deal for us. This is the first year that a move or a new baby hasn't made it impossible to celebrate.  So, for the first time since we "tied the knot", we did in fact celebrate, with food of course.
Kevin's parents were in town that weekend and watched the boys so we were able to go for a kid-free dinner.  It was delicious, we have both become lovers of food and we LOVE places that use fresh  ingredients.  This particular wood grill burger place is known for its unique burgers and shakes. Kevin got an amazing dulce de leche+citrus shake and I got a s'more+oreo shake. (course, my favorite shake is their EVOO+granola shake. (evoo=extra virgin olive oil) Sounds a bit weird but it's delicious.  The truffle+parmesan fries were another favorite.  Anyway...enough about the food. :) I was reminded how good it is just to be together, alone, so we can have a real conversation.

Sometimes, in the day to day grind, I can kind of forget that I'm married to the best friend I've ever had, that our conversations about everything and nothing are my favorite and that we've become so much happier since we met and married.  We've both changed and assimilated in a lot of ways since we got married and I'm so glad for it.  Kevin has introduced me to more things than I can count and vice versa, we are different now in the best ways.

I love thinking about how special our wedding day was, we look so little,  but I love the "us" we are so much more now, if that even makes sense. I could be real mushy and sentimental but I'll keep that jazz to myself. I'll just say that I am so, so grateful that I got Kevin to be my partner in crime. He always says we're going to go out together in a blaze of glory, I really hope it's not that dramatic but I wouldn't say no to heading into the next life together. (after lots of years of adventures here, just to be clear) So, here's to actual anniversary celebrations for lots and lots of years to come.