gone fishin'

On Sunday we had the pleasure of a short visit by my brother and his family. They just moved from Hawaii to an undisclosed location in the continental US, and in the matter of a week bought their first house and a minivan. Talk about getting a bunch of grown-up moments done at once! They drove 16 hours in their new vehicle and stopped at our house en route to both sets of moms and dad's houses. I'm so glad we are somewhat on their route!

I was SO excited to have them over - it's not often we get to hang out just us kids the two of us and our spouses and children and pets without mom and dad (no offense mom and dad - it was just nice to hang out on our turf)!

It was totally not planned - I swear - but my brother offered to help Mark put some of the finishing touches on the swingset. Without my even offering a beer as payment, mind you. He's so military like that. They put up some handle bars and accessories, and dug up the tree stump. Rest in peace little tree, rest in peace.

And I think this goes without saying that I have the cutest possible niece and nephew.


Growing up, you couldn't have paid me to talk nicely about my brother. But I sure do love him (and his awesome family) now!