At Long Last...

To say that my dad's side of the family isn't close would be an understatement.... They don't even talk for years at a time! And, just to give you a little perspective, I get my "chatty" nature from them. So, yeah, they're not close. Consequently, I haven't seen my Aunt Loretta's family for almost fourteen years! Since she live a short two-hour drive away in Vegas, that's a shameful tale. So, to give this story a happy ending, My mom and sister and I finally made the trip down to see Loretta and my (awesome) cousin, Michael. We met up for lunch at a really great restaurant, where Michael drilled Mom and I on all the "funny little things about Mormons", which was hilarious, especially when he and Aunt Loretta got serious and asked, just to make sure, whether we were really polygamists... not that they would judge:)

I have to relate this funny story that Michael told us about his Halloween costume from a few years back: Mike and a friend were debating on whether to dress up as two Jehova's Witnesses or a pair of Mormon missionaries.... They finally decided to go with the missionary idea because, as Mike says, "You guys have way better accessories!" So off they went with their white shirts, ties, backpacks, and "future missionary" name tags! I love it!

Taiya, Loretta holding Maya, Gabe getting squished, and Jaden

Mom and Loretta

Jaden thinks he's a dog, and the dog is confused...

That's right folks, those Nielson boys are no respecter of circumstances when it comes to when or where they will take their clothes off.

This is Mike teasing Gabe with the dog's ball. Mike was AWESOME with the boys and was willing to throw that ball as many times and they would catch it and bring it back. I know, "fetch" is a game you usually play with a dog, but apparently its great for toddler boys as well.

Aunt Loretta and Maya

Dot, Maya, Loretta, and Mike