Family Reunion

 I have pictures and updates from the last few weeks.  We have been staying busy and loving the nice weather and time we've been able to spend together.  I bring the kids with me to the CrossFit gym I go to and Aubree takes care of Jared.  After one of my workouts, I found Jared all dressed in Aubree's "prom jacket" that Grandma Nygard had made for her.   He didn't love being Aubs doll.  

 Eric's brother Brandon's birthday was the 1st of June and we decided to take a picture of the kids and post it on his Facebook page.  I love Jared's "cheese" face in this pic.

 My sister Jackie and her family came and visited us a few weeks ago.  We took them to the beach by our house.

I love Tanner's choice of clothes to go to the beach.

We also took them to Pike's Market. 

 You could say, Trav likes Tigers a little bit.  He carries around two toy tigers, a book about tigers, and a black and orange crayon to draw tigers.  He wore this hat day and night for almost a week straight until it ripped. 

 Jackie was nice enough to give Aubs and me haircuts while she was in town.

 The kids have loved the warmer weather.  If it is sunny out, we either wash the cars or jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath.

 Jared is good at hanging out in the shade while the rest of the kids get all wet.  

 We got the kids a Butterfly Garden for Christmas and just got the larvae ordered a few weeks ago.  The kids loved watching the caterpillars get bigger and bigger, form their chrysalises, and become butterflies.

 We waited for Eric to come home to finally release them.  

 Tanner is always dancing and did a sweet butterfly releasing dance.

 I have taken a picture every first and last day of each dental school year.  The one below is the first day of second year and the one above was Eric's last day.  We are so grateful for Eric's hard work.  He puts in a ton of hours on little sleep.  Eric had a lot on his plate, on top of this being the hardest year of dental school.  He does so well at balancing everything and doing great in school.  Aubree, Tann, and Trav are all holding their Andrew bear/blankets to represent their brother.   

We sure miss our buddy boy!

 As soon as Eric finished his finals we went on a celebration of school year done plus our anniversary date.  Eric took me to the Space Needle and then to The Crab Pot.  

 They throw all your food on the table and give you a wooden board and mallet.  

 With Eric's little time off before his summer quarter started we headed to the zoo.

 After our zoo trip we headed straight to the airport to see Eric's brother Blake who had a layover here on his way home from his mission.

 It was so fun to see Blake again.  We are so proud of him and the kids have already started calling him Blakey Man.

 We spent way too much time in the car visiting family and going to a family reunion in Southeast Idaho.

 We spent a few days in Wenatchee and went to Andrew's grave every chance we could.  His headstone is now set, and it made things a lot harder for me.  Every time we had visited before now we would just see where his grave would be, but there was no marker.  Seeing his name and a picture of him there now, seemed to make things more real.  It still feels like the last six months have been a dream/nightmare that we'll wake up from.

 We brought one of Andrew's binky's I had found, and Travis kept putting it into Andrew's mouth on the picture.  We are so grateful for all the help people blessed us with to be able to get such a nice headstone for Andrew.  

 We tried to many different ways to entertain ourselves in 30+ hours of driving.

 Aubs the teenager.

 Tanner being Tanner.

 We went to the Maughan Family Reunion in Albion, ID.  It was a little cold, so the kids spend a lot of time in the hot tub and none in the swimming pool.  

 Travis and his "goo-goo" goggles.

 The Nygard grandkids.

 Grandma and Grandpa Nygard with their grandkids.

 Tanner with Eric's cousins, playing Red Light Green Light.

 Tanner and Heath in charge of Red Light Green Light.

 Aubs with her wonderful Aunt Lynnette.

 Tanner got introduced to Red Rover.  He loved it and has wanted to play everyday since.

 Jared watching/spitting up.

 Eric helping Tanner and Aubree get dizzy for the relay races.

 Can't get enough pictures of this boy.

 Kid races.

 Eric and Tanner are the finish line.

 Love the pic of Tann.  He is a fast little guy.

 Aubree had fun too.

 My mom gave the kids big notepads of paper and Travis has been practicing his tigers.  This one turned out pretty awesome.  If you look closely he even drew a bunch of little legs.

 During nap time I took the chance to practice.  In the last few days Jared has started to say "Ma Ma."  

 Aubs wanted to take a few with Jared.  Her modeling cracks me up.

 This boy has helped all of us so much in keeping our arms filled and taking away some of the ache.

Beautiful Aubs. 

 She grabbed a flower from our backyard and wanted more pictures.

 While we were in Spokane we spent time with my sister Amy and her family.  The kids loved swimming in a hot tub again.

 We celebrated Aubree's 5-year anniversary of when she was sealed to us in the Temple.   We are so grateful for our Aubree.  She is the perfect big sister and is such a wonderful help to me.  Aubree is so fun to go on dates with.  She loves her Dad more than anything and loves holding Jared all of the time.  We are also so grateful for Aubree's birth mom and the opportunity she blessed us with of becoming parents.  She really is the perfect daughter.  I can't believe it has been 5-years.

 Tanner is so awesome.  I love his smile and mischievous look he has.

 Aubree double swinging.

 Trav found a cowboy and horse costume.

Eric's family had a bunch of pictures on their camera from the day of Andrew's sealing that I had never seen before.  Seeing new pictures of our Andrew that we hadn't seen before is such an awesome blessing.  I love looking at all the pictures we have of Andrew and remembering how perfect he is.  I love how Tanner is laying his hand on Andrew's head in the picture above.

I love Andrew's face.  I love how Aubree is holding his sweet little hand.  Oh, I miss him.  Yesterday was 6 months.  I can't believe it has been that long.  I miss Andrew's ears.  They were so soft and floppy.  I miss his pudgy little hands.  I miss his open mouth kisses.  I miss his dark, round, and perfect eyes.  I miss having two babies.  I miss watching Andrew's interaction with his siblings.  I am so grateful for the love and comfort we have been blessed with the last six months.