Cousin pictures

If we'd been totally fair and normal this year, we should have been in Ogden for Christmas, because we went to Irvine for Christmas last year. But our trips aren't just about the holidays, but about seeing everyone we want to see. Tommy's sister Melissa and her family were in Washington for Christmas this year, and we would have only seen them for about a day if we hadn't come later. And that was a BIG DEAL because Melissa's two kids, Zach and Baby Maddie, are two of Dane's favorite people in the WORLD. We really wanted to make sure that Dane got time to play with his cousins, and I am so, so glad we did. It was SO worth it! 

Dane had an absolute BLAST with Zach. He loved Jaxon and Maddie too, and I know they'll all play together more then they're all walking and running around together. But oh, man--Dane and Zach were little inseparable mischief makers the whole time we were there. While looking through all our pictures from the trip, I took SO many of the two of them together because it made me so, so happy to see them playing together! I kept just going and watching them playing, because it reminded me so much of being with my cousins when I was little. They would just run around, sneak off into the basement, follow each other everywhere, completely ignoring the adults and basking in the glory of not having anyone paying any attention to them--it felt just like how I felt when I was a kid reuniting with my cousins. And they're only two! I can only imagine how it's going to be when they get bigger--and I can't wait. I was so glad that we had a lot of days there with them, so that they could play together and really love each other. 

Look at them both laughing! So cute!

Zach taught Dane how to slide down the stairs on his tummy, and they just kept crawling up and sliding down and laughing the whole time.

They spent all of New Year's Eve running around together, jumping on the couches and sliding off them, and yelling together.

They kept interrupting Callie's workout because they wanted to play with her (and the treadmill!).

These three boys together! Such cuties. Once Jaxon is officially walking and running around, they will be an unstoppable team, I just know it.

They all look like they're in time out--but they were just playing there and we stopped them to get a picture.

 All of the four cousins eating dinner together.

Since Zach and Dane weren't there for Christmas, Grandma gave them both the same book--a construction vehicle book! How did she know?

Playing together at the kids' museum in Salt Lake.

We went over to Zach's house one morning and they really wanted to go outside together. All bundled up!

They just love hugging each other!

Dane keeps talking about how he and Zach took a bath together.

Dane really loves, LOVES baby Maddie. He's always talking about her and whenever he sees her, he runs up and gives her a big hug and says in a high-pitched voice, "Hi, baby Maddie! Hiiii!"

Just about ready for bed--the last night before we had to tear them apart again (tears!). 

I am so happy that Dane has two cousins around his age! And I'm happy that baby #2 will have two his age too--one on each side. I had about seven cousins my age, so I was a little bit spoiled--but two each isn't too bad. We had SUCH a good time in Ogden with everyone. While watching Dane play with Zach and seeing how much they loved each other, Tommy and I kept saying to each other, "Can you imagine if we lived closer and how they could play like this all the time?" But we'll have to just keep treasuring our visits and trying to visit as much as we can. We've been talking a lot about budgeting for this new year, and how we need to budget in for our trips to visit our families because it is really important to us that we set aside enough money to do that. We may not be able to visit as often as we like, but we're definitely going to try! Thank you for a great time, Leiningers!