A week with an angel…

My brother and his family live several states away from us.

It’s far… much too far away and I don’t like it one bit!

My little brother, the one I used to lock out of my room when I was little so I could play dolls with my friends- uninterrupted- has become a successful career man, and I am so incredibly proud of him.

To tell you the truth, David and I have always been close. Even though he is my little brother, he was always an example to me. When I was a senior in high school he was a freshman and I loved having him at “my” high school. He was a cool kid and I was proud that he was my brother.

He’s now married and has 3 beautiful children. Every time I visit I feel as though they live next door and I get to see them everyday. Being a doting aunt is so fun when you have doting nieces and nephews, wink!

With my trip planned to Myrtle Beach, I mentioned to my bro. and his wife that Emma, their oldest daughter should fly home with me and spend a week at our house. Emma is their slightly more cautious child, so we were all careful to let her make her own decision in her own way. When my brother asked her how she would feel about spending a whole week with Aunt Erin and Uncle Patrick, she had a concerned look on her face and said… “Dad, can I stay there two weeks instead of one?” After that, I knew she would do just fine away from home!

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Saying goodbye to her family at the airport was tough, but once we got on the plane we had a blast!

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We ate a ton and played fun games. MASH anyone? (thanks for the reminder, Wendi!)

Both Patrick and I had our birthday the week she was here. Emma made our celebrations extra special! Patrick made us reservations for dinner at the Roof in SLC. It's one of our favorite restaurant- a gourmet all you can eat buffet. Yum! We got all dressed up and ate until we were stuffed!

We baked LOTS of goodies! Emma is quite the little chef!!

We went up the canyon for a yummy breakfast for Patrick's Birthday. Emma made friends with a very lucky little squirrel!

Emma got an adorable hair cut...

AND-with her parent's permission... We went and got her ears pierced!

What a brave 7 year old, huh? I love this picture... she is looking in the mirror to see her earrings for the first time.

We played a vicious game of Monopoly that lasted 2 days, bought flowers and planted them in our back yard, and tie dyed a shirt for her daddy.

We went up to visit my sister and her kids and had a great time. Lynell helped her start a cute little night gown...

Her cousin Lonica came home with us and we got to tour around SLC. We went to East High School where they filmed High School Musical, the Church History Museum, Temple Square, This is the Place Park, the cemetery where Pres. Hinckley is buried, The Beehive House... Phew, what a fun day!

It was extra fun because it was my birthday. What a perfect way to celebrate! AND to make it even better my parents AND my sister and her family traveled up from California for our summer river trip (a future post). We had dinner at the Brick Oven, a great pizza place in our area.

Once my mom got here she became the designated picture taker... so I only got this one photo... (I forgot to get those from you mama) But I will say that we had a blast! All of us in this photo, including Patrick and my parents, had a real live slumber party including hot tubing, a game of Apples to Apples, cake, presents, a movie and staying up way too late. Good times!!

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Our week was up and it was time for Emma to fly back home, this time alone. That is a very scary thing for a 7 year old, but she was so brave! I was so proud of her! We all had a hard time saying goodbye. There were lots of tears, but more so there were LOTS of great memories made.

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Emma, you are so polite, so sweet, so kind, so helpful. Thank you for being so brave and spending a week with us!

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We love you so much Emma and we miss you like crazy!!