Brother and Sisters

Smokie, Roy and Me. I think I look the oldest. :p(

Last week I drove down to Idaho for a few days. Yes, I drove all alone for 8+ hours. It was awesome!! I actually got somewhere at the end of the driving. In Alaska, you drive for 8 hours and you are in the middle of the wilderness!!

I spent some time at my sister, JoAnn's, in Idaho Falls where we quilted the quilt I pieced together and then I went to St. Anthony with Smokie, Paul and Lora. We met Mom and Dad for lunch and then we went to check out Paul and Lora's brand spankin new house. (It is awesome, by the way! Absolutely beautiful!!) Friday I headed down to Smokie's house and Saturday my brother, Roy, made us Spanish Eggs for breakfast.

Hilary, Ben and Sarah joined me at Smokie's and we made a trip to McCammon to see Grandma and Grandpa Ekstrom. After dinner at Smokies with Steve and his family, they headed back down to Utah. I headed home first thing Sunday morning.

It was an awesome trip! I really love being close to family. I love hanging out with them and visiting and just being together! It is still a long drive, but 8 or 9 hours is a lot closer than the 5 days it used to take me to get there from Alaska!

4 Generations of Ekstrom Men

When Grant and Edna and Aaron and his family were here last weekend, we took the opportunity to take a picture or two of the guys. 4 generations of Ekstrom men sitting there in a row. Aren't they handsome???!!?

I see some themes running through the generations. One is the nose. I am not sure if Grant has the same nose, but Scott sure passed his on to his sons and since Eli looks a LOT like his Grandpa, I would say that he has it too!! I didn't realize how much Aaron and Luke look alike either.

It is such a blessing to have such an awesome heritage and to see the torch being passed and carried by the upcoming generations!!

Boys and dogs

What is it with boys and dogs? I think that they are just attracted to each other! This weekend we have company! Whoo Hooo!! We LOVE to have company and for the last 16 years, we haven't really had much because Alaska is so far for everyone to go to visit us. Well, this weekend, Grant and Edna came up and so Aaron and Lynze and Eli came down from Spokane to stay as well. It was incredible!! It was so much fun to have them here and we enjoyed being together and watching conference together.

Eli loves Fitzwilliam, but he is afraid of him at the same time because he is so big and trollops around like a bull in a china shop and so for most of Saturday he kept his distance. Sunday he was starting to get closer and closer to Fitzwilliam. In the bottom picture they are sizing each other up. Fitz is so good with the kids. He is very protective of them actually. (He just can't seem to control his tail and has been known to knock the little ones down while wagging his enthusiam!)

The top picture is of Aaron, Eli and Fitzwilliam. Aaron is using Fitz for a pillow while cradling Eli on his chest and Fitz is lying his head on Aaron's shoulder, almost nuzzling Eli. It was really sweet to watch them interacting with each other.

Boys and dogs. You gotta love em!!