When the Perkins Come to Play

My cousin Alicia, her three girls, and her mom all came to Utah from Arizona to visit over General Conference weekend so I took full advantage of as much play time as possible!  We went up Saturday so the boys could all go to Priesthood together while the girls played and ate pizza.  Okay, so most of my time was spent chasing my busy one year old all around the house trying to keep her from falling down the stairs or tearing apart my grandma's plants.  She does like to explore new places.  Regardless, it was still a fun time AND I finally got to meet the newest addition to the Perkins clan, Brynn.  What an angel!!  I don't think I heard her fuss for more than 10 seconds all weekend.

Sunday we went back for our usual post-Conference family gathering.  Before dinner we dragged all 10 of the great-grandchildren out to take some pictures since they were all in the same state for once.  Of course getting 10 little girls to sit still and all look at the same place was virtually impossible, but we still got some good shots.  And then we took all of the energy back to my grandparents.  What a crew we've become and I loved every bit of it!

Quite the legacy!

I got talked into driving back up the next day as well (okay, so it didn't exactly take a whole lot of arm twisting).  This was a lot less formal and the older two Perkins girls were warming back up to me and were really sweet with Leila.  I even looked up once and Aubrey was just sitting next to Leila in a protective/playful way and managed to get this picture.  My mom saw it later and remarked that it reminded her of another blonde and brunette pair of cousins--Me and Alicia!

 Tuesday morning we met up for a wonderful day at the Hogle Zoo.  My mom even took Annie out of school and got my cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Jessica to join us.  We were a little worried the weather wasn't going to cooperate because it was pretty chilly first thing in the morning, but it warmed up nicely.  The southern group got there a little before everyone else so we had fun watching Leila play with the water ball.

The zoo has been undergoing a series of improvements to various areas and this summer re-opened the bear area.  They did a really good job!  We caught a show of the sea lion/seal trainers and were mesmerized by the swimming polar bear who was putting on his own show.  We also ooo-ed and awww-ed at the two-week old baby giraffe.  There was an awkward tortoise moment that will forever be ingrained on all of the adults memories while the kids were blissfully unaware.  Hailey loved having Annie race her around in the stroller.  It was a great day and my mom even suggested that this may just have to become a tradition for Leila's birthday.  Of course that means the Perkins will have to be here every year too!

Auntie Sluffer

Fascinated

One bird in the Cuckoo's Nest

One Happy Little Girl

Sweet "Little" Baby

The Zoo Crew

Our last get together was when they came down for Leila's birthday party.  But that gets a post all of its own.  Thanks for a great trip to the zoo everyone!