i'm gonna kiss you and hug you and love you forever

Just so you know, I'm making myself post tonight.
I know I haven't been very on top of things here, and I keep feeling like I have to post something and I hate that feeling. I just don't have anything fun or interesting going on. I mean, it's fun and somewhat interesting to us, but you know, just the typical here's what our week looked like stuff. And the list of "fun" and "interesting" outings and people we're visiting -that are most likely uninteresting and boring to you- is just going to grow in the next couple of weeks as we try to cram our whole life's worth of family and friends into this short visit. So on one hand, I thought I should spare you readers the boring details, but then on the other hand... it's my blog, aka my journal.

So there you have it, no real funny stories to tell, no big adventures, just hangin' out enjoying being "back home". But here's a glimpse anyway. We've spent most of this first week hanging out at my parents' house:

• When we first got here, we had a great family day of visiting with my sister Becky who's here also visiting from Las Vegas, my other sister and brother-in-law came over, (my third sister is currently living here with my parents) and my grandparents who came up to see everyone.
• I spent just about a whole (great) day at Annie's with the kids. Lot's of chatting and catching up, lots of sharing and encouraging. Always love getting in some Annie time!
• I attempted to shop with my sis-in-law Holly during a mall outing to meet up with her Dad. All four kids played at the play-place with their Grampa and Uncle Dan, while Holly and I wandered around the mall overwhelmed by both the choices (and prices) of lingerie for Jennifer's shower, as well as the idea of shopping without children in tow. I felt like I was more aimlessly walking, happy to be childless, than focusing at the real task at hand.
• I've attended two bridal showers/bachelorette party for Jenn this week (with one more I'm skipping tomorrow).
• Today we all went to a park and met up with the King family and meet their new baby Logan (so cute!). Savannah and Sydney had fun playing hide-and-seek all over the park, running through the fountains and just hanging out again. Sawyer had a lot of fun too... he was eventually thrilled to get soaked in the fountains!
• Tomorrow we're probably going to hang a bit more with Sunshine, Sydney and Logan (Ryan King is headed out of town for work), and then lay low with the fam, as it's Becky's last day here.

Then Monday Ryan gets here!! The kids are so ready for him to join us, and I am so looking forward to having him here.
Here are just a few random pics of our days thus far...

*you know what? my computer is being really slow for some reason, and I'm super tired... so I'm place marking this handful of photos and I'll get them up here tomorrow*

Oh, I almost forgot. Were you wondering about the post title?
The highlight of the whole trip for Sawyer: This cat. My sister has a new kitten, and Sawyer is not only smitten, he is absolutely obsessed. He wants to cuddle this thing constantly and simply follows him around all day, picking him up, snuggling him, carrying him around... and they love to play together. They honestly play a game of chase around the house... and they take turns chasing! Sawyer will gallop around after the kitty, and then he'll turn around and the cat comes back chasing him! It's pretty darn cute. After Ryan gets here with the video camera I'll put a clip of Sawyer up here. That poor Kitty puts up with a lot too... Sawyer has pretty much turned into Elmyra Duff.