CALIFORNIA

With Matt at home fulfilling his handyman duties, Mason, myself and my parents set out for Southern Caly to visit family and attend my cousin Amy's high school graduation.

Mason was pumped about traveling!

and with car seat and "pack pack" we set off for a fun adventure! Mason gets and A+ for airplane travel and I would personally like to hug Steve Jobs for the IPad. Parents should not leave home with out one:)

We arrived fairly late to my Aunt Kelly's house. They greeted us with drinks and chocolate cake..yum! My Aunt Kelly couldn't wait to give my mom her birthday gift. My mom is hard to shop for and this hand made afghan (king size) in my mom's favorite colors was PERFECT!!! She loves it.

The next morning my cousin Kelsie came up so we could meet the newest addition to the family, Miss Abby June. So precious with a fitting middle name after our sweet Grandma June. I think most of us granddaughters plan to use that middle name:)

Mason was smitten with Abby too, which gives me high hopes for the future.

He was in heaven with all these cousins around. Sweet Jenna reading to him.

Cutie pie Owen shared all his fun toys.

And he got to reconnect with his kindred spirit and cousin Karly. She is my cousin Kelsie's oldest. They are only 8 weeks apart and have similar personalities.

Mason was very intrigued by her "toe paint"...he would say "how you paint your toes Karly? I take your color off and put yellow on!"

He found someone who loves olives just as much as he does and "olive hands" talk about memory lane for me and my cousins.

this is how most of the play time went....Mason chased Karly

Karly chased Mason

They would race 

play some ball 

Then Mason would throw a ball at Karly's head and she would slam his fingers in the door:)

They were two little monkeys. A life long friendship forming just like my cousins and I, brings a tear to a mamma's eye....

Lets get back to why we were there:) 

this gorgeous girl was graduating high school! Such a free spirit, kind, loving, and fun soul that I am so proud to call a cousin (photo credit to Katie, I hijacked this from FB:)

Her big sisters were beaming with pride to watch their baby sister walk this path! They even laced her Cons just right!

By the second day Mason was going on energy reserves. Don't you love when grandparents forget what having a 2-year old is like and give him a blue sucker before heading to a 2-hour graduation ceremony? I actually think its a pay back versus memory loss:)

Pure exhaustion written on his face.

I was hoping he would fall asleep in my arms but tight space and lots of people erupted in a meltdown! Mason and I headed to the rental car for the remainder of the ceremony and I left the camera with my Dad. We did hear Amy's name called out over the intercom...WOOT WOOT!

Amy taking those steps towards freedom from High school! Bittersweet!?!? Nah! This girl is ready to take on the world.

Proud Mom watching the last of her girls graduate high school.

The next day we spent getting ready for the big party!

Again Mason was in a state of bliss with all these kids around and family.

My Dad and his two sisters! My Aunt Kelly and Auntie Sue are the best!

The food was great, spending time with family and getting to know Amy's buddies was so much fun! All I can say is look at world there is a cool bunch of kids out there.

Mason lasted a lot longer than I expected but finally crashed around 11:00. I was ready too after three chocolate cake shots! Man those are so tasty!

The last day we were there we just veg'd out and enjoyed each others company.

We sat and talked about great memories of those we love and miss so dearly (the white house in the background was my grandparents, lots of memories there), laughed about family stories, rejoiced about the future, ate yummy chicken enchiladas and drank margaritas....and than right when the yellow cake with chocolate frosting appeared...I got the stomach flu! It was a long night and that darn flu ran its course through the family over the next few days. The flight home was a little challenging and without my parents would have been near impossible!

Thank you family for having us, we are so blessed to call you family! We miss you already and love you more than you know.