VISITORS!!!

I have been meaning to write about my sister Kaylee and Corbin's visit for weeks but have put it off for so long because I had better things to do.  Sometimes I have a hard time motivating myself to blog because blogging is becoming something of the past.  I was really good at posting on my blog when I knew people were reading my blog, but I need to remember that I don't blog for other people.  I blog for myself and for my family.  I want my children to remember their childhood and things that we did.  So without further adieu here is my blog post about our visitors!

Living clear on the other side of the country is hard sometimes.  Mostly because we don't get to see family very often.  I miss our families and I look forward to the day when we live a little bit closer and can visit a little more often.

I was ecstatic when Kaylee told me she wanted to come and visit.  She bought her airline ticket and was planning on coming out the first week of August.  A few weeks before Kaylee was going to come out we were Skyping with my family.  While we were Skyping my older sister Jen showed up at my mom's house with her family.  As we were saying good-bye someone mentioned that her son Corbin should come out with Kaylee.  We told her that we would love to have him and then said good-bye.  About an hour later I got a call from her and her husband asking if it really was okay if they sent Corbin with Kaylee.  OF COURSE!  And so they bought a ticket for Corbin!  We were all super excited for our visitors to arrive!

Finally August 7th arrived and we got up nice and early and were out the door by 7:15 so we could pick up Kaylee and Corbin at the shuttle.  They had left at August 6th at 10 p.m. and had traveled all night long.  They kept assuring me they weren't tired and so we went swimming that afternoon.

All Corbin wanted to do while he was here was go swimming.  Every day he would ask when we were going to go swimming.  I think it is safe to say that he enjoyed our swimming pool!

Ben took a day off and we headed up to Atlanta to go to the Atlanta Aquarium.  Everyone told us that was one thing that we needed to go and see while we are living in Georgia and the Aquarium did not disappoint!  It was seriously AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, STUPENDOUS, I wish I could go again!

We asked the kids on our way home what their favorite thing was and everyone's favorite was the dolphin show.  It was a 30 minute show with a play going on and it involved the dolphin's and it was incredible.  I loved looking and my kids faces and seeing them totally into everything that was going on! 

The aquarium had the little pools where you could touch stingrays, little baby sharks, starfish, and all kinds of other sea creatures.  I don't necessarily enjoy touching slimy gross sea creatures but I took one for the team, because Reese wouldn't touch anything until she saw mom touch something. 

They also had these GINORMOUS tanks with Beluga Whales and another tank with dolphins.  They were INCREDIBLE!  The whales and dolphin's would swim right up to the glass and sit and look at you.  It was amazing to watch them swim and I couldn't believe how big they were.  I could have sat in front of their tanks and watched them all day long.

But my favorite thing was the even bigger aquarium that you could walk underneath.  They had HUGE stingrays and even a couple of whale sharks.  It was the most amazing thing I  have ever seen!  We sat by this tank FOREVER and just watched the fish and sharks swim.  After walking underneath the aquarium, you walked around to the front and there were divers in the aquarium as well.  It was seriously one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  Going to the Atlanta Aquarium was the coolest thing we have done since living in Georgia!

For the rest of the time Kaylee and Corbin were here we went swimming. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. They had a blast swimming with Corbin and Kaylee and Corbin was a great swim teacher to Reese! 

He taught her how to do a cannon ball, how to do a hand stand underwater, and he even taught her how to chicken fight.  It was great for Reese to have Corbin to swim with because it helped to be a lot braver in the water!

Unfortunately we aren't as cool as Corbin's parents because about two days into his stay he decided that he had had enough of Georgia and was ready to go home!  Homesickness hit this boy hard and when he got home he told his parents that he was NEVER leaving home again!  But we are sure glad he decided to stay because we had a blast with him and Kaylee!  I only wish they could have stayed longer but I don't think Corbin would have enjoyed that!  Thanks for coming guys!

Oh and after getting home late on Wednesday night, Kaylee woke up at 5 the next morning and headed to northern Utah to compete in a state bagging competition.  Out of 37 baggers Kaylee took 3rd place!  She is pretty amazing and I am so thankful for such a great sister!  I just wish she lived a little closer!