A family visit in July

A few weekends ago, my parents and brother drove down from Minnesota to visit. It had been a few months since we had last seen them, when they visited back in April, and we all wanted to celebrate a belated birthday for Cooper!

They arrived around suppertime on Saturday. I made a pork roast in the instant pot, and we shredded it and some ate it on tortillas, like a tacos, and some of us ate it in a bowl with rice and Siete chips. Cooper was exceedingly excited to (yet again) give all members of my family a thorough tour of the unfinished side of our basement, and a full discussion of all the utilities.

Sunday morning, we attended the early service at church, and then spent pretty much the entire rest of the day outside. We grilled burgers for lunch, and had them on homemade sourdough buns, and my father-in-law joined us for lunch. I brought out our favorite homemade raw milk vanilla ice cream for dessert. We played a little cornhole, and we pushed the boys on the swings and went for an afternoon family walk, where Cooper found many rock treasures, per usual, and Finn took a nap.

Later that afternoon, Cooper opened his birthday gifts from my family, which included many sweet things, but most notably a beautiful new quilt that my mom sewed for Cooper's bed, in shades of blue and white! We've texted back and forth about it so many times, but it's always a treat to see such a massive project in person. And he also got some new books, pajamas and some other clothes, a wooden puzzle, and some handmade wooden horse figurines that my Grandma Donna actually picked out before she passed away, which was very special for me.

On Monday, Nicholas had to work, but my family joined us for our typical weekly raw milk pickup from the farm store. It was fun to show them a little bit of our routine! We packed a cooler in the car to keep our raw dairy cold, and went for a hike at a favorite local park. We hiked on wooded trails, played on a giant teeter totter, and stopped to eat some wild black raspberries straight off the bush before heading home for lunch.

We had Avgolemono soup (aka Chicken lemon rice soup), a recipe we've had weekly, alongside homemade sourdough bread for dinner.

In the evenings, we spent time catching up, as well as watching videos from Simple Living Alaska and Andrew Caramata YouTube channels, which offer something of interest to pretty much everyone present, Cooper included.

Other favorite little things from the weekend:

• Cooper and my brother, Matt, "looking for cats" in the basement (we don't have a cat, but we do have a toddler with a fun imagination!)
• Finn repeatedly getting his favorite book off the bookshelf and carrying it over and handing it to my dad so they could read it together
• My mom reading several picture books with Cooper and him asking for more reading together (my mom always finds the best books!)
• Lots of outdoor time and fresh air
• Finn's giggle and his "side eyes," that he gives when he's being a stinker

It was such a sweet weekend with family! We love you guys.