Llama and Rat Hill

When I was a kid, I was smaller than average. In this picture I (center front) am 11 and my brother to the right is 9. People thought we were twins. I am 2 1/2 years younger than Rachel (far right) and she was always at least 8 inches taller (okay, I don't know, but she was a lot taller). Rachel is not a giant by any means, I was just short.
That is how I got the nickname "shrimp". My brother concocted this elaborate story about my parents adopting me from Sizzler. Whatever. Anyway...eventually everyone in my family got an animal nickname, but really mine was the only one that stuck. So my mom's animal name was Llama.

As teenagers, Rachel didn't like it when I said her name with a short "a" sound. She said it sounded like I was calling her "rat hill". Hence, the title.

We had a slew of family come out to see us in the last month or so. So why update my blog when the people who read it are all here taking part in the action? Okay, so there were some important people who weren't here and we haven't seen in a long time, so I am not justified in taking so long. Forgive me.
When mom and Rachel were here, we had a great time catching up and hanging out.
First they had to meet Keturah:

Then, Rachel had to have a general layout of the town so she could go jogging. This was her vacation, but she was not to be deterred.
The kids perused the books that Grandma Jill brought and later we went to Institute at the school. We were able to play outside a little, but it was kinda cold for Rach. She was constantly freezing here no matter where we were--inside or out. I guess living in San Diego can be a curse for when you travel to the Midwest.
We made a trip out to Nauvoo for Rachel and I think she had a pretty good time.
This is us watching a "how to make a boot in the 1800's" demo.

And here is a windy picture of us in front of the temple.

When I took this picture below the next day, it was raining. Within a hour, it was snowing pretty hard.

Rachel has not seen snow in a really long time, so she was glad that she got to play in it a little. She even let Alex throw snowballs at her. Mom just moved to where it doesn't snow and thought that she wouldn't get to see any this year. I'm glad Missouri did not disappoint them.

After church on Sunday we got some quick pictures before they had to go to the airport.



I know that one of my favorite parts was when mom, Rach and I stayed up talking on the kitchen floor while snacking on pistachios and clementines. Thanks for the good time guys.