Live Laugh Love: Are you my cousin?

I grew up in a very large family, 8 kids, pretty spread out in age. I am the fifth child. My parents have 26 grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren. I was only six when my first niece was born, and I have younger brothers that are younger than some of their nieces and nephews (so I'm sure it's even more confusing for their kids). That makes for some pretty confusing family ties. My kids spend a lot of time in Utah with the majority of their cousins, and a lot of their cousins children, but they (mostly the two youngest) have a hard time making the distinction between uncle vs. cousin...or cousin vs. 1st cousin once removed. My oldest niece is 34, and my youngest niece is 3, and another great nephew is about to be born any day. So this week-end was another example of my younger kids just being plain confused.

This past week-end, we went down to So. Florida to be with some family. My sister Linda lives in Coral Springs, and her son (my nephew Andrew), flew in from Utah with his new bride for a wedding open house. Another Nephew (Ben) flew in from Maryland with his wife and two little boys (who are around Coopers age). Plus another sister, Brenda (who is Linda's twin), flew in from Utah with her husband and brother in law. So it was a full house, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, first cousins once removed, nephews, great nephews, brother in laws, sister in laws, niece in laws (if that is the right term), etc. but so fun to hang out with family for the week-end. So my little boys may not know exactly which ones are their cousins, but we all had a great time.

My Nephew Andrew and his darling wife Marcy... WE LOVE HER!!!!

The open house went well. Lots of people came, the house looked great, and the food was delicious. Yum.

And the late night games begin...

It was fun to go to church with my two sisters on Sunday. Linda had quite a crew with her.

We had to take a chance to take a "sisters" picture (though we are missing the 4th sister Wendy...sad face about that)

Linda and Brenda are twins, the oldest in the family, and were teenagers before I was even born, but we have always stayed close. As a little girl I remember them painting my nails, and doing my hair, and letting me sit on their boyfriends laps, and thinking they were so beautiful. I remember visiting them at BYU with my family. I remember being a flower girl at both of their weddings, when I was only about five. As their kids came along, I had such joy in being an "aunt" (I was six when my first niece came along). I stayed with Linda quite a few different times over the years to either help when she had a new baby, or just visit. And both of them have brought such joy into my life as an adult. So even though we are in different stages of life...and 14 years apart, we like the same kinds of books, movies, jewelry, food and shopping... we love each others kids, we give advice to each other...and we can still talk non-stop.
I am thankful for my sisters.

My girls and their aunts

Cooper and Nate (my great nephew...Ben's little boy), had the greatest time together. Partners in crime. Cooper calls him "My cousin" (imagine that with a serious lisp), and has no idea that Nate's Dad Ben, is really his cousin. So confusing. Whenever Nate would call my sister Linda "Grandma", Cooper and Carver would say, "That's not Grandma, thats Linda". So hard to grasp.

This is Spencer...my other "great" nephew. C.U.T.E. S.T.U.F.F.

My nephews...Ben and Andrew. Yes...communicating through some sort of online computer game...yet sitting inches apart. GEEKS! And yes, I would say that to their faces (and I think I did). But they are those ridiculously smart and genius type of geeks, and also super well rounded and fun and oh so cute and talented...so it works out well for them. But an aunt has to make fun once in a while. I mean I used to bathe these boys for heavens sakes :)

And knowing my family like I do...I knew that the game "Ninja attack" would be a big hit. Andrew and Ben were cracking us up with their poses and their commentary and how much they got into it. I think Andrew even started doing commentary in Chinese at some point. And he doesn't speak Chinese! Oh that is so like my father. We were all laughing, and everyone really got into the game. But I have to say...those young Lopez children were hard to beat.