Olympia, Canby, and GG's 90th Birthday

I just got back from a lovely weekend of visiting family and celebrating my Grandma Delamarter's 90th birthday. Cambelle and I flew into Seattle on Friday afternoon, spent the night with Jen, Mark, Dax, and Kenz at their house in Olympia, then we drove down to Canby (essentially Portalnd, Oregon) on Saturday morning. I really enjoyed the car ride to and from Canby because of the time I got to spend with Jen, Mark, and the kids. Dakota and Mackenzie are hilarious, even though Kenz can love you one second and despise you the next! Mark did get picked on, but what kind of sister would I be if I didn't pick on him for Jen's sake? He can out-talk me any day of the week, so he had to put up with my feeble attempts to be witty and argue with him (thanks for not making too much fun of me, Mark!). The birthday party for my grandma was such a neat experience. Although it was a little cramped in the apartment, it was so special to have so much of the family there. All of us Gray siblings were able to make it (my mom was there too, of course!), along with my cousin Guy from the Ralph Delamarter family (my mom's oldest brother), my cousins Claire and Kyle and Kyle's wife Elizabeth (who is having their second girl in March) and daughter Thisbe from the Frank Delamarter family (my mom's younger brother), and my cousin Kevin from the Marie Fromherz family (my mom's younger sister). I don't know the last time we had so many of the cousins together, and I didn't even get a picture of all of us--AARGGH!! Actually, I didn't get very many pictures at all of this weekend and I am so mad about it. The ones I did get aren't that great, either, but they'll have to do. I love spending time with family so much and I am so grateful this weekend was able to happen (thanks Dad!). I wish I could have spent more time up there, especially since most of my time with Jen was spent traveling and because I only saw my mom for less than a day. But it was still so fun. I miss everyone already!!!

Preparing the cake--it takes a long time to put 90 candles on a cake!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but we had quite the bonfire going with all 90 candles lit! But grandma did a great job blowing them out--with a little help from Dax, Thisbe, and even Mark!

Everyone taking a picture of everyone else taking a picture.

My cute mom and my favorite sister Jen (you may be my only sister, but you're still my favorite!!!!!). Not the greatest picture, but it's the only one I have!

Jen and Cam just hangin' out on the couch.

Although I will miss everyone terribly, I can't describe how excited I was to see Cooper and Ben again. As we got on the escalator to go down to baggage claim, I tried to explain to Cambelle that we were about to see daddy, but she didn't get excited until we pushed through the crowd of people and she actually saw Ben's face. She let out a little squeal of excitement and started wiggling like crazy until he held her. Cooper was so shy around me for the first 15 minutes or so, but by the time we headed out to the car, he was actually looking at me and even saying a few words to me, and by bedtime tonight, we were the best of friends again! I love my little family so much and I am so grateful for them. Next time I'm going to drag Ben and Coop with me so I don't have to miss them so much!