A Brooksby Reunion

A couple weeks after my trip to Atlanta to see my family, we were getting ready for our trip to Washington for a Brooksby Reunion! (Nathan was finally able to come with me on this trip..;) ) The rest of the Brooksby clan had planned on all getting to Washington by Monday or Tuesday...so we bought are tickets accordingly. But since everyone else was driving, it ended up that they all arrived a couple days early! And there Nathan and I were.. stuck in Michigan all weekend till our flight on Monday! That was not ok with us...so that Saturday I looked it up and we were able to move our flights up for not too much more for the next morning! SOO.... we switched our flights, but didn't tell anyone so we could surprise them!! (Except Chelsea and Aaron who were in on it the whole time, so they could pick us up from the airport). It was so fun to surprise them all!! Showing up a day early was so worth it! :)

I miss my mountains!!

Some of the cutest little girls eating some toast before church! 

SO glad we got to come a day early!!

The next morning uncle Nate helped make a sandbox in Grandma Brooksby's backyard for all the grandkids to play in. 

They had a blast playing in that all week!

Every time we are in Washington I have to make a visit at one of my most favorite spots ever! Grandma and Pa Forrester's house! They live just 30 mins away from Nathan's parents house.. which is so great and convenient, because now I get to see them every time we are in Washington visiting! 

It is always such a wonderful time when we get to visit the Forrester's! I look forward to it every time!! Love and miss them dearly!! :)

After our visit with grandma and pa Forrester, instead of getting in the middle of rush hour traffice and spending a couple hours on the freeway, Nathan and I went off on a few adventures together  before we headed back to his parents house!

Walking around the Seattle Temple grounds with my favorite man!

Alki Beach with my love!

The nieces LOVE their uncle Ben!

I don't think uncle Nate fits inside that house....

Grandma Brooksby's backyard has a sandbox, and now rope swings?! Woohoo!!

Little Mr. Colby! He was so fun to have around. Walking everywhere and talking up a storm! Love his little babbles!

And Mr. Cooper! Such a sweet and happy little boy! 

Nathan and I ran to Rite Aid one day to pick up some Zyrtec for Nathan. We walk into the store and Nathan starts walking around everywhere picking up random stuff and mumbling to his self.... after a couple minutes he finds me with his arms full and says...

"So.. uhh.. is this the stuff that we needed?" ;) 

-a kitty notebook

-glue

-cup o noodles

-pad lock

-weird looking decoration thing....

Me: "Umm... no babe.. we just needed some Zyrtec"... haha!

Never a dull moment with this man! I love him so much!! 

Petting the bunny Charlie! (This was a rare occasion, usually you saw Charlie running away from the little girls! Haha! But every once in awhile he let them pet him.. and they would all get SO excited!!)

Strike a pose Lisa! 

If a sandbox and rope swings weren't cool enough in Grandma's backyard.. the guys built a swimming pool too!! The girls had a blast splashing all around and blowing bubbles with the uncles. 

So the Brooksby kids grew up making homemade pizza's almost every friday night.. so now that they are all grown and have their own families and what not, they have continued that tradition of making homemade pizzas.. and creating all sorts of new pizzas and things! It's quite fabulous. SO since we finally had ALL of the Brooksby clan together.. all 18 of us.. we HAD to do a pizza night and taste everyones new creations!! 7 different pizzas, breadsticks, and 2 dessert pizzas later (we were all super full) we successfully had a Brooksby Pizza Night!! (Best one so far, I'd say!) All of it was so amazingly delicious.. oh man!!

These girls. So. Stinkin. Cute.

(Riley, Piper, Maddie, Kenzie)

  

Most of the guys playing Bocce Ball

Playing cars with uncle Nate

Nail painting party!

Ready for the beach!

Beach selfies!

I thought this picture was cute.. 3 of the uncles each have a niece they are teaching how to swim!

It was pretty fun to watch the uncles having so much fun swimming with their nieces and nephews!

Look at those little monkeys!!

Cooling off in the FREEZING COLD pool!

Fun times with Riley!

Silly faces!!

Point Defiance Zoo time!! 

Feeing the budgies at the zoo!

Aaron and Chelsea's Open House! We spent all day friday getting ready for it.. it turned out really well! And Lisa made all the cupcakes from scratch.. and OH MAN! they were SO delicious!! :)

Ben painted all the signs for it!

All the little nieces with their pink princess dresses!! So adorable!

Playdough time!

It's not a Brooksby Reunion without going to Ruston Way waterfront and looking for crabs!

We found little hermit crabs too!

Sculptures Nathan made back in highschool! 

This little girl, Piper, was so shy with everyone... especially at the beginning of the week. But at the Zoo, she let me hold her hand and then she became my little buddy for the rest of the trip! She would take me everywhere and help her with things and push her on the swing, play in the sandbox, etc. And I absolutely LOVED it!! She is such a funny and sweet little girl! 

So of course we had to take a selfie!! ;)

The Brooksby Brothers doing what they do best! Working on cars! 

Father and son, Jay and Cooper, just hanging out on the grass!

Two artists at work! 

Maddie and Nathan did a great job!!

What a fun week and eventful week we had!! It was so great to be together with the WHOLE Brooksby Clan! It made for a very full house, but it was so worth it! Best Brooksby Reunion yet!! 

Nathan and I were so sad when it was time to head back home... 

until next time Brooksby family! Love you all!