one of my favorites

this past week, one of my favorite people was here to visit.  i'm a pretty lucky girl to have really great relationships with my cousins.  i grew up with them, even roomed with one of them in college.  but, my cousin sydney and i have always been really close.  she's more like a sister than a cousin.  since i graduated school and moved from utah, i haven't seen her nearly as much as i would like.  so, when she told me she was coming for a visit i was super excited.

to say that mae was enamored is putting it lightly.  she absolutely adored sydney, or "shyd".  and sydney is so amazing with kids.  she and mae had a blast.  which was awesome, because i got to sit back and watch!

this picture was taken maybe an hour after sydney got here and mae was already attached.

 of course we made the obligatory trip to downtown austin.  it's fun to have visitors and visit downtown.  i never go down there otherwise.

 mid-airplane ride.  this girl was in heaven with all of the attention that she got while sydney was here.  she was glued to sydney's side.  she even cried when sydney closed her door to change one morning.

 while sydney was here, we were able to make a trip to the san antonio temple.  i hadn't had the opportunity to go to this temple, so it was really wonderful to be able to go.  lucky for me i have an awesome husband who watched mae while sydney and i went to the temple.  i love the temple and the uplifting, happy, peaceful feeling i get as i make the effort to go.

 

another fun thing about having visitors is a break from the norm!  some days i feel like mae is just bored of our routine.  so it's nice to one have someone else to add variety, and two switch up the activities!  

of course we made some shopping trips.  which surprisingly, mae was a well behaved child during.

 and we made trips to the park, which are a must in this household.  although, i'm pretty sure mae won't want to swing by herself after this!

we had so much fun with sydney.  she is such an awesome person.  it was so fun  just to sit, watch movies, and catch up with her.  i've missed her so much.  and am so lucky that we have been able to keep our friendship going strong even though we are so far away from each other.  thanks for coming shyd.  we love you