Two weeks was not nearly enough time to spend with our sweet Lily.  Oh, what a gift she is in our family, and as the time was sneaking past us like a thief, I tried to be more intentional about my time with her.  For example, on Thursday, her last day with us, I gave the two of us pedicures.  It was so much fun to serve her in that way, and also have time to just sit and talk together.

And our toes turned out pretty cute (even if I am much better at painting my own nails than I am other people’s – something about the angle – ha ha!).

There was lots of family Mario Party being played, which made me happy listening to the four of them laugh together, and then get frustrated at just how good their dad is at Mario Party.  Ha ha ha!  

Arthur especially took advantage of having Lily around, as she is such a fantastic sister to him.  She listens to his stories and ideas, encourages him, and showers him with love.  In this picture, he was explaining a game he had created using the Mario legos.

As part of her last night with us, we really wanted to play a game together as a family, and since time ended up being an issue, we pulled out the Tenzi dice and played a few fun rounds.  It was a blast.  Oh how I love this family of mine, and each person who completes it.

Friday morning, ata ridiculously early hour, Lily headed to the airport with Kevin and I.  We were flying to Hawaii, and she was flying to Salt Lake City.  Crazily enough, both of our flights just happened to be leaving from the same gate, just an hour and a half apart.  It made it extra nice to be together, and I got to watch over her as she took a quick nap, since we had woken up at 2 am.  It was very hard to walk away when we boarded our plane, but luckily, I knew there were good people waiting for her in Utah.

She got into SLC around noon, and Marilyn picked her up – such a blessing!!  Lily had parked our van at the Jones’s house over the break, and so it was perfect.  And Brent and Marilyn always take such good care of my kids – they have been like an extra set of grandparents to them for the past 17 years.  After a quick lunch, Lily got in the van and drove from Utah to my mom’s house in Idaho to spend the weekend, before she had to check into her apartment on Monday.  It made me so happy to get this picture of the two of them together (Lily wearing the fuzzy robe that my mom gave Lily as a late Christmas present).  Such a blessing!!