Aunt Cari

Jacob's sister, Cari, graduated from BYU-Idaho a couple of weeks ago. (Congratulations!) We were supposed to be the parent stand-ins since her parents are in Alaska serving a mission, but instead of going up there, we flew her down here to soak up the sun after a long Rexburg winter. Rachel was SOOOOOOO excited to have Aunt Cari coming to visit. She asked every morning "Is Cari coming this day?" So we started a countdown on her calender and she would mark of each day every night and count how many more days until Cari came. Rachel used this dollar store wrapping paper and made a big sign for Cari. It says "HAPPY GRADUATION AUNT CARI!" though most of it is in pink, so you can't see it, except the parts that we also did glitter over.

When Cari got here we went straight to the Pima County Fair. Rachel had a ton of fun. We started on her trusty favorite from last year, the carousel:

Rachel only wanted to ride with Cari. :)

Though we managed to convince her that Dad could join in, too, as long as Cari was still on board.

For most of this roller coaster Rachel had a rather concerned look on her face. But I think she had a good time.
Then we headed over to the petting zoo. Here's the only proof I have that I was actually there:

Good picture, huh?

Rachel enjoyed herself with the animals. Here she's trying to feed the wallaby a little piece of hay.

Then it was home for me and Annie to get Annie to bed for the night, while the rest of the crew stuck around for a few more rides. Rachel's favorite this year was by far the spinning dragons, though she called them dinosaurs.

Unfortunately the camera didn't come out the rest of the weekend. Saturday Cari hung out with Rachel and Annie while Jacob went on a cycling activity with the teacher's quorum (he was recently called as an advisor), and after Jake got back I headed over to the institute to help decorate for prom. I made it home for dinner, then Cari headed off on a hot date her cousin set her up on with a former roomate of his, and I headed back to prom. Sunday I abandoned them again to go to our last ward conference of the year. I felt bad for abandoning everyone most of the weekend, but honestly, we all know Cari came to play with the kids, and the adults were just a side bonus, and Rachel probably didn't even notice that I was gone with all the showing off and playing she was doing.
Rachel was very sad to see Cari go, but we have high hopes that that date might go somewhere and if we're lucky we might have Cari living down here in Tucson (yes, I know we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but hey, we can hope, right?). Last night it was Rachel's turn to pray and after she said amen she realized she'd forgotten something. She said, "Oh, wait! And we're thankful that Cari can come back real soon." (Rachel mixes up the "please bless..." and the "we're thankful for..." often.)
Cari, we're glad you could come visit. Hope you come back to stay real soon. ;) Congrats, college grad!