We had a great weekend, with a lot of church meetings and some family time mixed in. I had an auxiliary training meeting for Young Women’s on Saturday morning. Afterward, I came home, napped with the kids, and then we headed out to the mall for some family time.

I don’t know what it is about going to the mall together, but it’s one of my favorite things to do as a family. We don’t even shop, and it’s a TINY little row of stores (many people even mock it for being called a “mall” at all), but we always have a good time.

We used to always go there and get something from Dairy Queen, but then it suddenly closed last winter, so we just stopped going to the mall completely. Well… I realized that it wasn’t the ice cream that I liked so much as just sitting with my family, people watching, and getting out of the house together.

So we went and tried a new (to us, it’s probably been there at least a year) cookie place and enjoyed our family time. They even had milkshakes, so we let Kaelyn try a few sips for the first time…
… and she loved it! But who wouldn’t love some frozen chocolate?
We let Kaya pick out her own cookie, and she chose Elmo. She’s never watched him on TV and doesn’t even know what Sesame Street is, so I’m thinking she just liked his happy face. Either way, I’m sure she made Grandpa Skip proud (he’s always singing the Elmo’s World song… la la la la… and now it’s stuck in your head. you’re welcome)!
We let them play on the mall playground, and it was so obvious to us how happy Kaelyn was for doing something “big kids” would do. She just couldn’t stop laughing and smiling ear to ear. Google auto-awesomed this super corny movie…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=casw_g81rjc
We window shopped and found a new toy store. Kaya danced and squealed in front of the window until we had to leave because the mall was closing. I love how much joy she receives from the smallest things.
Sunday was a pretty typical day at church. Sometimes, we give our neighbor a ride, and when we do, I sit in the back with the babies. I wanted a picture with Kaya, but the only way she’d take one was if she could make goofy face. This is what she came up with… haha! Love my crazy girl so much.
Michael took this when we came home after meetings and sent it to me. I just had to include it because it sums up our Sundays perfectly. He got her out of the car seat and into the house without waking her up!