Averie's 1st birthday/dedication.

We made a quick Saturday-Sunday trip to Minneapolis to celebrate our niece/cousin! She had her first birthday party and was also dedicated to Jesus at their church. What a special weekend and so glad we could celebrate one of our favorite girls!

Peace with Aunt Kayla!

 

Watching my sister be a mom this last year has been a joy, so thankful to share the motherhood journey together!

Dedication time- Averie, we pray you grow up to love Jesus and know how much He loves you!

Since there was a good amount of family in town and some were already staying at my sister's house, we stayed at a hotel for the night. The girls were beyond excited. We don't stay in hotels very often, so they think we are royalty when we do. They were over the moon to swim and eat breakfast there. It was so cute to watch. Granted, no one slept very well, but it was totally worth it for the trip and the celebrations we got to be a part of!

The best cousin picture we got. ;)

While Averie was napping Saturday afternoon, we headed to Como Zoo for an hour. Boy, do I love that place! Kley and I both went to Bethel University in the cities, and we went there a decent amount in college. It's so special to take our girls there, we've gone a few different times now when we've visited my sister.

Since it is November, I wasn't expecting to see much animal action, but we saw way more than I thought! The gorillas were pretty active. One of the gorillas had smeared poop all over the ground- super gross but the girls got a huge kick out of that. The snow leopard probably gave the best show- he was playing with a ball and very entertaining. My parents and youngest sister, Kayla, were there too and got to join, so fun!

My favorite! What a fun weekend!