The Elder Dobbinses

In February were able to take a mini vacation and we went on a nice long road trip from Provo to Tucson, Arizona where Andrew's parents live now.  Although the 12 hours each way was not completely awesome (with the lovely morning sickness I was definitely still having) it was totally worth the trip.  It was a family reunion of sorts to celebrate two things: Andrew's brother Matt returning from his mission and his other brother Hyrum leaving on his mission!  It was so cool.  I met so many of Andrew's cousins and aunts and uncles that he hadn't even seen in 7 to 10 years or so.

The first night we got there we spent a fun crazy evening at Aunt Billie Jean's house in Mesa with all the cousins.  Everyone was in the backyard, playing sports, eating, meeting each other's spouses and kids, talking, and laughing the whole night.  I could tell it was a pretty big deal that almost all the cousins were together for the first time in YEARS.  It reminded me of my family and how AMAZING that would be.  It used to happen often, but everyone's lives have branched out so much.  I'm sure it's that way with many families.  I think that's why it was so awesome to have everyone together for this event.  I felt such a part of it all and I had literally just met these people.  It was pretty great.

The rest of the weekend was spent mostly with just the immediate Dobbins family.  We all had fun hanging out on the balcony, playing more sports, and swimming in the warm weather.  Then Sunday both Elder Dobbinses gave their talks- Matt's homecoming and Hyrum's farewell.  They brought the spirit so strong and I definitely choked up when Hyrum bore his testimony.  He has always been one of the best parts of joining the Dobbins family for me.  We were able to take him to the MTC a week later and now he's in Atlanta, Georgia preaching the gospel to the people there.

It seems that boys enjoy tackling each other in swimming pools...cause that's mostly what they did the whole time!

See?

that and have playing dead contests....
 if you look closely you can see Andrew hitting his Dad in the face to try to get him out of the running.

The three Elder Dobbinses

All the Dobbins kids

All the Dobbins girls...minus Lynny

Despite my gross looking hair, I LOVE this picture!  We will always be I Love Lucy buddies.

And this is just sad.  They are all almost as tall as me when they kneel down.

This weekend back in February made me very grateful to be a part of the Dobbins family.  When we got married I was obviously just thinking all about Andrew and I liked these people that came with marrying him, but they kinda were just part of the deal to me.  But now I feel like we are family.  I was really grateful to be there.  Welcoming Matt home was exciting and seeing Hyrum off was bittersweet.

Elder Hyrum Dobbins

This picture just cracks me up...whenever I look at it I realize how very short I really am compared to them.

The name "Elder Dobbins" has meant quite a bit to me in the last few years of my life and it still does now, but for different reasons.  I'm proud of Hyrum and Matt...proud to have them as my brothers.  I hope we will find some more Elder Dobbinses in our family as life goes on. And at that point it will mean even more to me, in yet another way.