Growing Family...Extended Family, that is!

This year Greg and I gained 3 new sister-in-laws and one new nephew. It's been very fun to get to know all of our new family members.

My brother Steve married Andrea (from Canada), the first week in January in Arizona. We spent Christmas with Greg's family in Utah and then flew down to AZ to partiticipate in the festivities. Steve was the first sibling I got to see married and it was actually quite touching to see my little bro move into that exciting stage of life. We love Andrea, too--she's perfect for Steve. They currently reside in Arizona and we have been lucky to see them on many vacations this past summer.




In May, Greg's oldest brother, Jud married Anitra in South Carolina, where she is from. Greg went to the wedding while Evie and I supported from afar in Utah. Greg's parents and all the siblings were able to be together for their wedding, which was a first for the Cottrell family. Greg really enjoyed the southern charm and fried chicken he experienced while there. He also relayed to me how happy and in love Jud and Anitra were. We love you Anitra...oh, and Jud too. They live in Virginia so we don't get to see them as much as we would like to, but we keep close tabs on each other through blogging and the family website.


On June 29th, my sister Natalie had her 4th little boy, Braden Breinholt. We got to meet him at Jeff''s wedding and he is such a doll. Evie couldn't get enough of him. Natalie was happy to be able to use her "boy" stuff yet another time. Who know's if there will be any more children in their family, but I do know that those boys are lucky to have such a wonderful mother.


And finally, my brother Jeff was married to Chelsi (from Blackfoot Idaho) on August 17th in Idaho Falls. This was nice and convenient for us because it was just 3 hours away. All of my family came up, as well as many relatives from Utah and Arizona. It was such a beautiful wedding and we all had a great time getting to know Chelsi's family. Chelsi is so much fun and we are so happy to have her in the family. She and Jeff will be in Logan, UT until the end of December, so we're hoping to be able to spend some time with them before they move to Arizona with the rest of 'em.