"You can't call me Makenna, you have to call me Belle."

The next stop on my recent visit to the States was Utah. The best part was spending time with my two nieces, Savanna and Makenna. I adore them.

I wasn't expecting anyone to be with Asialene when she picked us up from the airport, but when I saw Savanna in the back seat with the biggest smile on her face I found myself holding back tears. She hugged me so tight and I sure was happy to be able to see her and her little sister for a whole five days.

One of our fun things that we did together was playing dress up. Savanna decided to surprise me by dressing up in my clothing and then asked for some makeup. I think she looks like a little porcelain doll in these pictures.

{Notice Savanna only has makeup on one eye}

Savanna and I have always had a special relationship. When I was in college we would spend tons of time together. I used to buy her all sorts of treats with my Dining Plus card and she would spend the night at my dorm room and later in different apartments that I stayed in. My favorite thing to do was take her shopping the next day before dropping her back off at home. Asialene loved the surprise of her cute little girl all dressed up in a new outfit and I loved spoiling little Savanna.

{Look at those cheeks}

Makenna loves "Gayma" (Grandma) so she spent most of the time with her instead of Auntie Lina. Well, once she saw Savanna all dressed up she got pretty jealous. When we all talked about how pretty Savanna was Makenna said, "Gaga is ugly. Gayma is pretty and Auntie Lina is pretty, but Gaga is ugly." Right then we realized she felt left out, so we invited her to play dress-up with us. (Oh and Gaga is short for Savanna in Makenna's language). She loved it and even told her dad that he wasn't allowed to call her Makenna anymore, she was to be called "Belle."
Makenna and I bonded quite a bit as the week moved on. I even had a sleepover with the girls every night in a big huge bed. Each morning Makenna would wait patiently until I woke up and then she would say something about the previous day like, "Remember when we...." It was so cute because it was as if she waited all night to say it. Then they would run downstairs to wake up Gayma and Papa (My sister's family is staying at my parents' place while their house is being rented and before they move to Pennsylvania... Davis got into Wharton School of Business... big deal! He's such a smarty pants).

Another funny thing about Makenna is that she is CRAZY in her sleep! The first night she had a nightmare and was kicking and crying. When I tried to wake her up she said, "Gaga is being mean to me." Poor little girl- her nightmares are of her older sister being mean to her! Then another night she was SINGING in her sleep! She sang, "The wheels on the bus..." mumbled a bit and then finished it off with a great big, "All through the town!" What a funny little girl.

I miss hearing Makenna say her favorite color is "lello" or pronouncing tomorrow as "tomoyo," and I miss Savanna saying things like, "Oh my heck" (She is definitely from Utah!), "I'm embarrassed," or dropping and picking her up from Kindergarten- especially when she would say, "Wait here and watch me go on the slide," then she'd run up to the slide, wave at the top, and then go down. For some reason I practically cried every time I dropped her off or picked her up. What is wrong with me? I can't even imagine what I will do when I drop off my own children to Kindergarten!