Alabama!

I haven't seen my dear sister Emily in over a year and she and her kids hadn't seen McKenna or Dan since Ben was born.  My how these kids have grown up in the last year and half.  

We mostly ate in shifts and fed the kids first and then the grown-ups.  Not enough room at the table to everyone.  But it worked out nicely. 

McKenna loved holding Emily's youngest baby, Kelsey, who was 8 months.  

One of the days we were there we went to the Columbus Museum which had a fun children's room.  

Coloring

There was a little stage where the kids put on a "show" for us. :) 

The next day we went to Kari and Kaitlyn's school to eat lunch with them and then check them out early so they could play with us more.  

The girls taught McKenna their current favorite song, "You're a Grand Old Flag." 

Playing at the park after school lunch

We had such a good time after the kids went to bed each night just staying up late, chatting, watching shows, and eating lots of yummy treats Emily made! Thanks Smith family for letting us invade your home for a few days!  We wish we could do it more often!  

VA Trip- Part 4, Sunday

Sunday morning my graduating class had a picnic brunch at Locks Park which unfortunately was VERY cold and rainy.  Total opposite of our beach day the day before.  After seeing a few more people that I didn't see the night before at the reunion, I decided it was a good time to drive around and show Dan my old house, neighborhood, school, church, and some of my old friends' houses too.  I was pretty darn proud of myself remembering how to get around so well! :)  

Here's my old house!  The blue garage doors and shutters look a little darker than I recall.  But the rust stains on the driveway have been there as long as I can remember.    

I didn't take picture of everything else because they all looked pretty much the same as ten years ago.  McKenna was so bored with all the driving that she randomly started spitting bubbles down her chin.  Ben was thankfully napping most of the time. 

Then we headed back to the Dudley's house, packed up, and then went to lunch at the Robertson's house.  The Robertsons lived next door to us until my senior year when they moved to a new house in the back of our same neighborhood.  AND, one of the Dudley boys married the oldest Robertson girl!  BONUS!  We got to visit with parts of TWO of my favorite VA families!  :)  

Fabriena used to collect Beanie Babies and the kids had a blast playing with them; aka, being buried in them, getting them dumped on them, getting them stuffed up their shirts (thanks Rob), and trying to scare mom with the spider beanie baby.  :)

 I just love this family!  I carpooled to early morning seminary and high school with their oldest daughter Miranda for my junior and senior years.  One of their daughters lives in Idaho and the other was napping somewhere else.  

 After visiting the Robertsons we headed straight for the airport to fly to Alabama to visit my sister and her family!   

Here's the kids enjoying a train ride at one of the airports (probably Atlanta).  

More on the Alabama visit next! 

VA Trip- Part 3, Saturday NIght

Here are pictures of the main reason we went to Virginia:

My ten year high school reunion!  

We won a door prize for traveling the farthest!  A size XXL Great Bridge sweat shirt.  Dan is really enjoying it.  :)  *We almost didn't win.  There was a guy flying in from Seattle that missed his flight because he was traveling stand by. 

Fellow flute player, Erica

Lindsay, Nichole, and Gerard

Jordan

Daniel, Courtney, and Megan

Grace, Justin, Erica, and Casey

Shelby and Megan

Paige and Lisa

I really can't explain how much I loved dancing at parties in high school.  I danced all. the. time!  I even practiced dancing in front of my mirror!  Needless to say, I had a BLAST groovin' once again with my peeps!  Dan was happy to take the pictures and video.  

It was a total thrill to be able to see so many friends that had such an influence on my life during those critical high school years.  I love that through FB and blogs it didn't feel like it had been 10 years at all.  Hope to see you all again in another 10! 

VA Trip- Part 2, Saturday Day

My kids have never been to the Atlantic Ocean, so this was our chance.  We headed out to VA Beach and the weather was PERFECT!  Low to mid 80s with a nice breeze.  Silly me, thought that since it was October we wouldn't need sunblock.  Oops!  Benny was the only one who got a little pink on the cheeks.  You'll see in the pictures below it's because he's such a white boy.  

 Chillin'

 Ben wasn't a huge fan of the sand or dipping his toes in the water.  But he still had an ok time.  

 Thanks to the Dudleys, we had great beach toys for digging and attempted castle building.  

 McKenna loved collecting lots of shells too.  

 Look at my manly men with their shirts off.  

 See what I mean about Ben being a whitey.  He kind of blends in with the sand.  :) 

After the beach, we went to visit one my dear high school friends Stephanie.  She was so sweet to make us a kid-friendly lunch and provide as many toys as she could.  She also gave us a cool bowl her M-I-L made and a great pair of jeans that fit me perfectly but are a little too short for her. :)  It was fun to catch up and look at her beautiful wedding and honeymoon pictures and get to know her husband, Jordan.  I was so glad to be able to see her since she wasn't able to attend the actual reunion that night.   

That's my girl with my girl. ;) 

VA Trip- Part 1, Friday

Our little family took a wonderful vacation from Oct 4-11 to my old stomping grounds in Chesapeake,Virginia and then to visit my sister in Alabama.  The main reason for heading back East was for my 10 year high school reunion (more on that later)!! 

If I were to say that airplane rides were difficult, it would be a major understatement!  We packed all the toys, snacks, and electronic devices we could but the bottom line is that little kids are not meant to me cooped up in one place for more than an hour-ish.  I'm trying to forget the plane ride parts of the trip and remember all the other fabulous memories we made.  

This trip was such a big deal to me.  I lived in Chesapeake, VA from 4th grade until I left for college at BYU.  Virginia is still a place I consider "home" even though none of my family lives there anymore.  Every person I knew and every experience I had made a huge impact on my life and helped mold me into what I am today.  That being said, imagine not returning to a place with such significance in your life for 10 years!  Cause that's how my life went.  Since my family moved away after my freshman year of college, I never really had much of an excuse to return.  Granted, many of my dear high school friends and I took very different paths in college, and didn't keep in touch very well, but these were still people I missed and cared about.  

While in VA, we stayed with some good friends, the Dudleys.  I grew up with their youngest daughter, Laura, and we were also freshman year roommates at BYU.  It's very clear the Dudleys are loving being amazing grandparents.  They had so many FUN things to keep our kids occupied and in "new toy" heaven.  

Playing dress up, for example.  

We arrived on a Thursday evening, got settled, and did some grocery shopping.  I don't know if it was something subconscious going on in my mind, but everyone looked familiar to me.  :)  I kept thinking I saw people, friends, friend's parents, and old teachers that I used to know.  I was just soaking everything in and loved everything about being back HOME.  I didn't really even mind the humidity... that much.  

Friday we went to Williamsburg to meet with two of my old BYU roommates.  One lived in Maryland and the other in Richmond.  Thanks again Heather and Mary for making the trek to see us!  

We went to this beautiful wooded park area called Waller Mill Park.  

The kids had a great time playing, but I think Ben was giving us a little "I'm tired" hint.  

 And sure enough, they both crashed within 5 minutes of leaving the park.  

We had to have a little photo shoot though.  

Baby C. S. (turned 1 in July), Baby C. D. (turned 1 in Sept.), and my baby Ben (will be 2 in Jan.)

 Gotta add my big girl too! :)

 The moms with their babes

 Add the daddies!  

 We cleaned up a little after arriving back in Cheapeake and then headed over to the Andrews' house for a delicious dinner!  Bonnie, Joel and their sweet daughter Kate were SO nice to host us and let our kids play with every toy in sight!  McKenna still says playing with the "princess stuff" was her favorite part of the trip! 

All of these friends have had such a great influence in my life and I'm so glad, if even for a brief time, that we were able to reconnect with them.