There's no place like home....

In mid-May the girls and I took off to spend a long weekend @ Mom and Dads. We rarely go home just to go home. Usually every minute of every day is planned and busy, since we try to fit in as much as we can while we are there. This time we had NO plans other than to visit and have fun! :)
My uncle re-did this storage barn in Mom and Dad's yard and turned it into a real life doll house for the girls! It's so awesome. He put flooring in and plexiglass windows so that they can't get knocked out if the big boys are playing baseball back there. He put in the doors and Mom and Timmie painted it. The girls LOVE it and have big plans to sleep out there the next time we are home!

The girls also both got new bikes to keep @ Nanny and Papaws!
Down at the creek with Papaw!
They had to pick flowers out of Nanny's yard to put in their house! :)
That Saturday morning I got up and went out to run in Ken Oppel's Memorial 5K. It was so nice to see some old, familiar faces and the race was great. I hope it continues to grow more and more each year. I am sure it will. After the race we just played around the house and then I drove up to the outlet malls in Edinburg for a little shopping. When I got home we played some more, the girls helped Dad and Uncle Danny plant the garden and we went to visit Grandma Jewell!

My silly girls in some of my old dance costumes! :)
Sunday morning we visited with Grandma Lee and had a fun girls morning. That afternoon Jessi and her boys came to see us on their way out of town! Such sweet boys!!
That night we went out to see Tonya and all of her boys, and new baby Callen! And, Katherine was there!

Wild kiddos!
I wasted no time getting my hands on the baby! :)
And, the girls had to have a turn, too! (Abby looks like such a big girl in this picture!)

All the kiddos! With all these sweet boys of Tonya and Jessi's, I am bound to marry at least one of the girls off to one of them! ha! :)
That Monday morning we met Scott and more family and Holiday World and had a BLAST...we shut the park down (pics to come soon). Overall, this was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. There is just something so special about friends that never change and being with people that know you and love you. No matter how long in between visits, they are always the same dear, loving friends they have been since we were all kids in grade school. I cherish every minute I get to spend with them. That is the one thing I miss so much about living here...no one knows us, no one knew me as a child or teenager, they don't know my parents and family, we are always explaining who we are and why we moved here. This isn't a melting pot area...most people around here were born and raised here and so were the last 5+ generations of their family, so when there is a new family in town, everyone knows we are not from here! ha! Don't get me wrong, we have met some AMAZING people here and I have some fantastic friends that I love dearly, but I just miss being home sometimes (okay, I miss it all the time-ha!). I'm sure we always will.