Visiting the fam

We just returned Monday night (late!) from a week long trip to the Midwest. We had a great time. There was some stress because we usually do a better job of planning out the family time before we get there. This time we did not. I can make all kinds of excuses - like Lexi and I have bronchitis - but really we just didn't get it done. Of course, now we have motivation to try harder next time because the stress was not fun. But the family time was fun and it all came together in spite of our last minute planning. Our family apparently wants to see us and spend time with us when we are around and we are extremely thankful for that. We love our family and wish we could see them even more and we are feeling fortunate that we got this extra trip in. David had some work training in Omaha so Lexi and I went along. We stayed with some great friends there - Eric & Becky - who have a little boy just 2 weeks older than Lexi (we had the same due date - he came early and Lexi came late!) and are expecting their second. It was great to see them. We also had a chance to see some other friends - Joe & Julie - who were in our Bible study with us right before we moved, David was the best man in their wedding and also Joe's baptism sponsor. We got to have lunch with a good friend - Steve - who also was my boss when I worked at a church in Omaha for a little over a year. Lexi and I got to visit much of the staff at that church while David was at training, as well as spending some time with Becky and her little big guy.

Then we took the road trip to see the fam. Check out the happy cousins!

We had such a great time seeing everyone. We had a big dinner with both sides of our family together and then many other meals with each side of the family. Sharing meals with each other is so special in our families. We always seem to gather around the food! Lexi loved watching and playing with her cousins. It was so great to see her interacting with them. We feel so fortunate to have been able to get together with everyone so much in a few days. We stayed with David's parents a couple nights and then my parents a couple nights and visited my grandmother, who also joined our family dinner. We also got to experience some good old thunderstorms, which we haven't really been in for a while!