Trip to Kansas

Well, we spent a long week ( and I mean LOOONG) weekend in Kansas. We went down for my cousin Erin's graduation which was Sunday afternoon. After all these years I still miss Kansas and consider it home, something my husband doesn't understand.

We all stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's so their house was FULL. The four of us, Britt and the twins, Mom, and Wes and Madison. Enough people to keep the kids out of trouble, but I'm sure some of them wished we were somewhere else when our children decided that after being sleep deprived that staying awake all night would also be great fun!

The weather was perfect and Hesston's graduation was nice (short and to the point). Aunt Peg thought that Erin deserved a Hallelujah when they called her name, but we went against our nature and refrained!!! Erin's party was a hit. Aunt Peg spent so much time getting ready (I'm sure Uncle Mike helped to) and the house was beautiful. They just put in a pool in the past few year and added a pool house maybe just last summer. The area is now landscaped and looks like something in a magazine, completely amazing. The girls love their house and, since it was too cold for swimming, spent time playing soccer, barbies, arcade games, and even riding bikes.

It was great to see family and friends. I feel like we miss out on so much with my family. We are all very close and spent most of the day together. Jesse couldn't believe when we first started dating that our holiday gatherings lasted all day, but they do. Hours of playing cards, eating, watching old movies, and visiting. It has always been this way and I love it and miss it so much when we aren't together. Each one of my aunts and uncles and both my Grandma and Grandpa Smith played a huge roll in making me the person that I am. I am thankful for all of them and I am extremely glad that my girls are getting to know them. It is fun to see how all the hard work of their parenting is paying off. My cousins have turned into such wonderful young people and will someday make wonderful wives and husbands and also great moms and dads.

One of the highlight of the weekend was getting to eat at Nuway. For those of you from Wichita I'm sure you understand. I love their sandwiches and homemade onion rings and root beer. We try to eat there when we're down and when I was pregnant I craved it so we definitely ate there before coming home.