Home Sweet Home

For Christmas, my parents gave me a trip home at a time of my choosing...I chose last weekend!!  Eli was not able to take any days off from work as he had just gone home a few weeks earlier, so I was alone for the trip.  I lucked out with an easy flight schedule landing late Wednesday night in Charlottesville.  Seth was there to greet me and I was able to spend the night and all day Thursday with Seth, Brittany, and Kylie.  Kylie is just plain cute and I was so lucky to have extra time with her!  She has such a beautiful personality which makes you fall in love instantly.  She is so close to crawling but her new specialties are sitting, walking in a walker, waving, and clapping!!!

Thursday was a beautiful day so we walked the outdoor mall in Charlottesville, ate outside at the Rapture, and grabbed ice cream at Sweet Frog's!  That afternoon Seth and Brittany drove me to Staunton to my folks where my parents, Ron, Jess, Ty and Cody all enjoyed visiting outside.  Ron made great Kabobs on the grill and I got to see great dance moves by the boys!

Friday was a great day as mom took the day off and it was another day in the upper 70s.  We surprised my niece, Madelyn at school and ate lunch with her.  It was so fun because she didn't know we were coming and she about knocked me over with a giant hug.  We also got to visit and eat with Libi which was so fun.  Mom and I finished the afternoon eating at good ol' Klines and shopping.  That evening we met with Dad, Ron and Jess to eat at a new Japanese restaurant in Waynesboro, Osaka.  I highly recommend it!!  That evening we came back and watched UNC play and sat up chatting.

Saturday morning, I went over to the Lovell's for breakfast.  It was so fun to catch up with them and Josh.  The Lovell's have been gluten free for several months, while I have been gluten free for about 3 weeks.  They had me taste-test all their successes which was great as eating gluten free is not the easiest thing I've ever done!!!  We had a great morning.  I left straight from there to spend the afternoon with Ron.  We ate at Shenandoah Pizza which has the BEST gluten free pizza I have ever had (I have tried 2 others that were horrible!!).  That evening Sam, Libi, Maddie, and Charlie came to Mom and Dad's for dinner.  Ron and Jess were in and out as they had a party to attend.  It was so unbelievably fun to play with the kids and catch up with everyone.  I just can't believe how grown up Maddie and Charlie are getting.  Charlie just registered for Kindergarten on Friday and is going to play his first year of T-ball.  He even read us a book after dinner.  There was lots of singing, dancing, and running at lightening fast speeds!!  That evening Mom, Dad, and I stayed up late into the night talking and cherishing our time together before an early morning heading back to Denver.  I got home at a decent time and got to spend some quality time with Eli before beginning another work week!

Now...what was Eli doing?  He did our taxes, made a meal list for the week, went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, bought pretty flowers to decorate, and spent a lot of time with Cyndi.  They were very productive cleaning out her garage and the backyard as it was a beautiful weekend in Denver.  Cyndi made a fancy steak dinner for Eli while they enjoyed each others company and watched a movie.  Sunday, they shopped and ate at Sam's Number 3....so not all bad for the weekend!!!

It was so refreshing to go home and definitely makes me miss it and especially the people there!  With that said, I am really looking forward to our last few months of traveling.  We have a lot of fun things planned out west!!