V

For Thanksgiving we were given the go-ahead by the midwife to head to our Home Away from Home-Nebraska.  It was a much needed VACATION.  We started out our journey at Auntie Laurel's house.  Well actually it's Annie Rose's house and Laurel and Dusty live there:)

Seriously, two cousins playing together does not get much cuter than this!

Russell and I commented how amazing it is that Annie and Aylen can be separated for months and when they are together they know each other right away.  It's some cousin connection that they have and it is JUST SO FUN to watch!

After Annie Rose's house we headed to the country at my LOVELY mother-in-law's house.  This visit was much needed as Gram (her mother, Russell's grandmother) passed away several weeks before.  It was hard not being close to family to give hugs, clean dishes, fix food, etc.  We were able to spend some good quality time giving hugs, loving on Aylen, and most important hanging with family-especially Grandad. 

 Russ even got to show Aylen his stomping grounds behind the house!  Aylen loved all the sticks, the sand and the leaves!

After Grammy's house we WERE completely full from an amazing Thanksgiving dinner and probably one of my favorite meals that my MIL makes-Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. 

And from here we headed to Lincoln.  And for some reason my CAMERA never made it back out of it's bag.  I have zero idea how this happened-so please feel free to weed through my play-by-play:)!

I was experiencing one of these days, which was SEVERELY unfortunate because we had things to do and people to see.  But we managed to see my bestest work friends ever, head to Valentinos to meet my brother, his lady friend, and my BFF ERN! 

From there it was to our awesome friends Candels and Leland for a quick hello-and she presented us with Biscotti's quilt (you can see it here in her blog!)  She is so freakin' talented it is not even funny! 

We then had to pop over to our old house to check it out-and you can't really pop over there...because people are always out and about.  So we stopped over and hung with our neighbors.  They are awesome, and they forgave us for taking the "baby" away from them!  Ahh  good times, and good people!  We jumped over to our friend Cristale's mom's house.  Where we got to hang with our friends and their children!  For some reason I am still amazed when I get together with my friends and witness all of our children running around and playing with each other!  It truly is amazing!  It always leads me into memories of the good ol' days and wow-how cool these good ol' days are now filled with little feet, squeals, and the most amazing little laughs!

We ended our Lincoln trip here and it was up to Omaha we went.  From here, my father-in-law and Barb took amazing care of us.  After a day of being severely uncomfortable I was completely treated like a queen by Barb.  Good food, a big huge bubble bath, ginger tea, the promise (and occurrence the next day) of a desperately needed mani and pedi, and more amazing food!  We were able to have lunch with our friends Hunter and Josh, and then dinner with Russell's cousin and family, and Russell's best friend Scott and his amazing lady Jael. 

And then the night came and went and we were looking at Sunday already.  We sadly and amazingly packed our car (seriously, 3 people and their bags, our dog, a Megan-sized teddy bear, Aylen's car seat, Biscotti's car seat, and enough snacks to tide Aylen and I over at a moments notice=in the prius!)  Before we completely left the state we were able to sneak in a mid-morning snack with my Grandpa.  It was great to see him!

And to Colorado, home, we went.  It was our first trip back to Nebraska for the mere purpose of seeing our friends and family.  (No packing, no selling a house, no busy-work).  Just laughs, naps, and catching up on life!  Ahhh, I feel so blessed!

Love to everyone!
Momma