friends that go WAY back are the best

that's one heated baby soldier

a stop in the gift shop relieved us from the heat

Chloe.....finding a way to participate in the Kodak moment. :)

Dave was so good, he was careful to tell the kids "now don't step on the letters kids"

This was special to see Dave teaching his son James about what he was seeing. Obviously he got the importance much more then the little ones and I could tell it was a sweet moment for Dave to share with his son.

Well we had a wonderful time w/ some Army friends of ours who were in to visit this week. They are a part of our 'how we met' story so they'll always have a special place in our hearts. 10 yrs ago when I met Deana she was friends with a nurse from her unit who was from

South Dakota of all places. Dee was from another state and the 2 girls hit it off. Brian was stationed at Ft. Bragg at the time w/ a buddy from Conneticut who'd been his friend since they were stationed in Alaska together fresh out of basic. Brian would come up to visit his family on the weekends bringing his buddy Dave. The 4 of them hung out and Brandy and Dave struck up a friendship and eventually fell in love. Then enter me. I met Deana and Brandy at church, struck up a friendship and then up comes Brian for a visit. And well, the rest is history. Brandy and I were always trailing down to Bragg to visit the soldiers. Eventually Brandy and Dave married and they gave me a house to stay at while Brian and I dated in Fayetnam. We were all around each other as we met and fell in love w/ our spouses. So they're special friends. No secrets kind of friends, the best kind I say. Dave is still active duty and we see them whenever they are moving again to a new duty station, most recently on their way to Kentucky. Their boys and our girls get along wonderfully. It's so fun to see generation #2 of the friendships. I love the kinds of friends you just pick up where you left off with. Even though we only see them every few years it's never a struggle to talk or enjoy each other. We had a fun 3 days playing around. Brian was happy to have the time off to actually really be together with them. We went to the county rec center/water park one day. (I'll post pictures later when I get them), and one day we went to the D Day Memorial. May seem like a somber place to take 4 young kids but not for these 2 soldiers. We aren't hiding our history to our children. They know full well about sacrifice and dedication that soldiers face with their families. The kids did so well. They were respectful (albeit very hot and a little grumpy) and sensed the seriousness of the visit. I was so proud of all 4 of them. Not once did they take off and be silly and disturb any of the other visitors, and we were there for at least an hour. It was a great visit. We may need to venture down to Kentucky for a visit at their new place. Abigail was so smitten with "dose boys", I don't think she wants to wait 2 more years either. :)

15 year reunion..

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I can't believe it's been 15 years since I was in the good old world of high school. Those were special days for sure and I realized how much I care about these people. A lot of them I have known since 4th grade. Especially my Amanda, she's family. It was a great day to be reunited w/ some old friends and find up where everyone had settled and how they've all grown up. It was a blast to see all of the children. It was surreal really to see people I still thought of as children , which is where we all left off in life, to now all of then are parents. It was a blazing hot day but God was good and gave us a good place to hang out in the shade all afternoon. Who knows when I'll see most of these folks again, but I'm glad for the new memories of a great day.

Ben's eleven!!!!!

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Had an awesome time w/ the Tates tonight. We headed out for a birthday party for Ben who's 11 and I'm NOT over it. How did that little kid wind up being 11 this year. Man he's growing up too fast. We had a great time grilling out and enjoying some family time. Unfortunately I had to sneak away for a good while to feed Chloe and let her cat nap so I missed the cake and gifts part of the evening. It's ok, we all had a fun night together celebrating Ben Tate.