Missouri Trip Spring 2014

Trying to catch up today on the blog! After the baby was born we were lucky to have Mark home for another two weeks...I honestly can't remember much at all now from that...probably not too much to remember really....just a lot of time spent at home with the new baby! It was great. We were able to have the baby blessing before he left though which was good! She looked so adorable in Evelyn's blessing dress! Mark's parents were able to come up for that and my mom, niece Sierra, and her little boy Sawyer arrived the day before too. (They stayed with me after Mark left.)

 On March 25th Mark unfortunately had to leave! :( It always sucks to have him leave but it was nice to actually have this deployment start! We've known about it for so long (almost a year before it happened) so it felt like forever til it came but thank goodness it's begun! Now just counting down til it's over! :) We did take a couple family pics, courtesy of my niece Sierra, before Mark left.

After Mark left we spent some time here at home with my Mom, Sierra, and Sawyer...we didn't really do much cuz 1)not much to do here, and 2)there's not much to do with 4 littles including a newbie! :) We did take the kids to the jump house place one day and the beach another but that's pretty much it. We were all talking one night though and made a last minute decision for me to drive back with them to Missouri and stay for a few weeks! So we spent a few days getting everything in order to do that and a week after Mark left we started the drive! We drove it in two days, which was crazy, but we did it and survived!

I took a few pics of Sierra and Sawyer at the beach when we went :)

Sawyer meeting teh Easter Bunny....Evelyn wouldn't go near him but Sawyer wouldn't leave him! :)

two little trouble makers!

First trip to the beach!

Some of the fun weather we had to drive through....yuck!

The trip home was fairly uneventful...or at least just the normal chaos that is involved in going home :) We spent a lot of time with the family, which the kids loved...well at least Evelyn loved it...she played all day with her cousins like every day we were there. Andrew had a bit harder time of it all...the new baby, Mark leaving, and us going somewhere new was all a bit too much for him. He was starting to be a little rough before we left but while we were there was definitely acting out there...mostly pushing around other kids and pulling Evelyn's and Elizabeth's hair...super fun...(he's gotten better since we got home though thank goodness but still working on him).

One other good thing about us going home was I got to see some of my amazing friends! I was able to see my good friend Jeanie and meet her little 4 month daughter, who is so adorable! Next I saw my good friend Shauna in KC, who is expecting her first baby, a little girl, which is super exciting! We got some good KC BBQ and had fun with the kiddos. It was great! I also saw Rori and Cheryl one day...we got pedicures and had dinner and talked....man I do miss these girls when I'm gone!

Lastly I got to see my bestest friend Sarah, who I was not expecting to see but she came to Missouri on a kind of last minute trip too so I was SUPER excited that the universe aligned and we were there at the same time! :) Anyway, she had a little girl in January so I was able to meet her too! Our little girls are already besties ;)

baby besties! 

and my bestie! :)

I took a few pics of Miss Olive when she visited me on Easter :)

Our last day in Missouri was Easter so here's some pics from that! (Carmen stole my camera for the day so all of these were taken by her...she should move out here and become my second shooter ;)

Love my Momma and Daddy!

Super cute lil' momma here! 

adorable :)

best Easter dinner! Smoked Ribs!

I didn't get to do any photo sessions at home like I wanted, didn't try too hard anyway...except for some pics for the family! So here's a couple from that...

Beautiful Brinlee!

Super gorgeous Jerica :)

The Rivas'

The Combs'

It was really nice to go home and see all the fam and my friends, but I was really glad to go home! Being out of our normal environment and routine is hard, especially with three kiddos! My dear little niece Carmen (who is 17 now...holy cow! all my nieces and nephews are growing up so fast!) drove home with me, thank goodness! We took our time going back though....we drove outside of Nashville the first night and stayed at another friends house, Robin, who I've known since 2nd grade and is actually married to Sarah's brother. We went out to dinner and watched Mean Girls so super good night there :) The next day we drove the short drive to Nashville and took the kids to the zoo for the morning, which was fun. It was a beautiful day for the zoo and a nice stop to get out! After that we drove another short drive to Huntsville to Micheal and Jessica's! We were too close not to stop by :) We stayed there two nights and enjoyed some time hanging out with them. Then we drove the last stretch in one day...which wasn't too bad but the kids were definitely starting to lose their patience for the car, especially the baby! :( She was so good in the car before the trip and on the way to Missouri but really started to dislike the car on the way home and even now doesn't like it much. :( :( :(

Robin's little girl, Jocelyn (who was born on my bday!) and Evelyn! They were instant BFF's!

at the zoo!

I think Evelyn slept more than Andrew in the car!

Carmen was only able to stay with us for a week, which sucked! I wish she could have stayed longer!!! I've been doing ok on my own this past week but it's super nice to have another pair of hands and eyes around! She is such a sweet, spunky, fun girl and I love her! :) So proud of all my nieces and nephews and love seeing them grow up into adults! Weird, but wonderful. :)