Midwest Trip

Traveling back to the midwest always makes me so happy!  I flew in at the perfect time... the trees were  BEAUTIFUL!!! I hope Maree will get to make future fall trips.. so she can see how beautiful her birthday month really is (Arizona doesn't do it justice!)!

Sara's Bridal Shower
The first weekend I was back I was able to help throw a shower/bachelorette party for my best friend Sara!  It was SO good to see her... Baltimore & Scottsdale are quite far away & the 3 hour time zone difference makes it hard to talk too :(  But, it was great to see her and we had a great time & kept it pretty low key so Sara would be able to actually "talk" to her friends rather than bar hop... I think we are all getting old!!  Here are a few pictures from the big day!

Pedicures to start off the shower

Sara's favorite cupcakes

The "winning team" of toilet paper bridal dress making

The Gallingers
Brett & Tara were nice enough to let Maree and I stay for pretty much an entire week!  Maree had SO much fun playing with her bigger cousins... she changed a lot in the time we got to spend with them!  I can tell she finds me incredibly boring in comparison to Anna & Caylee!!  I also learned from this trip that we apparently need a dog - everyone we went to see had a dog - and Maree LOVED them.

Playing together 

Wrestle time... looks like both Brett & Maree have Anna pinned!

Dance parrrrrty! 

Harlan
I even made it back to my hometown (Harlan) to get some professional pictures taken of Maree - and I was able to get to see my favorite Harlan family.. the Christensens! Now that the "kids" I babysat are all grown and out of town, I somehow picked the right day to be in town because I got to see Nic, Sadie, Rees & Cass!  Makes me feel old thinking that I used to babysit Sadie when she was 4...

Nic, Maree & Rees

Sadie, Maree & Me

Suzy, Maree & me

Missouri Wedding
The final part of our trip concluded with my cousin Tom's wedding! Unfortunately it rained the whole day, but everyone still had a great time!  Little Maree was such a trooper... she had been off on her nap schedule pretty much the whole trip.. so that night she was SO tired, but so lovey/cuddly... all she did was sit on grandpa's lap.

The only kind-of-smile we got out of her that night

She sat like this for 2 hours - loves her Grandpa!

Brett, Mom, Anna & Tara - Love my family!!

Cousins Bobby & Tom 

So tired Daddy... lets go home