A quick Cagle visit!

The passing of my grandfather has allowed me to reconnect with several of my distant cousins on grandaddys side. This past weekend, Allen and his family came and stayed with us for an evening. It was so good getting to see them, meet the rest of his family, and watch our kids play together!

We discovered, Allen and I are first cousins once removed. And our children are second cousins once removed. That discovery came after much studying of charts on the internet between Allen and Matt. We've decided to drop all the removed junk from our titles, and just call ourselves "cousins."  :)

All good things.

All good things must come to an end. And with this crazy non stop raining we've decide to go back to Marion a day early (tomorrow). But we are so thankful for all we've experienced this week as a family. And incredibly thankful that my uncle and aunt let us stay at this place that means so much to me. Taking a moment - or 5 days - to let the world quiet down and just love on your people. It's the greatest blessing. What an amazing summer we have had. 

We played in Unicoi state park. 

Ella took a picture by a bear. 

We saw the coolest, most intricate train display. Luke's favorite thing. 

Papa treated us to dinner and some good old fashioned spoiling. 

Mom and I hit the outlets!

We hiked to Anna ruby falls and there wasn't too much complaining!

We took the kids bowling for the first time ever. 

Matt wore this hat. 

Luke kept it real. 

The waitress gave me a coke with my name on it!

Vacation.

I feel like I have had perma-grin for days now. We have had the amazing opportunity to spend some time in the Georgia mountains- at the same place I vacationed as a child. For a person as sentimental as I am, this is a little bit of heaven. Watching my kids play in the same creeks and lakes I did. The absolute thrill of watching Ella pick out a new baby at Babyland.  Eating fantastic food at some of our favorite restaurants from way back when. 

And unplugging from technology, wifi, work, craziness. Sitting still and playing with our kids. Watching movies during rest time.  Sleeping in (hallelujah). 

This vacation might be the best one we've ever had. And it's not over yet.  

Birthday with friends

I like to celebrate my birthday for as long as possible. As I'm getting older, only a small part of me thinks it's getting ridiculous. The bigger part says -let's do it!  My ladies- my girls... We were brought together last fall to dive into a Francis Chan study and God has used it to grow us spiritually- and has knitted together some amazing friendships too. 

Last night we went to a real restaurant. You know, the kind with cloth napkins, a menu with words I had to google to make sure I wasn't eating something weird. My ladies lavished me with gifts and the most amazing Nutella cream cheese pie on the planet (Sarah d is a true baker). It was such a perfect ending to my birthday week!