trip to VA

we got home from indiana and soon turned around and hit the road again. to VA we were headed to visit our family and close friends. my apologies to those we were unable to see. when you live out of state you have very little time and very many to see on visits.

one of our first visits was to grandma and grandaddy's house. they hadn't seen olive in so long!

they were so impressed how she ate! bologna, green beans, my cheese sandwich. she will eat as long as you give it to her and they loved that!

olive got to play with their stuffed animals....

and be cheered on when she put the cap on the bottle over and over again. she thought they were pretty special. just as we do!

olive got time with her grandma moo. here she is playing cars with her in the floor. she would zoom the floors across the floor and smile so big when they would crash into something.

playing with her hair clip.

i mean, this is pretty cool.

moo has great window doors too!

we got to have lunch with jeannine and steph at one of us girl's old time hangouts- friendly's.

jeannine brought jake. it was the first time we had seen each other's little ones.

olive got to take it all in at then end of the table while eating chicken and apple sauce.

olive and jake.

me, steph and bean. it was so great to see them. i really do love those girls and it had been so long since seeing them last!

time to go home for a nap.

then we went to the studio to see the gang.

it was awesome to see them too! great to be with friends. and we got to meet laura and the kids for the first time. they were all so sweet- a perfect match for jason!

miss patti loves kids! and we knew olive would love her.

she was shy in the beginning. but it didn't take long for olive to warm up.

looking at photo books together. what a great visit. we sure do miss those buttrams/brooks.

the campbells came in for a visit while we were there and it was so wonderful to see them! here is noah helping daniel with the eggs for breakfast.

noah loved clover's leash.

it was great seeing chad. we hadn't seen him since before i was pregnant!

dad's clothes make the best outfits.

beth looked gorgeous! paxton is growing every day.

i am so proud of her progress. noah thinks it is pretty special too!

this day we met the whole williams side for lunch. of course i forgot my camera on such a big event. but some of the others had cameras so that is good. grandaddy said it was the first time he had all his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all in one room. that is very special.

noah and his dad sharing a moment.

noah was fascinated by the stroller and wanted to take everything and everybody for a ride. here he is pushing olive.

moo let olive play with a breast cancer awareness bracelet and olive thought she had struck gold. she took that thing everywhere.

here she is putting it on her foot.

theresa sent us this little cradle for olive and a doll. it was so kind of her! noah thought it must have been for his naps.

here we are at grandma wood's house. and olive is playing with her stuffed animals.

it was so amazing to see grandma wood. she is doing great and looks beautiful. it was a short visit. but well worth the noah and olive wrangling and travel to make it happen.

one morning us girls went out together and the boys watched the kids. olive to that point had not let anyone hold her. (we know now because she was feeling bad and was very sensitive). when we came home daniel showed us this picture. chad said "we are doing this" and just picked her up and she was fine. victory! one point chad.

sarah and brad came over with belle. they are such a precious little family. and belle is just as adorable in person as she is in her pictures.

all the ladies.

it was neat having belle and olive play together. and so great to catch up with sarah and brad. they are doing so good- we are all so proud of them as parents!

going to the pool in the bathing suit moo got her.

olive wasn't so sure about the pool thing.

but i eventually got her to wade in with me just a bit. that was good for her.

noah loved the pool. well mainly loved throwing things to his mom while she was in the pool. but he had a blast!

before going out to dinner one night.

spending time with beth and chad and noah was wonderful! it was so long since we had seen them last and so fun laughing with them.

then we went out to the graham's. we got to meet the new fluff red.

olive got to have fun at gram's play table.

we all got outside while eldin played in the pool.

he had grown so much we couldn't believe it. such a little man!

and boy did he love his pool!

olive wasn't feeling well. we would soon find out she had a double ear infection on top of teething. she was trying her best to be a good sport. but it is hard when you feel so rotten.

so sleepy.

the dogs love the pool too. look at mercy cooling off. so cute!

daniel made eldin a road for his cars out of masking tape.

abbie and tony soon arrived. it was great to visit with them. we hadn't seen tony since eldin had just been born. a very very long time. they were looking great and abbie is doing wonderfully growing her next son ellis.

mercy says she doesn't know about all this, she just wants to nap on the road.

daniel having time to chat with his dad.

we all got to go to mary's candy and get some chocolate. yum! such a fun thing to do.

eldin thought it was a GREAT idea!

since olive didn't get chocolate gram and cappy told her she could get an animal. she knew exactly which one she wanted, passing over other little creatures and smiling so wide when she saw this one.

it is a lemur we named leroy. she loves him. not as much as lilly but a very close second. when we got back home a close and long-time family friend judy was there. she came for a visit and to see everyone.

abbie wanted a haircut so i gave her one that hopefully will be a little less hot and more manageable for a mother of two.

and she looked SO gorgeous. i know she wasn't used to not having long hair but she looked so beautiful. i hope it goes to show her how pretty she is at whatever length of hair!

then judy said she would like to try short hair. so i said step right up!

and how beautiful does she look too! so fresh and young!

then we didn't want to leave gram out. she said for me to do whatever which is always super fun to hear!

and how young and sassy does she look?

the whole fam! such a blessing that we could all be in one place at one time!

then cappy wanted to get a picture of me with my newly styled ladies.

oh poor olive. you can see how badly she feels. at this point she has gotten a rash all over her body from the antibiotic. bless her little heart. such a trooper.

eldin's haircut. yep, i got him too. he looks so cute with it!

gram figured out one trick about holding olive. it works if me and daniel aren't in sight. so we tried that and she got some real good time with olive.

gram reading to the kids.

olive thought the dogs were amazing. she especially liked red.

she thought he was one big fluff of a puppy.

gram got some real fun time with olive around the play table.

they giggled and had a great time!

it was so special seeing the two of them together!

olive is getting ready to go.

we had such a great time at the graham's. it was great to talk and laugh with all of them and to see the bowicks after such a long time! always good spending time with family!

on this day daniel got to go to commute into dc with his dad. he had breakfast and spent the morning with his friend micah then went to the national mall and galleries with john in the afternoon. they had the best time. meanwhile i had olive back at mom's just trying to give her some peace and rest. she felt so bad and at this point her antibiotic had also given her a terrible diaper rash. it was quite taxing on her as well as me. grandma and grandaddy came by while she was napping to see hello once more before we left. it was so great to see them and have them assure me that olive would be fine. i sure do love them a lot.

we decided to cut our trip short and get her home which meant we wouldn't be able to go to my dad's like planned. so i had him meet me and olive for lunch. it was wonderful to get a little time with him and have a lunch date like old times.

we didn't get much time but i cherished what i did get with dad and hoped he understood me having to get olive home to heal.

here we are on our way home. we had to stop and get lunch. we brought a picnic blanket for the road and had so much fun getting out of the car and eating in the fresh air.

we will be home soon little one.