Girl Time!

On our way home to Kansas City from hanging out with all the 325 guys and wives, Lauren followed us up for a little girl's reunion. Lauren stayed at our house, while Allison and Jessica stayed with Katherine. Allison and Jessica are in the middle of a cross-country road trip and made a stop in KC. When Lauren heard, she headed up too! I was able to get off of work at noon on Monday and we had a fun afternoon shopping around and just being together. On Monday night we all went and ate sushi followed by yummy fondue (sp?) for dessert. It was WONDERFUL to hang out with the girls and it felt like we hadn't missed a beat since graduation. We talked about old Pi Phi stuff and just about everything that we could think of. One of the most fun topics of conversation was Lauren's coming due date! We are all very excited to meet Parker. The rest of the week was uneventful. On Friday night we went to the outdoor theater in Shawnee-Mission Park and saw "The Wedding Singer." We packed up our chairs, a cooler, and blanket and had a great time. We were surprised that it was an actual play and that there were probably 500 people there. On Saturday morning we rode our bikes all over town and just enjoyed the beautiful/cool weather. On Saturday night we had our dinners for eight group at Liz and Dylan's house. Very very fun. Today (Monday) I started doing my new job at Barstow. I'm now team teaching in a class called fun factor and get to sit at the pool in the afternoon leading a class called "swim club." It's abig change from working with the preschoolers, but I'm glad for the change.



Best friends united in Kansas City!



Just because Lauren's having a baby, doesn't mean we aren't still crazy.

"Everybody Say Paycheck!"

We had a wonderful time with our friends this weekend in Arkansas.  We came down on Friday after work and went over to Nick and Caroline Rhoad's house.  Austin and Emily Bell as well as Matt, Becky and Jack Leis were already over there when we arrived.  Caroline had made some great food and we spent the night reminiscing over the good old college days.  Jack slept while we were outside on the patio.  Saturday morning, we woke up to a fantastic breakfast casserole made from scratch by Caroline.  Eric and Ashley Sullivan came around 9 that morning and we were off to Hickory Creek Marina on Beaver Lake.  We rented a classy 20" party barge for the day and it met all of our expectations for sure.  Despite its slight wind and collision damage, the Trinidad 200 was a cruising vessel.  After we brushed the dog hair off the seats from the owner's dog Molly, we went out on to the lake to find a good cove to swim in.  It was a great day just hanging out.  We grilled out Saturday night and Emily made some great brownies for us.  The next day, we played golf in the morning and ate at Acambaro for lunch.  Rachel and I had our palates set for some NWA mexican food.  

It was so much fun being together with our great friends.  We were grateful to find a weekend that we could all get together and we think it will for sure be a yearly summer tradition.

Nice dogtag Nick.

This is the closest to a group picture that we took.  We tried to ask a guy at the Marina, who told us to say "paycheck" when he took the picture.  It didn't turn out to well, and he refused to take another picture. 

Caroline was obviously not looking as Nick was applying some lotions

"Live, from Lake Ouachita...it's the 4th of July!"

Sorry we took so long to post! For the 4th we were able to go down to the lake on Thursday night (since we both had Friday the 3rd off of work). On Friday we went out onto the lake and explored parts that Dad hasn't seen in 30 years. We went up to the dam, Iron's Fork, and the Highway 27 fishing village. I think we really tested Dad's lake memory...but he passed with flying colors. On Saturday we spent the whole day on the water again and did a lot of bobbing. The fireworks were Saturday night and we tied up with Benson and his neighbor. :) The fireworks were of course wonderful and Mom brought ice cream and brownies out onto the boat! That was a real treat and definitely something new. During the fireworks we got to listen to wonderful songs like, "Arkansas, you run deep in me." Classic. On Sunday we lounged around and went to eat lunch at one of the best places in the world...Shangri La. It was such a wonderful weekend!