Mike's 60th Birthday Weekend

This weekend we headed to Little Rock to celebrate Mike's 60th birthday (which is actually today). I had a half day on Friday and David didn't schedule a patient, so we actually made it home to eat dinner with Mike, Kathy, John, Sarah, and Shepherd at Bravo (which is new to Little Rock). It was so nice to get into town at a reasonable time. On Saturday morning, I was able to take an alumni tour of my highschool. Because it was homecoming weekend, PA (Pulaski Academy) had some alumni events. Ironically, I was the most recent alum on the tour (2004 grad) while my dad, who was with me, was the "oldest" alum on the tour (1977). Everyone thought it was "so cute." For lunch we got to enjoy sitting outside on the patio and talking in the great weather. Shepherd, our nearly perfect nephew was in attendance and cuter than ever.

He's almost 8 months old, and really starting to show his personality.

Getting in some Gram and Grandpa time...

Sarah and I...

The sound of the pond was so nice that Shepherd had no choice but to fall asleep in Grandpa's lap.

We also got to meet up with our good friends Austin and Emily Bell for about an hour on Saturday (sorry, no pictures). So great to see them though. They are now in Memphis where Austin is doing his opthamology residency.

To REALLY celebrate Mike's big day, we went and had a dinner party at a Rainwater family favorite, Brave New Restaurant. Brave New Restaurant is actually where David and I held our rehearsal dinner when we got married. There were lots of people there to celebrate Mike and the weather was perfect.

Mike, Ben, and David.

David and I with the barely visible Little Rock "skyline" in the background.

Look to the right at dinner and you see downtown...

...look to the left and it's a beautiful nature view.

Mike and Kathy.

Action shot of dinner.

The whole dinner was just fantastic and lots of people were there, including my own parents. John made a great toast to his Dad, mentioning some of the things that they (the boys) appreciate about him. One of Mike's qualities that was mentioned was his willingness to support and guide his sons no matter what. He is also a researcher, and will commit himself to truly learning what needs to be learned; whether that is law information, farming stuff, or research on what his kids are interested in. And of course, John mentioned how Mike has set a great example of how a man is to love his wife and has spiritually led their family always.

On Sunday we went to church and visited the "young/singles" class that my parents teach. We're not single, but at least we're young! Hearing Dad teach was awesome and it made me feel so proud. John sang a duet in the second service. We haven't heard him sing in a while and he did fantastic. We grabbed a quick lunch after church at Senior Tequila, where the hostess, who we did not know, asked us how church had been and what the sermon had been about...small town Little Rock charm. :) It was really hard to leave this time, probably just because the family time was so sweetly spent.

It's hard to describe how time in Little Rock is for David and I. BOTH of our families are there, and have always been there. We have gone to the same church our whole lives, so going and see everyone at church is like seeing all of the other people who helped raise us. Both times we went out to eat we saw someone that we knew. Maybe I should have titled this post, "Blessings, Part 2."

We are glad to be back in Kansas City and getting back into routine. This was the last weekend that we will travel for a couple weeks, so we're looking forward to some time together at home. The weather has turned cold and it really seems like fall! Time to go make some apple cider!