A Perfect Day

This day had it all. We woke up on Saturday at my mom and dad's in Carthage. We knew we didn't have all day to play as we needed to get on the road and head back to home in KC but it did give us time to have breakfast with everyone--including my brother, Zack, his wife Lindsey and their little girl Miss Maddie, even though we had spent most of the evening before with them. Hey, when we are in town we try to fit as much family time in as we can. Can you blame us?

After breakfast came the hard part. Saying good-bye. I had given Leah a few hugs here and there leading up to our good-bye because I didn't want to break down on our last good-bye hug but it didn't matter how many I gave the girl, I still broke down. Having her with us for the past three weeks was seamless, it felt so good & we were just so sad to see her leave. She has such a wonderful heart and her love for Jesus is never ending. She will continue to grow into a wonderful young lady and will do great things in this world. 

As we said our good-byes (and yes, Logan wore the same clothes for two days straight--he didn't want to change. I didn't want to fight it.) I hugged her first and then made my rounds and hugged her again as I climbed into the Yukon. As I was pulling away I looked back and saw my dad pulling Leah in tight for a hug as she wiped tears from her eyes and then I lost it too. Those three weeks flew by way too fast...

We then came home to Justin smoking some meat on his new BBQ smoker---name is still being decided on & went straight inside to put on our swimsuits and to unpack a little and headed to the pool where we spent the next few hours. The boys took turns jumping in, diving down for dive sticks, and splashing each other---the laughter was good to hear. 

We headed back to the house around 5 where Justin had his masterpieces waiting for us. Soon after the Walshes joined us and once dinner was done, Jake brought out the fireworks. There were a few shrieks of excitement as they each quickly huddled around him and patiently waited their turn. It didn't take long before we ran out of fireworks but it took no time for them to find something else to entertain them.

First up, the truck & chasing Kaden around the cul-de-sac. Luckily for us, the 17 year cicadas had died or returned to where they came from and we could actually carry on conversations. 

Once the sun started to go down we moved the party to the backyard where the lighting bugs were starting to glow. The boys---along with Jennifer, Becky and I---chased those little bugs around the backyard capturing as many as we could.

One look at these boys and all I could think about was how joyful they were. Pure joy just seeping out of every ounce of their body. And how they are destined to best friends forever---it makes my heart swell.

 

Bedtimes---what are those? They weren't even thought about because we would've been crazy to interrupt the fun that was going. But, when the time came, it was lights out & quickly too. I barely had a chance to run downstairs, lock all the doors and make my way back up before they were all snoozing away. Colton was so tired he was asleep backwards in bed, feet on the pillow and no covers, had a hard time reaching him since he was on the top bunk but I got him tucked in all snug. 

Like I said, the perfect day. We got to see both of our families in the same day---not sure when the last time that happened was---and we got to hang out with some of our very best friends and enjoy a beautiful evening. This is what life is about.