food, crochet, merriment
Ok, this is my LEAST favorite thing about roadtrips….
having to say good-bye to a big chunk of my heart.
Ooooh, I’m going to miss this sweet guy…
and his family….SO, so much.
The cousins will miss each other too. It was just all so dang FUN!!
It’s so strange to drive away from these guys who just lived down the road a few months ago. Kind of awful, actually. Feels like we should all be going “home” together.
Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
Good-bye sweet family—I love you!!
After the hike, some of the kids were still wanting more of the rugged outdoor, fend-for-yourself type fun. So Uncle Dane and Aunt Kortney decided to take them FISHING.
I’ve only been fishing once and it was a baaaaaad experience and I was young enough that I should have forgotten it, but of course, I didn’t. I’ll have to tell you about that sometime…later.
ANYway, we went to the local fishing hole and it was wonderful. The bigger kids and Kortney even caught some fish. Not being an enourmous fish or fishing fan, but also not wanting to be left out entirely…
I came along…
and stayed in the car. At least this time, I could see all the action.
As you can see from all the smiles–this was certainly another unforgettable day!
Most of the kids and grown ups were feeling very adventurous today so Dane and Kortney found the perfect place to take a family friendly hike into the local forest.
I say, “most” because it was going to be farther than I could walk, so I opted to stay in the car and mind my own business…meaning…I was going to stare out at a pretty little empty field…
and crochet. It was perfect!!
Here is what the more active folks saw…
Thanks guys for sharing the pictures with me! It was almost like being there …without the hiking.
Heh, heh.
Since you can’t really come to this neck of the woods without finding some dang good food, we hunted out a RIB place called Penguin Ed’s.
No earthly idea what the penguin thing was all about…
but I digress.
After lunch, it was here that we had to say good-bye to April’s family.Â
They made a fast trip here and had to make an even faster trip back home.
Ahhhh…the busy life of a family of soccer players.
We even found a stray cat that came to say…
good-bye.
Safe travels Rosenthals! See you at home.
On the way back from lunch, we took a detour to see Dane’s school.
He showed us where some of his classes are.
The stadium…
the fan store…
the fountain–seriously guys–what is with all the HOGS?!!! Why would you pick that?! Haha.
We even saw the creepy old…
people-who-shall-remain-nameless House Museum.
Museum?! Really?
Blaugh.
It’s always better for this mama heart to be able to picture where my cute, wandering boy is hanging out…
if he’s not going to be with me, that is.
He has his nerve.
Heh.
We woke up to a glorious, HUGE breakfast that Dane made while we were all still sleeping. This guy is awesome.
Next, sacrament meeting with the families.
And, no, I probably shouldn’t be taking pictures during the prayer. But tell me this little guys isn’t the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.
I couldn’t help myself.
Dane taught the Gospel Doctrine class…
and even had the missionaries help.
He is such a good teacher…and SO handsome!
Afterwards the kids came back from their classes and we got ready to go home.
The ladies made us another lovely feast.
Merrick chose to postpone his “birthday” cake until we came to visit, so we gave him our presents too and had a mini birthday party for him.
Then we headed back to church for the whole reason that we came to Arkansas…
Merrick turned eight…
and today was his baptism day!!
So proud of this sweet boy and his family.
Josh did the tech stuff so the folks back home could tune in.
April and Lily…
were in charge of the music.
The Bishop spoke.
I spoke too, but there is no physical evidence. Thank goodness.
What a wonderful day. Congratulations Merrick!
I sure do love these people.