North Carolina Fun

After my northern travels, I hopped on down to the great NC to visit family in Charlotte. It was a blast and a half!

Kaleb, otherwise known as K-boy, K's, and K1, is getting so big! He's grown so much since last summer. It really stinks that we live so far away from them. Kaleb is hitting the 2's and is showing great promise of being a little imp! His food always finds the floor and there's always a twinkle in his eye right before it leaves his little fist. A time out chair has made it's way into the house and I can't imagine how hard it is to keep a serious face while holding him into it while he's giggling away, oblivious to the fact that it's a punishment!

Kambrie, also known as K2 (I'm sure there's some other nicknames in the works) is just so darling! She's a good baby and loves to be held, which worked out well for me! We made many rounds around the downstairs while I was babysitting, just walking in circles. But when the girl wants to be heard, she let's you know she wants something! Hmm... Seems like she'll fit in perfectly with all of her other cousins on this side! 

Kambrie, A. Jules, Lydia (Kaleb's favorite babysitter), and I skipped down to the Gaffney Outlets in South Carolina for an afternoon. We carted our loads around the place and then hit up Olive Garden for supper. Our poor waitress was overloaded with tables because someone had quit on the spot. We cut her some slack and had a lot of fun with her and in return, we got double the amount of mints! Yum!

A trip down south is not complete without frozen yogurt! So U. Keith and I ran out with Kambrie to get some yummy-ness while A. Julie put Kaleb to bed. Turns out the fro-yo place had closed so we had to hunt down another place! Man was it a delicious late-night snack!

I left at 7ish on a Tuesday night and so we spent the day at some of the friends' pool. Got some sun and was able to spend some time with K1 and K2. Kaleb was so stinkin' tired but didn't want to leave the pool. He just about fell asleep sideways in his floatie! What a lil fish! And Kambrie had her first pool experience. She was so good and didn't seem to mind the water. I was laying on the chair in the shade with Kambrie on my chest and I had to make my mother jealous: 

I think I succeeded! Here's some pics:

It was an awesome trip and I can't wait until Turkey Day to see them all again!

My Happy Moment

Do you have one moment in your life that you look back on, where life was perfect? No worries, no troubles, and all was right in the world? I've always had good moments to look back on, but I can officially say I have that one moment that really completes my life. 

This moment happened to take place on a seemingly endless road in Minnesota. I was driving a white lifted truck towards the vanishing point on the horizon with the late-afternoon sun shining down on us. With shades on my face, coffee in one hand and the other arm on the wheel, the burning orange ball of fire sank lower and lower, but never quite disappeared, giving us hope that the day would never end. Wide open fields flashed by on either side as we covered the miles, one hay field at a time. As the time slipped away, four friends, some old and some new, belted out the words to the old country music slipping up from the speakers as if we were responsible for keeping the song going. Time didn't matter, destination was no longer important, and the impending good-bye was the farthest thing from anyone's mind. THAT... is my moment. The moment I knew that the future holds bright things. The moment I realized that its not so much the destination, but the trip. The moment that nothing mattered except for living, truly living. That is the moment that I realized I was about to have a long relationship with the Midwest. So friends, with my words marked, here's to the beginning of something great!