Arkansas

Here is a small re-cap of our trip to Aunt Judy's house! Ready?
Here we go on our trip to Arkansas.

First, let me repeat Devin's explanation on how to Aunt Judy's house:
Drive to Arkansas, get off on highway 50, get on a back road, that goes through a little town, take another back road, then another one, then turn onto a graveled road, which takes you to another gravel road, then take the next graveled road, after that take the next dirt road, which takes you down a steep hill and then turn left onto an offroad, keep going till the next mud road, then go through a gate, then a driveway, which is finally Aunt Judy's house! :)

Not many things speak relaxation like a big wrap around porch.

We did a lot of front porch sittin'

And it felt so good.

We love Aunt Judy's laugh :)

When we got there, I asked Aunt Judy how she kept her hard wood floors so clean,
then I met the rest of the family!

FRED didn't make it into the group picture, and I'm positive
he would be upset about that if he knew he was the only one left out.
Sorry Fred.

Cache and Naomi, loved all the dogs.
Old Joe was the cutest and would just lay or sit near the person holding the baby, and give a little growl to any puppies that dare try to come check out the baby. This job had it's perks though.
Naomi had a blast throwing her food to the dogs at meal time.

Cache made himself right at home. He didn't even wake us up in the morning, instead he would make his way to the basement, saddle up on the couch with the dogs and uncle Mike, shmooze Uncle Mike into find the coolest cartoons on t.v. and get Aunt Judy to feed him breakfast. He could have cared less if he even had parents. Infact, he acted very annoyed by the time we did wake up and started demanding things from him, like getting dressed and using the bathroom ect.

We went to check on Cache to make sure he was asleep, and found something that made us smile:

That is exactly what my brother Ben and I would do at my grandma's house when we slept
there. Calvin and Hobbs and Garfield by flashlight....

Now we can all take a deep breath, the good old days aren't' gone yet completely!

Highlights of the trip:

1. The Look on Devin's face after waking up while I was taking my shift on driving and seeing the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign. Whoops.

2. Going through Aunt Judy's hope chest, that belonged to her mother.(Devin's grandmother)

Inside I saw amazing old pictures and letters and dresses and nightgowns from Devin's grandmother. I loved this, because this is part of my children's heritage, and so now part of mine. I even got to read a letter that was around 200 years old! Also see a picture of Aunt Judy as a baby all dressed up for the Pendleton round-up! This was definitely the highlight of the whole trip for me. I only got to go through about half of it too.. so we need to return and finish the job.

3. The peace and QUIET. If it wasn't for the crickets, it would have been DEAD, silent. More silent than I may have ever heard in my life. And I grew up in the country!
4. Eating at the Outback, which has now been established as tradition with Aunt Judy and Uncle Mike.
5. Seeing the University of Arkansas sport's facilities, was Devin's fave. It really was incredibly fancy and huge.

6. Aunt Judy's lemon sponge cake.
7. Seeing sights like this right next to main street!:

The whole town, came out to fish, right in the middle of town. All lined up,
little kids and all, each with their own pole.I've never seen that before in town.

Then we headed home

You know it really is a bit of a different country over here compared to the West. I've actually gotten a bit use to it. But every once in awhile, I'll see things, and think:

"You know, this really isn't a normal thing to see everyday."

It was a wonderful trip. It rained solid the entire 6 hours home. Really! I didn't mind, I LOVE the rain. It was so nice to be with family and feel like we could take a deep breath from living in the city and let Cache roam free! It was just a feel good trip in one of the prettiest places in the country and I hope we get to go back before we move.
Thank you Uncle Mike and Aunt Judy for showing us such a good time!