A Keene Surprise

So three days after my return from Mexico, I headed out on a jet plane once more. My mom, sister Sharon, brother-in-law Greg and I had been planning a surprise visit to my sister Michelle for her 30th birthday. Michelle and Greg moved to New Hampshire a little over a year ago and it's been hard not to have her close in the Midwest anymore.

My mom, Sharon and I drove to a Target in their hometown and Greg brought Michelle there to go shopping. We called her in turn on our cell phones and were rewarded with a very shocked and stunned reaction.

We had a great four-day weekend being shown around their quaint hometown of Keene, NH.


I got to see their house for the first time and fell in love with the quiet garden retreat they have created in the backyard.



We also got to help Michelle begin her baby registry, which was actually a lot of fun!


I loved the gorgeous mountain views, which are my favorite kind of scenery.


It was a perfect weekend, and I hated to leave. :-( Happy Birthday Michelle! I love you, lil sista!

Crop - Paper - Scissors

This past weekend was a special treat for me. I got to spend it with four of my best friends, doing one of my favorite things - scrapbooking!
Kristi, Dionne, Jen and I packed my mini-van to the max and drove down to spend the weekend at Lisa's house. We had the house to ourselves, as Mike and the boys spent the weekend with grandparents.

It was SO much fun! We scrapped 68 pages (is that right, ladies?) during our time, and had a blast doing so. Lots of girl-talk, inside jokes and laughter occurred. One of Lisa's friends stopped by Saturday night to join in. When we asked her if she thought we were all crazy, she paused and said, "no, but you do seem to be very comfortable with each other." :-)

I thank God for these good friends with whom I can just be myself around. We love each other unconditionally. That's a good weekend! Thank you again, Doug and all the men for taking good care of all the kiddos while we were gone. It meant SO much.
Hard at work:

Kristi kept us warm:

Precious Friends: