Sunny Side UP: Family will always be Family

I just had the most wonderful week/weekend! Reason being...my parents were in town Wednesday through Sunday. I picked them up from the airport and immediately knew that we would have an amazing time. First off, we had quite a few fun activities planned. Most of the time when they're here we kind of just hang out and relax together...watch movies...play games...you know, the usual. This time, however we had THIS to go by...

Off the cusp you might think it's a little, shall we say, over the top? (me? over the top? never!) However, it was so wonderful to know what was next, when we had to leave, who was going where to work when, etc. Don't be jealous. As you can see we had a whole host of activities to get to, so an itinerary only made sense! It included a tour of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, (which I would highly recommend), a tour of the Air Traffic Control Center where Patrick works (now they can picture where Patrick is when he does what he does!), a new tribe memphis meeting (where M&D got to meet so many of our wonderful friends here in Memphis), a visit from our good friend John Hill as he drove from MI to TX, a visit to Shara's Paperie (where I work now!), breakfast at Capriccio Grill inside The Peabody Hotel, shortly followed by a viewing of the world famous Peabody Duck March, and dinner with one of our amazing friends Ron. Phew! We even snuck a couple movies and games in there. I'm tellin' ya, the Amermans sure do know how to have fun :)

All of the activities and itineraries set aside, some of my favorite moments were when we were doing "ordinary" things around the house, like cooking a meal together, putting make up on side by side at the mirror or even doing the dishes. It is these moments that remind me, that we are and always will be "thick as thieves" - family forever! Like Mom said, "When we're sitting on this couch together it feels like we're only 20 miles away." That's what keeps my chin up when I start to miss them and that's what will continue to help me through this time of distance - knowing that when we're together it feels like we were never apart.

Here are some of my fav. photos from our time together:

Mom & Dad opening the 32nd Anniversary gift we made for them.
Patrick prepared and put together the wood and then I painted a sign on it for their cottage in MI.