"THE LOVE OF A FAMILY IS LIFE'S GREATEST BLESSING"

Family truly is life's greatest blessing. And I'm very thankful for all of mine.

It's quite rare that Rachel and I get to leave our kiddos behind to do much of anything together, so you can imagine our excitement when we were able to do just that. Don't get me wrong, we have a wonderful time when we're ALL together (as chaotic as it may be) :) but every now and then it's nice to get away with just us girls. And I'm not referring to Bethany as one of the "kiddos" here because she's now one of us "girls." Congrats, Umby, for making it to the next level - HA HA!

A while back plans were in the works for mom and dad to spend the day with Dawn and Bethany at Bridge Street in Huntsville. All along it was just to be the four of them because Rachel and I didn't think it would work out for us to be there, and if one of us couldn't make it the other wasn't going. Well at the last minute (which is what works best for me and Thin Mint) we were able to make it happen for us to not only be there for the day without the kids, but to surprise Dawnie and Bethany since they didn't think we could make it. I love a surprise - being both the surpriser and surprisee. :) And surprised they were! We actually pulled it off. There were more happy tears, and of course good, fun, fulfilling, warm-your-heart quality time with people I love and love to be around. I didn't want the day to end. The only time they let my usually-non-shopping-self slow down to get any pictures was at lunch. So here are the few we managed to capture.

Cousin Anna graced us with her presence:

As well as her fiance, Brent:

Along with Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Rebecca:

Some snapshots of us:

Although, if there ever was a time I wish I had my camera in-hand it was on our way out. Everyone else had gone their separate ways except for me, Thin Mint, and B. So we decided to make one last stop at The Chocolate Crocodile. B was given the honors of holding The Chocolate Crocodile box full of the goods. Well, as B was indulging in said goods, said box full of the goods fell right through her chocolate-covered fingers, and all the chocolate-covered deliciousness went splat. We all three stood there for what seemed like 5 minutes just looking at the ground in disbelief. :) Ok, well, let's be honest here: SOME of them went splat. Some were deemed salvageable and I will not say whether or not B was none too proud to pick them up off the ground, dust them off, and put them right back in the box. :) Priceless, B!

And since I don't leave them behind very often, a great way to end a great day was with a very warm welcome from these sweet boys: