Visiting "home"

     Recently Eldon and I were talking how blessed we are to have so many different places that give us the "home" feeling. I'm guessing it also has to do with the fact that home is not a place anymore, but the people and loved feeling. At any rate, a visit in Harrison, AR definitely brought on those feelings. Harrison is the town where Eldon and I met 12 years ago, dated, and spent the first 8 years of our marriage. It's where Eldon got his RN degree and all 4 of our children were born. 

     Emily tends to get a little grouchy when we talk about Arkansas memories since she was to young to remember much but when we walked into church Sunday morning her face lit up and she said, "I totally remember this place!" Happily, there was a potluck planned in honor of Mother's Day so we had a good visit with many different people.

Makayla and Kayla are only 3 months apart and I have pictures of them as babies to age 6 together so when I saw this I knew I wanted a picture of it!

     Later in the afternoon we headed out and drove past our old place. Much to our delight, the new owners now have a garden planted and goats in the pasture. Perhaps it will once again be a hobby farm someday. We also had a great visit with our neighbors, Henry and Loretta, as well as their 2 granddaughters, Paige and Eva. Eldon used to work for Henry when he wasn't at the hospital and they were also on the volunteer fire department together so they had plenty to talk about.

Riding horse!

They loved it!

Just a little sampling of the beautiful landscaping Loretta has done.

Doesn't everyone play on their barn roof?!

Swinging!

Eva and Ethan loving their orange floats. They are only days apart and could easily pass for twins.

     Our next stop was to spend the evening with some more friends. We're all in the young married stage (well, kinda :) ) so lots and lots of children! I had a group picture of us girls but I simply cannot get it to upload so you don't get to see it.

It was so fun to just hang out again!

Michael and his friend Carson.

     By the time we drove 45 minutes back to our camper in Branson, the children were all asleep and had to be drug inside. We just tossed them in bed with sticky faces and sandy clothes. Sometimes, baths just aren't worth it :).