Maryland

     Once we said our long goodbyes in Virginia, we headed North to Eldon's parents in Pennsylvania. Halfway in between, my Aunt Lydia and Uncle Ollie have a historic old house that makes a perfect lunch stop! We always love spending time with them and it was even more exciting for our children this time since their 2 young grandsons came home from school early so they could play. They served us a huge, delicious lunch. After having a lovely visit we drug ourselves away, laden down with clothes, books, and puzzles😍. Lydia has always been the giving kind and we noticed that her grandsons have picked up this trait too and gifted our children with things from their stash. 

Makayla promptly buried her nose in a book.

The racetrack had to come out again! Notice that gorgeous floor that they have restored!

Virginia and airplanes

     We are always happy to spend time with family and friends if our route and schedule allows it. A few nights in Midland, Virginia was highly enjoyed by all of us. My Aunt Elsie and Uncle Tom live on a beautiful farm in the country and had a great spot for us to park at. My cousin and her family live on the same property in a gorgeous barn-turned-house and it was fun to hang out with them too.

Elsie spoiled us rotten by cooking almost every meal for us.

It's not like I'm going to turn this down!

Puzzles! Most of the Byler's love puzzles and that gene did not bypass our children!

     We spent a day at the Udvar-Hazy Center where we saw airplanes of every size and from every year! Tom was a fabulous tour guide and filled us in on many amazing facts. Unfortunately, I was overwhelmed and didn't take notes or retain much information so pretty much all I have is pictures  🙄.

We were able to go up into the Observation Tower and watch planes coming in to a nearby airport.

Looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains from 40 miles away!

Ethan was delighted to ride on Uncle Tom's chair!

There was a pilot here who explained in great detail how to steer a plane. Michael and Makayla have now added pilots to their list of things to be!

The guys spent way to long looking at engines :).

This plane was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. 

The Space Shuttle Discovery has flown almost 150 million miles and shuttled 184 men and women into space and back!

Emily taking a break with Elsie.

A cute little purple plane!

A Coast Guard chopper

Picture of the space shuttle from an upper level.

An early plane. It's amazing the flimsy little things they got up in the air!

Ethan had so much fun with Kinsley! 

See how nice our rig fits in there?

They have several large dining room windows and I loved watching the birds feed.

Our Chef :)

Playing with toys.

     One evening 2 of my uncles came over for the evening. It was good to re-connect with Leroy and Rhonda and Steve. We had a great time here and look forward to next time!

Our wedding day

     It's been a few years since this important day but I thought it would be fun to share a few photos of our wedding.

Food prep going on. 

Eldon's cousin and sister setting tables.

Eldon's aunts mixing up scalloped potatoes. I'm so thankful for all the people that pitched in to help!

My dad keeping my youngest sister out of trouble. It's hard to believe how young she was!

Us, looking extremely young! Eldon is holding my niece, Katelyn.

Eldon's dad delegating. 

March 15, 2008

Eldon with his groomsmen

My bridesmaids and I

The whole bridal party

Since our church limited how many could be in our bridal party, we called these good friends "bridal table guests" but basically they were in our bridal party :). 

With Eldon's parents

The King siblings. Eldon has an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister.

My parents and us

The Beachy siblings. I have an older brother and sister and a younger brother and 2 sisters.

The nieces and nephews

Katelyn being all adorable

Kylie is very unsure of Eldon!

Back when Logan still I thought I was funny :)

Dallas and Genea, my oldest niece and nephew. I love this picture of them!

The bridal table all ready for us.

The cake - I'm so pleased how pretty it was!

The hard-working cooks who kept everyone fat and happy.

Our reception coordinators that kept it all flowing smoothly

Brian and Eugene (my brother in law and brother) did a grand job of ushering.

Dallas and Melissa as program attendants

Genea and Logan helped too. I was told later that this was a bit of a bust, LOL. At least they were cute!

Our parents welcoming people 

My Aunt Lavonia decorated our cake. 

My little sister Melody was a bit of an emotional mess due to all the business so she clung to Eldon like a leech.

The top layer of our cake was presented to my sister Michelle and her husband Brian since they were so kind as to share their anniversary with us.

Signing the paperwork so it's official. Eldon's father was happy to perform the ceremony for us.

And we're off to Pagosa Springs!

     This does not include pictures of nearly everyone that helped our big day go smoothly but hopefully it gives you a small glimpse of it. And yes, you can laugh at how young we were and how we did things.