Visiting Friends!

Being gone for three weeks is a long time. It is especially a long time when you are in a city you do not know very well and you really do not know a whole lot of people. Lyla and I are used to having play dates almost every day. I love having so many great friends in Atlanta who are in the same age and stage as us. So with Sarah working a lot, I thought Lyla and I would be kind of lonely. Instead, I found our time together so amazing and so refreshing, getting to spend time with her without the usual day to day chores. Also, I found out that I know a lot more people in the Texas area than I gave myself credit for. The second full week we were in Texas, Lyla and I ended up with several fun play dates. Of course I did not really take any pictures, so I am going to lump them all together in one post, but each one was so special and filled my heart with so much love. I am so glad we got time with each of these special families and I hope that we do not have to go very long without seeing them!

On Monday May 20th we took Ali Clements out for dinner to thank her for watching Lyla during Sarah's graduation at Railhead, a yummy bbq place. Sarah was able to meet us as well after she got off of work. We went out for ice cream after dinner with Sarah and made a stop at Gap to see what cute things they had. Being able to really catch up with Ali was so fun. It has been several years since I have seen her. The last time we were together was when I was a senior in high school looking at going to TCU. I stayed with her and she gave me the grand tour for a night. Before that, we had not seen each other since we were KIDS! She and her husband had just moved back to Fort Worth from North Carolina and are in the final stages of building their house. Ali went to Duke and became a PT and is now practicing. It was so great to hear about her family and her married life! I am so grateful that it worked out to catch up with her and that she was able to spend some time with Lyla. We cannot wait to come back and visit their new house!

The next day, Lyla and I got up bright and early to get together with another friend. We connected with Suzanne Jones, who used to live in Atlanta (and she actually lived at my parent's house for awhile), and now she and her husband Lee and two kids live in Houston. Her husband got a job offer in Houston and his mom lives there as well. We decided to meet half way, since Houston is about 4 hours away from Fort Worth. I tried to make it work to take Lyla to visit my dad's side of the family in Houston and make a day of it, but my aunt unfortunately was out of town. Since there is not a whole lot in between Fort Worth and Houston, nothing was exactly in the middle, so Lyla and I said we would drive further, since Suzanne has two kids. We ended up driving about 3 hours and met them in College Station (by A&M) at Chick fil a to eat lunch and let the kids play. Driving through Texas is SO easy. It is always a straight shot, and the speed limit gets up to 80 in some places!! Awesome for getting to places quick, haha! We drove through a lot of farm land and REALLY small towns. It was neat to get to see some of the area outside of the city. 

It was great catching up with Suzanne. Her kids, Benjamin and Jocelyn, are so sweet and Lyla loved getting to meet them. Lyla is right in between their ages. It had been a couple of years since I had seen Suzanne, but is was easy conversation and fun to see how they are doing. I think when you are a mom with similar aged kids, it is pretty easy to relate! I think it was nice for Suzanne to get a taste of "home" and it is always nice to have a play date and give Lyla time to play with other kids her age. After we finished up lunch, and ice cream, and the playground (yes, we made sure that the chick fil a we went to had a playground...cannot disappoint!) we got on the rode again because there were big storms rolling in Fort Worth and I wanted to try and get back before they hit. Storms in Texas are NO JOKE. I mean, everything is bigger in Texas, including their storms. So we spent more time in the car driving than we actually did with Suzanne, but it was TOTALLY worth it!

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped as we drove through these one horse towns!

And little missy was out before we even got out of the parking lot. I had turned a movie on for her to watch on the way back, but all that hard playing made a little girl tired! She NEVER falls asleep while watching tv or movies, so I KNEW she was tired! Which was great for me. Nap time is always great!

We were right outside of Fort Worth when we got hit by the storm. Sarah had called to let me know they were really bad. Um, yes it was! I could not see more than a foot or so in front of my car. The sky was pitch black and the rain was so hard, I had to drive like 10 mph on the highway. I thought about pulling over, but figured it was coming the opposite way I was going, so if I could just get through it we would be fine. This ended up being the same week of the horrible tornados in Oklahoma and there were even a couple of tornados near Sarah. Talk about being scared staying on the third floor in a condo building, let alone driving through it!! Luckily we were protected and the storms passed quickly!

On Wednesday night, we moved to my Aunt and Uncle's house for the remainder of our stay. There was a little bit of drama in Sarah's condo and it just reminded me how thankful I am to be passed that stage in my life! Seriously!! And it made me so thankful for family close by that welcomed Lyla and I. Y'all, talk about craziness. I was literally packing and moving and waking Lyla and driving to Colleyville at 11 at night. Crazy. Nothing between Sarah and I....just roommate issues and it made sense for us to leave. And it made me aware of how not to raise my child! Anyways, we got settled and it ended up making sense because our next play date was the next day, right around the corner from their house!

Our next play date was with Susan Ogden. Susan and Adam had worked together at Limetree here in Atlanta and we had met through him. Susan and Ryan are some of the sweetest people I know and I literally LOVED that it worked out for us to get together! Susan and Ryan have two little girls, Ellie Cate and Eden. Lyla fits right in the middle age-wise. They live in Southlake now. They moved from Atlanta about a year ago (Susan is a true Texan at heart and we knew they would always be going back some day). Both their parents live in Texas, so we knew it was a matter of time. Ryan's company opened an office and they jumped at the opportunity. They live only about 15-20 minutes away from my aunt and uncle which is awesome cause that means each time we visit them, we can also visit the Ogden's as well!

Lyla and I went to their house to play and man did the girls have fun. Lyla was in heaven. She LOVED those girls. It made my heart a little sad that we are not closer, cause I know that they would be some super close friends. After playing for awhile and getting a tour of their house, we went and picked up some Chick Fil A and took it to Gateway Church (their church as well as my aunt and uncle's...small world) to eat. They have an indoor play place that we let the girls play in for awhile while we talked and caught up. Lyla was so sad to leave the girls. She had such a great time and so did I. It was so wonderful being with Susan and her family and getting to catch up. They are the sweetest people. My heart was so full after leaving this play date.

Luckily we got to see the Ogden family again before leaving Texas. We met them for dinner after we got back from our family trip to San Antonio on Wednesday May 29th, so that way we could include the husbands as well. We went to a family style restaurant called Babes. It was YUMMY. I am not going to lie, I have craved that place a couple of times since being back! Lyla was beyond excited to see the girls again. She still asks about Ms Susan and the girls. I am so glad we got more time with this sweet family and we hope to see them soon!!