Lauren Experiences Memphis!

Aunt Laren ("Larna") came to spend last week with us down here in TN!  For those of you who  don't know Lauren, she and her husband (Ray) were our neighbors in Hershey.  Not only were they great friends, but Lauren is actually our connection to the boys.  She heard about Elijah's need for adoptive parents before he was even born, and connected us to the Coopers which then led to adopting Elijah...and now Miles! ;-)  So, she's not only a best friend but a fairy godmother as well!  She and Ray have just moved to Pittsburgh for him to complete a Rheumatology fellowship (he's one of those smart kids!), and she decided to come visit before she found a new job as a pediatric dietician (she's a smart kid, too!).  Anyway, that's the Cliff's Notes version of our relationship with Lauren!  Here are the pics from her visit (they uploaded totally out of order, but I don't have the time to fix it!). We tried our best to give her Memphis in a Nutshell...Elvis, Rendezvous BBQ, Beale Street, local donuts, Memphis River Walk, Botanic Gardens, Memphis Zoo, The Peabody, and fro-yo every single night! Am I allowed to blame my gluttony on my dietician friend??!! :-)

This was actually Monday afternoon while Miles was napping.  My big helper...The Naked Chef!

Two Handsome Fellas...definitely starting to look more like brothers!

what a cutie!

Being a lion at the elephant exhibit??

The Koi Pond at the Botanic Gardens...they are fascinating!

  

My Big Back Yard...such fun!

climbing in the spider web

one of his many talents...

 literally, Lauren was off the plane and Elijah was in her arms!

silly bees!

 polar bear!

 grizzly feeding...have I mentioned how much I love our zoo??!!

cooling off at the fountains in the zoo!

seeing the famous Peabody ducks in the fountain

our first trip to the Mud Island River Museum (free and awesome!)

trying to bridge the gap from PA to TN!

on Beale St we found some pretty funny hats!

Miles: "who are you and what did you do with my father?"

hotdog hat

passed out after a long day downtown!

more of those crazy Koi

the simulated rain storm at the Botanic Gardens...the boys LOVED it!

the musical treehouse at the Botanic Gardens...

remembering Elvis...35th anniversary of his death that week...we saw a variety of Elvis impersonators...
my favorite was Asian Elvis!

one rainy afternoon we watched Nemo...Claire was fascinated!

Beautiful flowers for my bday from Luke...he really spoiled me!

Flowers and sushi take-out Friday night. Breakfast Saturday morning followed by a massage (oh yeah!). Then, the entire afternoon without the boys to shop (I only came home with new sheets and a mattress pad...how does that happen!?), and then came home to 30+ people surprising me in the garage! We had a fun cookout (with a slight delay when the propane ran out) with a great group of friends and kiddos! I am really blessed beyond measure.

I hope you guys are having a great week as well!  

Backtrack: Two Weeks of Tabitha

What a busy, awesome month it has been!  A week at the lake with some of my best friends from undegrad, and then two weeks with our friend Tabby from PA! Then, another week with Aunt Lauren from Pittsburgh!! We worshipped with Tabby and her family while we lived in PA, and we grew to love the Longs and the other families there.  We tried to convince Tabby to come here for the summer, but we knew that was pretty unrealistic with her busy schedule. So, we were thrilled when she told us that she could come down for two weeks in August before she started her senior year of high school.  So, on the way home from the lake, I picked Tabby up in Bham, and we hit the road home to Memphis!

Lots of pics from those two weeks...

Practicing athletics in the nude...in the spirit of the original Olympic games! And, speaking of Olympics, I think it's truly the first time I've missed not having tv! 

future water polo player? maybe sumo wrestler!

sweet brothers

While Tabby was here we wanted her to get to know some of the teens from church! So, we had an ice cream sundae party (that quickly erupted into a whip cream fight!).  They all crowded around a 5ft piece of gutter (new and clean) and made every imaginable combo of ice cream & toppings! Pretty fun!

I think Greg is winning...

but, the girls got revenge! And, the porch got a good hose down!

this is a pretty serious game of Nertz here!

And, there goes 3 weeks of being semi-healthy.  Thank you peds office for not having a sick-side and well-side to your waiting room!  More specifically, thanks to the parents of 4 year old "Lily" who made no effort to remove their sick daughter from Miles' face while we waited.  Oh well.

 

Tabby is here, and she's the best medicine anyway! Obviously,

the boys LOVE her. 

exploring some new foods

We had not been to Graceland, so having Tabby here was a great excuse to

go visit!  Luckily, it was the week BEFORE Elvis Week so it wasn't too packed. We did have several interesting sightings!

Of course, we always hit up the zoo when friends are in town.  I think E could have

watched the elephants all day long!

playing in the fountain before leaving...it was a hot day!

We hit up the Memphis Botanic Gardens for an evening of music 

and good eats! That place is beautiful!

checking out Collierville square with Tabby

making Tebow proud

masters of disaster!

Claire supervising bath time!

 

Driving home to Springfield for a birthday weekend (9 family bdays in August!) and to drop 

Tabby off at the airport.  We sure were sad to see her go. Maybe she'll come back next summer?!

ah, the smell of a tobacco barn smoking...I under no circumstances want to promote smoking,

but this is home for both Luke and myself! it does smell so good!

And, lastly, we picked up some art that we had a friend paint for us! We had been working with Kyle for a couple of months on finding the perfect idea for above our mantle! He lives in Bowling Green, KY so it was a perfect opportunity to pick it up while we were home.  We LOVE it, and we're currently trying to decide how high to hang it.  I'll post more pics once it's on the wall. Kyle is super talented and has a lot of upcoming projects (even for the city of Bowling Green!) that are encouraging him to do what he loves!  If you need any info about Kyle just let me know!

That's it for now! Next up, Aunt Lauren's visit to Memphis! You guys have a great week!