My BEST

Jill and I didn't meet until our Junior year at Calvin. I don't think I had ever even seen her or heard of her until we were moving into our house on Giddings Street. But God had a plan. A pretty AWESOME plan, in bringing us both to this dirty, old, college house in a rather questionable neighborhood! He knew He was bringing us together and starting a life long friendship that only He could create! He knew we would go to classes together and stay up studying together. And through all of those hours centered around school, we would quickly share our lives with one another, laugh and laugh and laugh together, cry together, share our hearts, and build something neither of us had experienced before. He had in mind from the start that we would do life together...even from miles and miles apart. 

We've managed to keep our friendship strong through phone calls (although few and far between during this stage of life), texts (many, many texts), and as many visits as we can get (no matter how short or long they may be)! 

We were blessed enough to see them just last month at their house in Michigan for a couple of days. And now, last week, they came to see us in Colorado for a whole week! Yay! It was really the best week! Quite different from the week we spent together at this same time last year on a cruise to the Bahamas. Not quite as relaxing, but still equally wonderful! 

We took tons of pictures during the week, documenting all of the fun things we did together with our families. I'll have to blog about it all in several different posts. This first post is just some random photos from the week! 

 Trey loved Brooks! He was so sweet with him and always wanted to hold him! 

They had fun playing together! 

We all enjoyed lazy morning hanging out around the house! Here are all the kids rescuing Auntie Jill from the ferocious Uncle John! 

 Jill and I took advantage of any time we had to sneak away and run errands together. We went to Target, and U.S. Toy, and King Soopers, and Forever 21, all places we would LOVE to be able to go together, if only we lived closer. We actually had a date night and got to do a little teacher shopping together. She doesn't have a Lakeshore by her in Michigan so we had to hit that up for sure!

 We had a lovely kid free dinner together at Brio!

Mark and John took the kids to see the movie BRAVE. 

The kids loved it, even though there were a few scary bear parts. 

It was Rowie's first time in a movie theater. She did great. Heath on the other hand enjoyed the movie, but threw Daddy for a loop by having an accident in the movie theater! Ha! It was quite the adventure for Daddy having to manage that! Oh, the joys of potty training. Maybe next time Daddy should know not to get a large Coke for the family to share! 

 While they were all at the movie, Jill and I visited my classroom. It was fun to pick her brain on all things Kindergarten. She has so much experience, and I have none! I can't wait to implement some of the great ideas she has used over her 8 years with kindies!

It was so fun to watch our kids play together! They really got along so well and quickly figured each other out. Too bad they have to re-get to know each other every 6 months! It would be the best if we could just drive up the road for a playdate.

 Tackling Mark!

 Heath had other ideas and tackled Rowan! It's fine for now, but if he's tackling her in another 10-15 years, we'll have to have a talk! Ha!

Check back for more posts on all the fun things we did around town! We were busy for sure, but had to pack in as many activities as we could in our short time together!