Our trip was short, but there were some friends I couldn’t not see. We would have loved to have spent more time with each of these lovely people, but we were so thankful for the time we got with them.
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Surprising Michaela
When we first booked our flight, I told a couple people we were coming to visit and they were so excited! I thought about how fun it would be to surprise someone, and my friend Michaela popped into my head. I texted her husband and we coordinated how we could surprise her.
We landed, met my mom and brother, got our bags, loaded the girls, and then drove a few minutes down the road to meet Michaela at our old favorite frozen yogurt place.
I found out later she had a hunch that something was going on, but our reunion was still sweet!
Our visit was short since we were exhausted, but Michaela texted me later with a huge “THANK YOU for the surprise!!!” and we got a couple other times on the calendar that we could visit.
The Marks
Tyler and Daniella hold such a special place in our hearts. Our joke is that we are exactly a year and a month behind them (we got married a year and 1 month after them, and our oldest girls are exactly a year and 1 month apart 😝 our second kiddos are 8 months apart and different genders, but still… haha). They were headed out of town that evening for a long weekend trip themselves, so our time together was brief, but oh so treasured! Rylie and Lizzie loved playing together and Joel was happy to tag along. Emmaline just hung out, but Rylie checked in on her occasionally to make sure Sister was okay.
At one point, Rylie and Liz were playing and they were pretending to go to sleep. Liz and Rylie were talking (a mix of toddler babble and giggles) and then I saw Rylie grab a blanket that was on the floor and Liz got a pillow off the couch and they took it by the stairs and laid it down. Rylie pointed and said something then Liz laid down. They also would sit on the stairs and rest their heads on the step above them and look at each other. They laughed so much, it was adorable and melted our hearts!
Daniella, Aaron and I (Tyler could only visit us on his lunch break ☹ ) talked about how much we loved the girls playing together and expressed our disappointment that the kids couldn’t play together all the time due to the distance.
Rebekah
Rebekah and I keep in touch often, so our time together wasn’t that full of conversation, but really just enjoying each other’s company. We met at the mall and started at a kid’s playground and then started walking around the mall with Rylie proudly pushing the stroller that Emmaline was in. We came across a Disney store and we immediately walked in. Rylie found a Moana doll that caught her attention and she refused to set it down or trade it for a Woody or Buzz plush that I was trying to hand her. At one point, she seemed so attached to it that Aaron asked me how much it cost. “I feel like I need to be prepared that I might need to buy it.” When I told him it was $20, he said, “Ha! No.” Thankfully, when she became curious with another object and dropped Moana, I picked her up and returned her to her shelf before Rylie even noticed. Phew. 😝
Rebekah was so sweet and loved Rylie’s hugs (but who doesn’t love Rylie’s hugs? 😊).
I love having Rebekah as a friend. She is so good for my heart!
Michaela
We met up at Taco Time for a quick (but mandatory) bite to eat. It’s on my “must have” list and it’s even better when I have it with Michaela 🙂
Bri
During my trip to Seattle last year, God moved in a powerful way and Bri and I reconnected after a few years of silence.
I was excited to have her name on our itinerary, especially when we made plans to meet her at our favorite Seattle breakfast place – Black Bear Diner.
Our time with Bri was mainly filled with catching up and eating delicious food!
The Oldrights
The Oldright family is the family I babysat / nannied for from 13-20 years old. Every time we visited in the past, I always left feeling like I should have taken time to see them, so I was very intentional this trip to get some time with them. Out of their 5 kids, only the youngest, McKinely, was there but she was so excited to hang out with us. When we got out of the car, she ran out the door and gave Aaron a ginormous hug! She wasn’t so sure what to do with Rylie at times, but she found a couple ways to entertain our social 1 ½ year old.
Aaron and I absolutely loved talking with Jaylynn. I’ve always admired her and was so excited to ask her certain questions to soak up her mommy-wisdom! ❤
The Leiers
Our last night in town was spent on a double date with Michaela and her hubs, Kevin. She had acquired 4 free tickets to the Pacific Science Center (I think it came out to us saving $90-some 🙂 ) so we roamed the exhibits for an hour before they closed.
From there, we got some amazingly delicious seafood at Ivers on the boardwalk.
It was our first time hanging out with the couple (since they got married last year and Aaron didn’t come up until after the wedding). We loved hanging out with them!
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Just writing this post makes me miss my friends! I am so thankful for each of them and that they all intentionally keep in touch with me and the Shaver Crew despite the distance.