We miss the Starnes already.

So my friend Staci is "T"amazing, and super fast with her posting of their trip to come see us, so I think I'm going to steal it:)

(just a little F.Y.I.- The day after they left TOM'S FAMILY CAME and will be here till Monday, and then 2 weeks after that MY FAMILY IS COMING, so I really am swamped)

I know it's super lame of me to steal her posts, but I really like what she wrote, so I'm going to just do it. That's right people, I am STEALING Staci's blog post, and it start's like this-

Wow. Where to even BEGIN?? The past 6 days have blown by and we have definitely made some lifelong memories. I guess I should start out our adventures by just saying how much we LOVE the Perry's.(we love you guys too) We met in our old Boise ward a few years ago. Em and I hit it off right away serving the Beehives in our ward and we soon became fast friends. Who would have guessed that a couple of years later we would BOTH be moving away from Boise. Friendship knows no distance and this is a very rare and special thing to find...especially when both wives and husbands get along SO well. Emily is a dear and treasured to friend to me. She is such a light in my life and I am so grateful to both Tom and Emily for rolling out the red carpet for us.(aw, it was nothing) They made us feel so welcome and we had an INCREDIBLE time. The friendship we share is unfathomable(she wrote that cause we made them watch Mega Mind). ☺

I think I'm going to have to break up this post as not to completely OVERWHELM myself. I took about 500 pictures so, I have some major condensing to do!

We flew in on Thursday evening. I had a sneaky suspicion that Em would so something silly(what the "cuss," I was under the impression that it was mandatory) at the baggage claim. Sure enough, everyone was all lined up with some beautiful Gem State signs for us! LOVED it!!!

Then we jumped into the car and were off to see the DC temple. We found ourselves in some SERIOUS traffic which was a bit of a shocker to this small town gal(I just remember thinking that it was a mater of seconds before I was not going to make it to the restroom). Once we got there though, we knew it was TOTALLY worth it!(you forgot to put how I freaked the workers out at the visitors center cause I went tearing in their to use the facilities. They told me after that they thought someone was chasing me. Oops, I probably should have thought that through, but it sooooo could have ended badly if I had tried to pace myself)

After the temple we grabbed dinner and headed back to The "Perry Estate."(it's amazing how much house you can get when you're a renter) Homes over in DC are all HUGE and BRICK and GORGEOUS! Em had a beautiful basket of all sorts of treats and goods for us laying our bed. She is the cutest ever!!(stop... you're making me blush)

And The First Friends to Visit are...

The Starnes!!!!!

We cannot wait. They are going to be here in less than two days:) 

You two win the prize!!!!!

This is actually a pic from my 30th birthday party where they actually did win my "Birthday Party Party game Prize."

Seriously, knowing we had you guys coming to visit has helped us through zillions of bouts of HOME SICKNESS!

 Where would we be without friends like YOUZ GUYZ?

First Day Of Grade One Traditional Cookie!

 I didn't post this when I should have.

We actually did give it to Jay on the first day of school, but I didn't download the pics till now.

 My mom started this tradition to get her kids excited about going to GRADE ONE because it was for the whole day, and not just half day like Kindergarten, and we all loved it!

 Well, I did it for Logan on his first day of GRADE ONE, and he loved it!

Then last year I did it for my friends web site so the kids ended up with one even though none of them were starting GRADE ONE, and they loved it!

But I had a harder time deciding what to do this year cause-

  it was Jay's first day of GRADE ONE, but he had already gotten one last year,  and he had already been going full time for half of last year, and it was actually Lay's first full day of school so wouldn't it be more like Lay's first whole day? So after all that back and forth, I just decided to stick with the "first day of GRADE ONE"celebration!

The middle child in me supported this decision thinking that Jay deserved his very own cookie and I didn't want him to feel slighted.

Well, when he got home he said-

Jay-"Mom, I got one of these last year. Shouldn't it be for Layla?"

Oh well, I don't mind making another one next year:)

Come on, I know you were thinking- "But what did they do on the 4th day?"

All right I'll tell Ya.

DAY 4

We finally took our turn on the Sky wheel.

Sorry for all of my shushing Logan, I swear it seemed really loud!

Then we hit the pool/beach.

I love it when you can actually "tucker" your kids out don't you?

Day5
We had so much fun in

Charleston,

that we went back again! It was only 2hrs, and a really cool place!
So on the way we found-
 Jameson's Hotel Franchise, 
a cool new construction sign,
the strangest gas station,
a church alert sign,
and the monsters that put the green in Tom's blue.

This park is right on the bay.

Best ice cream ever!!!

They pour chocolate in the cone first, then it hardens, and pools at the bottom.
DELICIOUS!!!

The boys both found a quarter! Odd.
I swear they will tell you that was one of their personal Highlights:)

The buildings there were so amazing.
The top right was a plantation.

Loved this beach. It wasn't the same one we went to the first time.
We had so much fun just playing in the low waves, and it was way empty:)

Poor Henry, he sure had a lot of under water experiences that day...
ya, I know they were all under my watch. I really should hang my head in shame,
but he's always so cute before it happens.

2nd installment. I know you didn't get enough right?

I have to report two severely nerdy things about Myrtle Beach-

#1. Is that it is the mini golf capital of the world!!! You can seriously see 2 per block.

#2. They think it's absolutely normal to have at least 5 "touristy buy this crap" stores per block!

These are a few of the mini golf places that we saw.

I remember the "Piggly Wiggly" from a movie.

So I had to take a pic:)

Tom took us to a crazy fish joint for dinner.

Can I just say how much I love love love crab legs?

If you don't, I bet you will after this video!

This place was seriously hilarious!

It was all you can eat, there was everything from crab legs to prime rib, 

and Logan came back with a plate full of fruit!!!

That kid is so funny, don't worry Tom made him eat some "Manly Meat" before we were done!

Here is the sky wheel at night.

So on day 3 we went to 

Charleston!!!

It was so cool, and so much fun:)

We went to their Aquarium.

Super cool Albino Alligator!

Jellyfish are "Space-Ship-Wrecked" Aliens, I'm sure of it.

And here are my ALIENS!

This otter was so cute, but the pic really only shows how cute Lays is.

Speaking of Lays, let me just come right out and explain that she only wore that dress for dinner the night before, then I let her wear it the next day. So although the pictures don't reflect it, I swear she did wear other things!:)

We got to see Fort Sumter, and check out their museum at Liberty Square!

Then we checked out one of their beaches.

It was super fun. The water was very calm.

p.s. Those nerdy beads came from the
Fish Joint and they wore them the rest of the trip.Uh-Hu:)