Weekend Trip to IN

For several years now, my sister-in-law's Uncle, Jeff Wyatt, has tried to get me to come to their Church's annual IN-HIM (Indiana Holiness In Music) Conference. With two little ones and a four-hour drive between us, I've always had excuses and never made it. When Amanda informed me that this year would be their final conference, I was determined to try going. She told me the dates; don't ask me why I didn't write them down at the time. Early last Friday morning (around midnight or so) I began to mentally plan my trip that I thought was one week away! When I got online to check out the class schedule, I saw that it was NOT the following week and actually on it's final day! I was pretty bummed about missing it and disappointed in myself. That's when I started preparing for the most spontaneous trip I have ever taken! I cleaned, washed clothes and packed all night and left at around 12:30 on Friday. I was really pleased with myself for making the four hour trip alone for the first time! I knew I wouldn't get to attend any classes, but wanted to be at Friday night's concert. Even though the three of us were pretty exhausted, it was a treat. I especially enjoyed seeing the Millikin Family for the first time in person. Jameson loved the "Singing Neons" (a glowing puppet quartet and band) and "Little Mary." He was too shy to get his picture made with her but both boys love the CD I bought for them. Saturday was super fun! We slept late, then went swimming at Manda's parents' house. I was excited to see Ron and Denise again. They are the sweetest people and it didn't take long for Jameson to call her, "Mamaw." =) The boys weren't quite as excited about the pool as I was. I could've stayed there all day long and looked crispy for Church the next day! After some of Denise's delicious strawberry pie, we headed home (Josh's place) with one very important stop along the way- Warm Glow. (One of my Mother's favorite places in the world.... :) It's a HUGE candle store but they have lots of primitive stuff, toys and what-knots also. Unfortunately, they were out of Mom's beloved handmade soaps but I did load up on WAX! LOL! I actually called Anthony for permission to spend $40 there because I felt guilty! Ahhh.....Mom, you were right and I could spend half the day there! After leaving Warm Glow, we went back to their place where Josh had grilled out hamburgers for us. It was fun hanging out and goofing off with them. The next day, the boys enjoyed Sunday school where their teacher happened to be Aunt Manda! Chili's for lunch was delicious and then it was time to leave. I took the boys to Meijer to pick out "Indiana toys" and ended up stuck there for quite a while due to some pesky stomach issues of mine. So much for making it to Church "a little late!" The ride home went great also.....until I skipped the construction detour to find 65 South was closed at the bridge for the weekend. I ended up on 64 and got off at a scary exit in a not-so-nice part of town. Lol. I was in tears when I called my brother, who turned out to be the best GPS I have ever had! He stayed on the phone with me, telling me what to do and made it a cinch getting back on 65 again. We met Anthony at McDonald's when he got out of Church. Jameson and I had a race across the parking lot to see who got to hug him first. (I won, of course! ;) All in all, it was a great trip. Jameson missed his Daddy at night and Landon was clingy at first but they had a blast playing with their cousins and all of their cool girly toys! I'm glad I finally drove it on my own so doing it in the future will be no biggie. Josh & Manda- thanks for putting us up AND putting up with us all weekend (with little notice too!)

Here are some pictures,

Michelle

The Look-Alikes!

Jameson loves "holding" his Manda!

Ready to swim!

Woah.....that's one big pool!

Lounging Landon

Fun Fun Fun!

Yep, I could become a Hoosier. (haha)

Chili's- YUMMO!

Warm Glow!

Love at first smell! ;)