More Missouri

Because I cannot seem to make myself work properly today, I've decided to finish up my picture posting from my trip to Missouri. So, rather than work on this personal statement I'm writing for a grant application, here are some photos from the second half of my trip.

Sidenote: why is it so easy to write a blog post yet so difficult to write about myself for a committee of strangers who are evaluating my qualifications for their money?

On Sunday afternoon, two of my best friends, Sarah and Aleta, drove to Springfield from St. Louis to visit me! Seriously, are they not incredible for doing that?

We went to dinner downtown...
And then to a restaurant/lounge to meet up with another friend. Sarah was the maid of honor at my wedding and my best friend from college.
And Aleta and I met while we were high school students. We didn't go to the same school, but we worked at the same place and quickly became BFF. We are not so different from when we were sixteen:
And while we were there, we ran into Megan! Megan and I went to high school together, had several classes together, and are now blog friends. She just moved back to Springfield from Alabama, so our meeting was rather serendipitous:
Then Andie joined us. Andie and I also went to high school together, we were roommates our freshmen year of college, and were suitemates with Sarah and Katy. The four of us are still really close. It was 3/4s of a reunion. Here we are, wishing Katy were there to fill the hole:

Aleta and Sarah stayed through Monday, when we visited my grandparents, niece, and nephew, went to Aleta's dad's jewelry store, had lunch with my sister Rhiannon and her best friend, Hollie, and visited Andie's classroom (she's a third-grade teacher). After they went back to St. Louis, I spent the evening with my brother and two youngest sisters. We went out for dinner and frozen yogurt, plus some time at Wacky World:


Tuesday, I spent the day with my sister Rhiannon. Her son, Braxton, just started kindergarten, so we had the day to ourselves. We watched shows from her DVR, made welsh rabbit for lunch, and just hung out together. I'm pretty sure she's my soul mate. Don't tell Nick ;)
That evening, we went to my aunt's house to see my dad's side of the family. I didn't take nearly enough photos here. I got to see two of my aunts, an uncle, a cousin, and my grandma. It was a great night. They even plotted together to make a very diabetic-friendly meal.
On my last night in town, I finally got to see my oldest friend (from middle and high school) Jenny and meet her brand new baby boy. I'd been looking forward to this for months, from before he was even born. We went to dinner together and met up with Andie.

I got lots of time holding Carter. Jenny is lucky I didn't steal him. I thought about it. He's such a good, sweet baby.
Afterwards, I went back to my parents' house and packed. My little sisters got to skip school the next day (!!!!) to take me to the airport. We had an impromptu photo shoot before leaving the house.


It was such a fantastic trip. I love these people so much and it's really hard to have to wait until December to see them again. I am so glad we made the most of it while I was there, though. It was a busy trip, but well worth it since I got to spend time with so many people that I love.

Ok, now to that personal statement. I can do this, right?