The Girls Are Back In Town!!

My amazing friends came down to NY!!! We had such a blast. Joel was away with his college roommates camping somewhere in PA and my girls came to keep me company while the husband was gone. We had so much fun...late night coffee runs, shopping all day, and as usually our fun trip to NYC.
I miss these girls so much. It made me really miss my college days, but we are all growing up... how sad. Diane is off to law school in the fall and Steph is possibly moving to CA for her career. So crazy. I love these girls. Friends like these girls are hard to come by. Even though we aren't down the hall or even in the same room anymore, we still are as close as ever.
These are pictures of our trip into the city. We were there with the fam and battled the city in the ridiculous heat. Good times ;-)

My Family & The Fourth

I am so blessed to be close to my family. This year has had a lot of changes and interesting (to say the least) events for me and Joel - and we definitely would not have been able to get through them without our family. About two weeks ago Joel and I said goodbye to his mom and dad who received orders to move to Cleveland, OH as the General Secretary and Program Secretary for the NEOSA Divisions. Although we are saddened and wish it was different timing (for our own personal selfish reasons), we are happy for them and proud of them as their new appointment holds a lot of new challenges and responsibility. We know that they will do well as they go there seeking God's will for the NEOSA Division. We are looking forward to seeing them in Maine in a couple weeks and then venturing out to Ohio for a visit in October - ROAD TRIP!!!

This weekend we spent a lot of time with my family, which means all the siblings together and their 3 adorable kids. We were very fortunate to have my great Aunt Lily spend the 4th with us as well. We ate, ate, and ate some more. It was great! We spent some good quality time playing wiffle ball, playing in the kiddie pool, and breaking our bodies on the Slip & Slide - even though the box says for ages 5 - 12 (which we broke the rule on each end). We won't talk about the injuries I incurred from that thing - OH MAN!

Tuesday night, we sat with my parents and Aunt and watched the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. It was absolutely incredible. My parents didn't understand why this guy (Steven Tyler from Aerosmith) was on stage, and I couldn't understand why Dr. Phil and his wife ever got the job of hosting the event. All in all the fireworks were awesome. I would love to be on a boat in the Charles River one of these years for the fireworks. What an experience that would be. Over the years I have become more like my father in the way that we get very emotional over patriotic holidays & songs. As I think of all the sacrifices made and those to come I don't think there is a better reaction than complete sincere emotion for our country, its leaders, and our troops. It's a good thing to be sensitive to.

Enjoy the pictures