Mini-Michigan Reunion

 On May 30th we had a sweet mini gathering of as many of our Michigan friends we could find in Utah that week. It started with darling Ashley getting together with Valerie, and me somehow inviting myself along, and then quickly spreading the word. Sadly, we still missed a few- either I didn't know they were in Utah or they had just had a baby (What up, Jamie!), but even still, we had a nice gathering and  a great time. Ashley generously let us gather at her place. Her apartment complex has a cool little playground that we enjoyed until it started raining and then we moved inside for lunch. It was soooo good to see everyone again! It made me homesick for all of these friendships that defined the previous three years of our life. These are the babies who were born when E was born, when Win was born. These are kids I've known since the day they were born. So much love in the air, it was a little overwhelming at first, but oh so good for the soul!

( I'm not using last names, but my blog is public, so if you want your child's name removed, please let me know and I'll remove it right away!)

I loved seeing little friends reunited! Daxton and Dean, blond as could be!

 Wells and Benny!

Benny Blue Eyes! 

 Eleanor and Grant (and Winston and Bennett in the background). I love these kids!

 Jane and Lila, it's so fun to see these girls that were newborns when we moved.

 Benett, Grant and Eleanor. Stupid Canada. (I actually love Canada, but Toronto is where Angela had to move, so... stupid Canada.)

 He's kind of still MY boyfriend, but I try to not act jealous when he hugs E.

 Zach, Ainsley and Robbie.

 The moms! And our hilarious attempts at self timers with children wiggling in and out of the picture.

 The mom's, from left going counter clockwise: Ruth, Emily, Ashley, Tiffany, Me, Angela, Valerie and Jody.

 Little princesses, all together again. Eliza, Nora, Eleanor, Ainsley, Ellie, Kate and Emmaline.

 Emmaline, Eliza, Ellie, Kate, Ainsley, Eleanor and Nora.

And Grant, Zach and Benny.

It took us a while to officially get in the car. The kids were being good waiting for us to stop talking, from left: Grant, Bennett, Eleanor (who is DISTRAUGHT over something), Ainsley, Winston, Zach and Emmaline.

She starts to calm down...

 ... a little more...

...and then, oh my gosh! She's fine! Drama Queen!

The only bad part of the day (besides leaving) was when Winston did his usual "walk directly in front of the swing-set" trick. He does it ALL THE TIME and it makes me bonkers. Usually he does a miraculous Mr. Magoo type of thing and narrowly misses being clocked by feet by mere centimeters. Well, not this time. He walked right in front of a gal on the swing and got knocked back onto the sand. Luckily, she was barefoot and weighed about 30 pounds soaking wet, but he still got a good bonk. I gathered him up and he started throwing up everything he had eaten all day. Mostly Cheetos, don't judge. The other luck is that two of my friends have husbands who are doctors. One in ER and one who is neurology. They talked us through it and all was well, he was totally fine in a few minutes and there were no lasting effects. Yay. Look forward to his second concussion adventure when I get around to blogging our zoo visit. Poor Winston!