home...

*long post sorry*

i'm back. well have been for a while but i have actually been so busy it took me a week to unpack my suitcases. i was so blessed on my trip to the states. i bought and was given so much stuff that i had to borrow a 3rd huge suitcase to bring back all the goodies on top of shipping 4 boxes to myself. sweet hubby said we are never going back if this is what its like every time. i assured him it wouldn't be. it had just been so long-it had been 13 months- since i had been able to really shop for anything. of course it was like focus shopping because i was on a mission and buying lots of things with all my saved up "hair" dollars. i forgot how many choices there are in the states. kind of overwhelming. kind of like how there is over 100 channels but nothing really on tv. funny how your perspective changes.

one thing that did not change was how fun and loving my family is! i was so happy to see all the GGs and how the nephews and nieces had grown and changed. *my niece reese* my trip was filled with "shopping" at my moms house, visiting with old friends, lots of hair cuts dyes and perms, wish list making at the jewelry store where i used to work, track meets, a baby shower *this is my friend sarah that i used to work with*, photo shoots and lots of family time. * i have no explanation for this picture* one of the activities i attended was a tea for the GG's filled with hankies, lots of sweet goodies and laughter. two of the funniest things was when ever anything was brought out we all looked like paparazzi; we all have blogs and we were all on the lookout for good online worthy shots. the other funny thing was while we were at this old house turned flea market turned tea parlor my mom sold two aprons and has a prospect for some custom curtain business, my oldest sister may have sold some banners and i had some request for some custom purses like this one i made for Maw. only in AR and only to my family do these things seem to happen.

another big event was the Easter/birthday hoopla. my own, my brother's and sweet hubby's birthdays were celebrated with cakes and even presents. yea more stuff! *miles my nephew admiring one of the cakes*we all dyed Easter eggs and then camped out on the floor like a bunch of kids. although it was fun for all the girls almost all the boys are allergic to the cats that live there at the g-parents. poor boys.

*g-parents fridge*

anyway of course there was tons of food from nice BIL Nate. nice apron huh? i don't think i have had that much butter in one sitting before-nice job Nate! also i couldn't help but make some pictures of the sweet nephews in there Easter fare. how cute are they?!

the family is the good part. the travel not so much. although i will say that this trip-plane wise- was better than it has been for me. we flew NWA and had seats to ourselves on the way back which is much better that sitting between two strangers for 9hrs.*cool tunnel in detroit*

i am so thankful that we were not caught up in any delays or groundings. we went through Amsterdam on the way back. that was cool because we had never been there before. *loungers in amsterdam*

we had planned to leave the airport b/c of a 4hr layover but we were so tired by that point we could barely stay awake so we just stayed put.

*a cool bar in amsterdam*

we did manage to stay up and by the time we got home we had been up for over 30 hrs and immediately went to bed for 12 hrs-which if you knew hubby that's amazing. even for travel tired. so i think we did pretty well on the jet lag front even though we had to move 7hrs ahead. i think what really saved me from getting sick either way was taking my airborne. man i love that stuff!

well that's it for now. I'm off to map out my hair appts for this week. there are a lot of them. i think all the ladies at church approached me on sunday so i am already back on schedule with that. yea! just wanted to show you what we came home to in april!

no place like germany!

*note: i should be putting some new things in the etsy shop soon so keep your eye out!