goodbye to our dear friends

Our best family friends recently moved to Texas.  Not gonna lie, we are sad about it.

 Our kids all love each other so much.  It definitely hasn't sunk in with my kids that they moved far away.  I am glad they haven't been sad about it, but I know they are going to miss them.   The kids always talked about how everyone in our family had their own "buddy"--  Jimmy and Lucia, Gus and Kolbe, Nora and Blaise, Mom and Angela, and Dad and John.  We have been blessed to have them in our lives.
We enjoyed some last days of playing together in the backyard.  The slip'n'slide made it cool enough to do that.

Gus and Kolbe might miss each other the most.  They often just refer to each other as "Buddy."  

They were born about two weeks apart and really are the best little friends.

We will at least make sure they end up as roommates at UD.

Gus and Kolbe were rarely ever together at the Kersting's house not dressed like super heroes together.

Here is a rare moment of Blaise loving on Nora instead of mauling her.  

(I mean, the mauling is always out of love, but this is the only gentle moment caught on camera)

We had them over for dinner one last time before they left.  The kids weren't so in the mood for pictures. Lucia was in the mood for trying to kiss Jimmy (who she says she wants to marry someday).  I didn't capture and pictures of this happening because they were all blurry and with Jimmy hiding under couch cushions, but I do have a good video of it that I can save to embarrass them both with someday.

Thanks to my camera timer we did finally get one picture of both of our families together.

We will be praying for you in your new adventures Kerstings, but we might also be wishing you come back someday.

erin and gene's wedding (and other adventures in dallas)

My oldest sister got married in Dallas at the end of June.  We thought it would be prudent to drive, but once we really thought about what that meant, we just splurged and bought plane tickets.  We were so happy when we did.   We love going to Texas, but the drive there isn't exactly fun (unless you stay in teepees or something).  It always feels good to get back to the place it all began.

I also felt like a terrible sister because I forgot to bring my nice camera to my own sister's wedding.
I had to make do with what I got on my phone. I got some good ones, but I was still mad at myself.  

Dallas seems cooler since we left.  Not in terms of weather (it is still quite hot and humid), but the city itself.   

We had a fun day playing at a park downtown and eating at amazing food trucks.

Also, I have a whole ton of pictures of all the kids doing this with the mirrors.
Some pictures (especially of my husband) were just too creepy to post.
I will, however, let you see Nora as conjoined twins...

Once we got hot enough out there we headed to the Dallas Museum of Art for awhile to get some culture.

The rehearsal dinner was a Taco Fiesta at Gene's aunt's house.  My kids always get in the spirit of things.

I made the bride and groom stand in this hula hoop to signify their union.... or something like that.

The wedding was in Gene's parent's backyard.  We were so blessed to have so many loved ones there.

The cousins all had lots of fun together.

We were so happy we got to see Uncle Danny!  We hadn't seen him since Christmas.

He is always popular with the kids for good reason.

He might have brought along a girl who might just happen to be the first girl he has ever let us meet, but I won't embarrass him (or her for that matter) too much by posting all the details of that here. Instead, enjoy this cute picture with Gus:

And then Erin and Gene got married and their dog, Pippa, was there, too.

We are very excited to have the world famous Gene the Brave in our family now.

Now they are Aunt Erin and Uncle Gene to all these cute little ragamuffins... 

It was a great party with delicious BBQ and lots of dancing.  

Most of my pictures of all this were blurry, but you get the idea.

But it was a bit hot as you can see by looking at Nora here.

(It isn't actually sweat, Zach was just dumping water on her to cool her down). 

I can't complain having had an outdoor June reception in Phoenix for our wedding.  

I think backyard receptions are the very best kind!

Once the sun went down, we were having too much fun to notice anymore.

The kids might have taken over the indoor room that had a pool table and other toys.
Gus found this toy gun and was quite pleased with it.  I might have made him pose with the Bride and Groom for some "shotgun wedding" pictures.  I just really wish I could have made him go do this during the actual vows. (Also, Erin is not expecting so don't go spreading rumors).

Zach's grandparent's live in Dallas so we were happy to get to see them on this trip, too, since we had recently missed Grandpa's 90th birthday.  We were lucky enough to stay with one of his uncle's and go out with some of the family for brunch one day.

They were so excited to see the boys and finally meet Nora.

We also visited them in their retirement home and played some Polish Poker.  Grandma dominated.

We have lots of friends in Dallas still so I always want to see as many of them as possible.  Of course, that means a lot of driving my family all over Dallas-Fort Worth, but it is always worth it.

I lucked out and got to see these two favorite ladies in one swoop:

Nora also got to see her best friend Ingrid again...

We had to make our mandatory visit to the old alma mater.  Gus found his building.

We met Nora's Godfather, Erik, up at the Capp Bar.  I can't tell you how much I love the smell when I walk in there.  It takes me back to college in two seconds and then I buy a really delicious coffee that is so cheap I feel like I really have stepped back in time.

We are so blessed to have this guy in our lives.

We took the obligatory Tower pictures because it is just so lovely how could we resist?

Okay, I won't mock UD because I love it dearly.  If the campus can be that unappealing and I still think it is the best school in the world then it must really be awesome at what it does.

Last stop, was to see some friends of ours from Phoenix that had moved to Texas two years ago.  

We all picked up right where we left off and the kids had a blast playing together.  Gus was in heaven with their costume collection.

It sure was a busy trip, but we had a great time.  

Thanks for getting us out to Texas, Erin and Gene. 

We will back.