Everything is more fun with Family . . .

By Thursday night, Bestefar and Bestemor as well as Nanna and Grandy had made it to our beautiful state! We were so excited to wake up to them on Friday morning! The Tessem's picked up the Jones' from the airport, while we went with the Boster's to shop at the Duke Bookstore, and explored the campus a bit the long way, meaning walking a lot. But, it was a good walk, the kids were great sports, and we even got to listen to the organ play music in the Cathedral. Quite impressive! When everyone met up at the house, we dubbed them with the necessary DUKE gear, and all went to get the kids from the bus. It's amazing how fun that can be with so many people we love in company :) For dinner, we made as-close-to-authentic-southern-barbecue-sandwhiches complete with barbecue slaw, and pulled pork and yummy potato salad that Aunt Melinda helped make. And, after a quick run to "Everything but Granny's Panties" with my parents, and some last minute ingredients, we ate and got the kids ready to go trick-or-treating down the street. Benjamin wanted to be a spy-bat, but I think he settled for a vampire. Lily wanted to be a cheer-leader and with her new duke attire, and some quick granparent thinking, we even had pom-poms. Jackson was a very cute little pumpkin, and we had fun saying hello to our neighbors and picking up some more loot. Happy Halloween!

Later on, Nanna "dubbed" Jeff with his Birthday present of a very cool Duke running shirt. (I don't know if you're noticing a theme to our clothing lately?) It is really a very cool shirt, with all the necessary wicking capabilities necessary to a comfortable run. Thanks Nanna and Grandy!

Saturday Morning, we got dinner going, and everyone together, and went over to the Duke Gardens to see the beautiful plants, and atmosphere. There were lots of fun photo opportunities, and we made it back up to the Chapel, but it was closed for a wedding. We did see the wedding party arrive via trolley, but could not show the Taylor's the inside. It was still a beautiful morning, and along our walk, we got a message that Aunt Sharron and crew had made it! So, we headed over to their hotel, and it was so fun to Grandy and his Sister (Aunt Sharron) reunited after what has been a very long time. It was fun to see Uncle Ronny, and cousin Emily also, (who is an aweful lot like a little sister of mine :) Love ya!

After visiting for a bit back at the house, it was time to head over to the Church for what we've been so excited about. Benjamin was Baptized on Saturday by his Father, and witnessed by his Grandfathers. Aunt Sharron said the opening prayer, Grandy led the music, Nanna played the piano and gave one of the talks, Bestemor gave a talk and was assisted by Bestefar, Jeff and I did the musical number, Matt Heaton conducted the meeting very well, and Melinda Jones said the closing prayer. We also had help with yummy rootbear floats. Thanks so much for all those who helped, and were able to come to Benjamin's baptism. We love you Bud!

Saturday night, we headed over to the American Tobacco campus and the Durham Bulls Ballpark to show family some of our favorite places to go. The ballpark was open, at least from the top, and we seriously contemplated running the bases once, but chickened out. ;) Grace was mesmerized by some of the statues, and we all enjoyed being together, but were getting tuckered out. So, we headed home for some tasty chili, and visiting. Nanna and Grandy took me with them to do some errands, and we found what we thought would be a fun movie. Have you noticed that there are knock-off movies out there with similar titles to the one you actually want to see? Well, we happened to pick one of these, and had to take it directly back so that we didn't lower our IQs any further. Needless to say, by the time we were ready to watch the next movie, we fell asleep. Ah well, it was still fun to just be together. On Sunday, we made tomatillo/pork enchiladas in the morning, and Benjamin helped make his Birthday cake so that all would be ready to go when Church was through. After we all were together for Church :) we had a fun dinner, and got to play Hoopla and Encore. I must say that Encore was my favorite, I know, big surprise, but Uncle Ronny, and Bestemor really came through in the clincher, and it was fun to hear the different eras of music melded together. Oh, and the women won! Go Girls!
On Monday, it was time to say goodbye to Bestemor and Bestefar as they headed back to Utah, the Taylors had to head back on Sunday, and so the Goodbyes had begun. The Tessem's took the kids to school, and helped pick them up a bit early to have a little more time together. Nanna and Grandy took me and the little ones around to see more of the sights. I forgot that many of the state run buildings are closed on Monday, so even though we went to the Bennet Place, we couldn't go inside. We did get out and read one of the signs anyway, and took in more of the beautiful leaves. We'd planned to go to the beach in the afternoon, but time was running short, and the weather was a bit volatile, so we changed plans and had yummy LocoPops, played in one of the kids favorite parks, ate out for dinner, and had time to fall asleep in a movie at home. Nanna and Grandy got up before 5:00 am thismorning to catch their flight to the west coast. We sure loved having family here, and miss you already! Come back and see us anytime :)