Casey and Kristi

One of our stops along the roadtrip – somewhere in southern New York state.

On our way to the Highights weekend we stopped and saw friends. It was so fun to get to see Alyn’s new little blessing, baby Elsie, and to help Alyn and Matthew unpack at their new house – they live in the US now – yay!!!

At some falls near Alyn’s house in western New York.

We also saw Katrina and her fam on our roadtrip. I love the whole talking in person thing. Wished we lived closer.

Mom and Dad came to visit and brought us a whole bunch of my baby clothes from when I was little as well as some new clothes. Katrina had also given me a couple bags of baby girl clothes, so Mom and I sorted everything, lined the drawers in our new baby dresser, and got some of the baby stuff from around the house put away. Casey and I also took Mom and Dad to the Fall Festival, a crazy food fest. Should’ve gotten some pics there, but didn’t.

My side of the family spent a weekend in a vacation house outside of Chicago in August. I use the term "vacation house" lightly; it was advertised as such, but the pool was out of order, the oven was missing it’s door, the house didn’t have the number of beds it promised, it had counted the unfinished basement as a bedroom, etc. Despite all that, we had a great time playing games, eating amazing Chicago pizza, roasting marshmallows, playing with nieces, and eating. Lots of eating. Thanks, Shaun, for bringing your Wii!

Mario Kart on the Wii – yeah, it was intense.

We celebrated our anniversary in Amish country in northern Indiana at Spring View Bed and Breakfast over the weekend (photos below). Casey and I had a sad week last week, so the weekend was a much needed getaway to relax and reflect.
We also got to visit my friend Alyn and her fiance. I completely forgot to pull out my camera to take photos of them, that’s how excited I was to see Alyn! She’s lived in the middle east for the last 2.5 years, so it’s rare that we get to hug and chatter in person.

We came home to our huge and lovely hibiscus flowers blooming in our backyard (my hand for comparison):

We had some guests this summer, visited some friends out of state, and enjoyed our friends here and our new firepit immensely.
Here are some random photos of all that: