{a reunion of sorts}

As many student head back to college around this time of year, I am always reminded how much I loved Linfield. 

I loved my four years there and left with some amazing, life long friends. 

Between living in various cities, jobs and kids, we don't see one another nearly enough, but when we do we always have a fabulous time.  We managed to plan a little summer get together to coordinate with one of Ali's already planned trips home.  Byrd and Sarah made the drive down from Seattle and we enjoyed a few hours together, shopping, eating, talking, laughing and celebrating Melissa's soon-to-be sweet pea.  It was a glorious few hours and I sincerely treasure our time together!

Andrea, Carrie, Melissa, Ali and me

(you may notice that Sarah is conspicuously absent from our picture...saddest story - after packing up her two littlest ones, she made the 3+ hour drive from Seattle, stopping multiple times for potty breaks and snacks.  She arrived in Portland later than planned but was able to meet us at Nordstrom for a quick bite to eat.  We wanted to do a little shopping before we headed over to Carries, so after a few stops Sarah headed into the Nordstrom dressing room with a couple of pairs of jeans and both kids.  Since West had been couped up in the car seat, stroller and Ergo, she let him down to crawl a bit.  Unfortunately, Julia moved the tri-fold mirror and baby West's fingers were between them.  There was a lot of blood but Sarah stayed super calm - who knew that Nordstrom had a trained medic on staff?  And he was cute, too!  Anyways, I digress.  The medic got West's finger bandaged as well as he could but suggested that Sarah get it checked out and evaluated for stitches.  We found a near by urgent care clinic but they weren't able to stitch his finger because he was so young.  Sarah then had to drive to St. Vincent's ER...West was sedated and received 5 stitches.  Terrible!  So, all in all she spent over 7 hours travelling to spend less than an hour with us.  It was so sad, but I was so impressed by Sarah's attitude and calmness. She was amazing.  Next time, we're coming to Seattle, Sar!

Love these girls

Sweet little Drew was the only kiddo in attendance this time around

(Sarah would have had her two littlest ones had the unfortunate incident not occurred)

He's such a great mix of both of Ali's other two...and such a love.  He was a trooper shopping with his mama and me, barely fussed at all.