more travel anxiety

tomorrow morning at 6:30am we're leaving for girls camp.  this is so sad for me to admit but i would give anything not to go.  my appetite has been super weird lately and the heat and altitude has been giving me bad headaches and making me faint/dizzy every time i stand up.  but that's not really it.  because, i mean, i really really really loved girls camp when i was a kid.  i probably loved it more than any other girl there but this time it's not the same.  why?  because i have a kid and a husband now.  but mostly because i have a kid now.  i hate leaving her, even for date nights.  my time is much happier and more enjoyable when she's with me.  i love nap time as much as the next person but aside from that, i don't ever feel like i need a "break" from her.  so my biggest reason for not wanting to go to camp is actually that i'm going to have to be away from my baby.

i spent the whole night with her since my christopher spent the night in bed trying to rest off a headache.  i hugged her and kissed her as much as i could.  we played dress up, alphabet blocks, drug dog cards, a bunch of new toys from liza, and a million other things.  and then it was time for bath and bed.  after we prayed i held her in my arms and told her how much i love her and that i'm going bye bye tomorrow and will be gone for a few days while she plays with her friends and daddy and grandma, grandpa, and uncle nate.  she was excited about seeing uncle nate.  i told her i'd be back soon and then we could play some more and that i would miss her while i'm gone.  i cherished holding that little body in my arms and fought back tears as i mourned the hours and days ahead that i would miss spending with her.  i laid her in her crib and told her goodnight.

then i went straight downstairs to my laptop, opened up my blog, and scrolled through post after post after post of pictures and stories about her.  i left her for ten days when we went to dubai.  four days while we were in napa.  and this will only be four days while i'm at camp.  i won't lie... dubai was really hard.  but napa was not as bad.  and this?  well, my heart is breaking.  and my tears are spilling.

i know she won't even notice or care that i'm gone.  i am 100% not at all worried about her.  i am 10000000% worried about myself.  i know i say it jokingly quite a bit but i am absolutely and completely sincere when i ask you this time to please please pray for me.  specifically that my heart won't hurt so bad and also that none of my girls will see their young women president crying in her tent because she wants to go home.

and now i just need to dry my eyes, suck it up, and pack my bags.  but really, please pray for me while i'm gone.  i would really appreciate it.

back from the beach

we made it home.  late last night but better late than never.  yesterday we woke up early, packed, drove in the car for eight hours, got to the airport, ate at the airport varsity!, waiting around for a few more hours for our flight, endured three hours of flying, waited for our ride, made it back to parker, and rolled a sleeping baby in her crib after a very very long day.

and then i went to the store to get milk.  you do not want to be within ten miles of me if there is no milk in my fridge.

and then like zombies, honey and i passed out somewhere between 1:30 and 2am.

and then i had to wake up at a pleasant 5:57am this morning for ward council.  which is nothing when you think that honey had to wake up at 4:30 am to get meeting agendas and church stuff done.  all three of us reeeaaaallllyyy enjoyed that long nap time this afternoon.  i think i slept for at least three or three and a half hours.

ps- colorado is experiencing a heat wave and has hit record breaking highs.  i have girls camp later this week.  and might i remind you that we have no AC?  i put my kid to bed tonight in just a diaper.  hopefully she's still wearing it when she wakes up.

and pps- the beach was incredible.  family fun and games, pride and prejudice, hours upon hours reading and sleeping in the sun, listening to baby girl say "baby beach" about a hundred million times a day, eating great food all the time, kayaking with a pod of dolphins, and leaving behind the real world for an entire week.  i'm pretty addicted to my computer and even though i brought it with me, i only opened it the first night after we got there and then wednesday on my cooking day to find a recipe i needed.  and i kept my phone on silent and plugged into the wall for a full EIGHT days and neglected all calls and texts.  a technology cleanse so i could more fully enjoy my week at the beach with family?  absolutely necessary.  pictures and posts to come.

the marlboro man sandwich

this afternoon while i was at walmart and dreading already the idea of making dinner, i walked past the meat section and saw cube steak on sale.  i grabbed it knowing i had a delicious recipe for it.  but then when i got honey's "i'll be home in 45 mins" text i checked out the recipe and saw that it was supposed to simmer for two hours.  hmmm, i hadn't remembered that part.

enter pioneer woman's marlboro man sandwich!  i already had all of the ingredients and nothing was too difficult and it didn't require me to multitask and it only dirtied one pan and it had tons of butter so it would probably be delicious.

next time i make it i'll: 

     remember to buy sandwich rolls... we may have eaten this on tiny french bread slices which was delicious but messy.  

    be more generous with seasonings and sauce.

    maybe split it in half and make christopher's spicy.

    definitely add more onions.  onions are always the best part.

pioneer woman's marlboro man sandwich

mmm delish.

in other news: 

tonight we went to a small birthday get together for one of abigail's closest friends.  i need to have jodi email me the pictures because oh my goodness those girls were soooo cute.  we had tons of fun and baby girl had the time of her life.

my anxiety is kinda out of control.  i have way too much to do before we leave town.  as a side note... my suitcase is sitting in my closet and has been for months... it's still not fully unpacked from dubai.  if that gives you any idea of how much i dislike packing/unpacking.

BABY GIRL SAID "THANK YOU" before bed tonight!!!  i was waiting for the kissing noise and instead, she actually said the words!  it was exciting but very bittersweet.  although it does sometimes get tiring explaining that when baby girl blows them a kiss after stealing their cheese-itz, she's actually saying thank you in sign language. 

and because she's been unloading tons of new words on us lately i have to note just a couple more.  at elle's party, baby girl picked out bubbles as her party favor.  it was probably the lamest thing in the basket but i let her make the decision and when we got home i put them on the counter and forgot about them.  as we were heading up for bed she kept pointing at them saying "bubbles! bubbles!" clear as day.  bubbles is a very cute toddler word.  

and then of course we were reading one of those picture vocabulary board books before bed and when i'd say the word i'd ask her to say the word and she did a good job with the words for at least half of the pictures and so many of them are words she's never tried to say before.  it's seriously crazy how fast kids learn.

my daddy

here's a video from a few days ago.  my honey really loves this new and very frequently used phrase...

we've been experiencing a vocabulary explosion over here this past week.  much like when she was "learning to walk," baby girl has been holding out on me.  i've known it but now i'm seeing proof as she spouts out tons of new words each day.  and she almost always speaks in sentences even if the first few words sound more like a grunt.  to the trained ear (honey's or mine) it is easy to decipher the difference between "i want daddy" "where's daddy" "that's daddy's" "there's daddy" etc.  the number of words a stranger would be able to understand is probably still under 20 or so but the words, phrases, and sentences i can understand are growing exponentially.

just today new words included teeth, backpack, welcome, a number of different letters (Y and A were the clearest though)... actually never mind because there is no way i can remember all of them.  the thing that was cracking me up today was that all of the sudden baby girl has decided to vary her yes and no answers.  nevermind that just last week she was answering questions by just saying "no" or nodding her head...  this week negative answers include but are not limited to "no" (in all of its intonations), "nope" and the ever popular "naaawwwwwhhhhh."  positive answers range from "yes" (that's the cutest because of the slight speech impediment sound from the ssss), "yeah" and "yep."  

anyways, it's hard to get videos of these things because she doesn't perform well, but constantly she's saying things like "there he is!!!" that i was counting as mumble before i realized that actually it's pretty legit and getting more recognizable by the day.  

my goodness my baby is growing up!

ps- baby and i are leaving for atlanta on sunday!!!  and holy cow i've already been experiencing packing anxiety for days.  oh my heavens i have so much to get done before we leave and all i wish is that i could just lay down and then wake up in georgia.  who wants to come pack for me?!  and who wants to play next week?!?!

back home... in colorado

baby and i just got home tonight.  i was so sad to leave atlanta.  of course.  my visits always seem to be too short... even when they're weeks long.  my biggest struggle this time was getting the time to spend with everyone i wanted to spend it with.  i spent lots of time with friends but i still wanted more.  to hang out with more friends and more time with the ones i saw.  and my sister liza.  i totally thought i would get more time with her but things were so busy and hectic over christmas i feel like it just flew by without us ever getting a quiet moment.  same with my brother walter.  i thought that with him being at home i'd get to see him more.  but turns out, he's rarely home.  i got to spend tons of time with my mom though.  and of course that was amazing.  every moment spent with her is always amazing.

packing this morning was a feat.  i managed to spend two minutes each with buddy (walter), ms adams (my old piano teacher), and cory's sister sarah (my pen pal and in-real-life friend) before taking off.  and mom and dad and baby and will (my nephew) and i all had a lovely lunch at the varsity.

the flying experience was exhausting.  mostly because i was searching the atlanta airport for baby's missing pink boot.  she was wonderful on the plane though.  an angel for the first three hours.  and slightly difficult for the last 20 mins.  so that was a success.  she even slept for over an hour which was fabulous because when we flew a few weeks ago she did not.  and i don't think she's slept on about half of the flights we've taken in the past 6 or 7 months.  so i'm appreciative.

i am so cold right now.  colorado is cold.  my house is cold.  the water that comes out of my faucet when i wash my hands has bits of ice still in it from sliding down the rockies and into my pipes.  but really, i'm glad to be home.  in my own bed and with plenty of space to not live out of a suitcase and child proofed for baby.  i just need to not cry tomorrow morning when i'm lonely and miss my mother.

okay, i'm so tired.  i'll add pictures tomorrow... since there's no way i'm getting out of bed right now.  and really i just want to go to sleep because i've been exhausted for the past month.... every since i stepped foot in atlanta.

ps- baby girl is amazing.  like on our branson trip, in atlanta, she got a binky to go to sleep for every nap and night time.  but tonight we get home and honey puts her to bed (without a binky) in her own crib and there she peacefully falls asleep without even a squeak.  this girl loves her crib.  i wish they would invent a portable crib already.  non of this pack n play stuff.

so sad to be leaving.  and she must hate packing too.  like me.

i checked every drawer in the dresser and nightstand to make sure i had everything.  i did.  but i happened to stumble upon some shaving cream baby stole from the bathroom.

this is the giant stack of sweaters and shirts i borrowed from my mom this trip.  thanks mother!  i wish we could share clothes ALL the time!

they had so much fun together this trip.

we planned to have dad leave work around one and meet us at the varisty for lunch.  but then at 12:40 we found him on 400 as we were about to go through the toll booth.  so we drove to the varsity together.  this was taken somewhere on spring street.  (turns out he'd taken someone in the ward to a doctor's appointment.)

on the way, baby fell asleep.  whoops.

cousin will just hanging out.  with lightening mcqueen.

my parents have got to be the most excellent grandparents ever.

sneaking some onion rings.

still eyeing the onion rings of course.

my parents are hilarious.  i told them i wanted to take a picture and this is what they gave me.  although i may have mentioned it looking candid.  not sure though.

will had applesauce and meatballs

baby girl had a banana, a meatball, and a few bites of onion ring and chili slaw dog.  i learned she's not so much a fan of the slaw... just everything else.

oh, and frosted orange.  i'm sure craving one of those right now.

these two have a fiery love/hate cousin relationship and it's hilarious.

this afternoon though it was all about the love.

baby girl used to only love hoods.  but now she loves hats too.   and loves to put them on herself.

this is when we heard it rip.

this varsity had has been loved a little too much.

i have a good life.

baby girl learned "grandpa" the very first time we asked her to say it.  and she said "grandpa" a whole lot this trip.

i wish i'd noticed the missing boot when i took this shot.  or thought to look at this picture on my camera before backtracking through all of security and retracing my steps through the atlanta airport and getting on my hands and knees to look under cars and trucks parked outside of S3.

ps- when i told her to say bye to my mom she clung tightly and whined and didn't want to come to me.  can you say "uh oh!"

yikes

i have a whole lot to get done before church tomorrow i can't even think straight enough to list it out... which would be terribly useful.  and now that the crazy-all-weekend-so-far-festivities from honey's sister's wedding today are over, i have time to panic about how i haven't packed for our trip and baby and i are leaving after sacrament meeting at church tomorrow.

i may have mentioned it before but... i hate packing.

and baby is coming down with some sort of cough/congestion.

so i'm reeeaaallly looking forward to flying alone with baby girl tomorrow.

and i hate packing.

the first time frontier failed me. and royally.

yesterday was kind of horrific.  it would have been a bad day for me except it was all so ridiculous i couldn't help but laugh.  seriously.  i couldn't make this stuff up if i tried.

it started out great.  this week is hillier family fun in branson missouri.  every year my honey's family goes on a christmas trip and we get to go with them!  we've been to cancun twice (in 2008 and 2010) and grand cayman once.  this year they decided to switch things up and go to branson missouri which is a show town in the middle of nowhere.  it's like a senior citizens/family version of vegas.

anyways, our flight was at 11 or something and we didn't have to leave our house til 9:15 so we spent the morning getting ready and everything was going really great.  baby slept in while showered and got packed.  i guess i'm getting better at packing because after i'd packed everything for myself and for baby i still had a third of my suitcase available and half of baby's bag available.  and i was even bringing a weeks worth of diapers for her and packing for cold weather!  i was amazed.  this never happens.  normally i have to sit on my bags to get them closed.  actually, my suitcase zippers are all broken because of that.  i should ask for a new carryon bag for christmas but i'm a little nostaligic about this one.  it's been all over the world with me.

anyways, kirstyn picked us up and dropped us off at the airport.  we went through security just fine.  got to the gate.  life was good.

waiting.

and then it got messy.  chris's grandparents flight was delayed for three hours because of "computer issues."  it was supposed to come to denver and they were on the denver to branson missouri flight with us but they obviously weren't going to make the connection.  this is bad because there is only one flight a day from denver to branson.

then, i asked the frontier lady at the desk for a plastic bag for our carseat (they normally offer me one when i get a gate check tag but this time didn't) and the lady said they didn't have any.  she had no people skills and didn't seem easy to please so i went to a different frontier desk to ask a nicer looking lady.  she didn't have any but she called frontier check in to see if someone could bring me one.  apparently they were swamped and wouldn't be able to before we had to board.  but she said "well, let me take a look at your flight and see if i can get your daughter a seat.  she can ride in her carseat and then you don't have to worry about not having a bag.  GREAT!  THANKS FRONTIER KAREN!  I LOVE YOU!  so she's doing that when considerate karen says "i just need to check and make sure i'm okay to do this for you."  she talks to someone named bonnie who tells her "i'm working on something, don't mess with the seats."  karen looks sad, gets off the phone and tells me i'll need to go talk to bonnie about getting a seat for my baby.  then she points to bonnie.  the initial lady i talked to with no people skills.  greeeaaaattttt, now bonnie knows i went behind her back.

i talk to bonnie.  hey, karen said my daughter could probably have a seat for her carseat.  bonnie says "no, that won't work, we don't have two seats together.  i'm trying to work on getting a family together that currently has scatter seats"  so i tell her, actually i'm flying with a larger group so we could split up and sit individually so i could sit with my daughter and this family could sit together.  just tell me where the open seat is and we'll make it work."  then she switches it up on me and says, no, there isn't ANY free seat.  i tell her there for sure HAS to be free seats because i know people not able to make the flight.  and she says, oh, but they for sure will make the flight.  and i say, is this the two people coming from salt lake?  and she says "no, we already took them off the list because there is absolutely no way they'll make it (she'd just told my mother in law there was a good chance they'd get on the flight with us and not to worry).  so i bring up that since two of our party (the grandparents) aren't going to make it on this flight because they're plane is so delayed, can my baby have one of those available seats.  she just keeps saying "nonononononoblahblahblahblahnononono all of the seats are full and there are zero seats for your baby."   okay bonnie, whatever.

i walk off, tell chris.  he goes to bonnie and tells her to make a phonecall and get us a carseat bag.  she makes a fake phonecall, literally picks up the phone and pretends to talk to someone.  chris calls her out on it, she denies it, chris gets frustrated and leaves.  he goes to customer service and finds a carseat bag, puts our carseat in it and then carries this giant thing up to evil bonnie to show her that he was right and she was wrong and why did she lie to him blah blah blah.  kind of embarassing but kind of funny.  my mother in law said my honey gets that quality from her.  ; )

so we think that's the end of the story?  we are wrong.  everyone has boarded the plane and there are at least TEN to FIFTEEN empty seats on this plane!!!  THREE of them together, in the same row as my mother in law!  i was so mad i wanted to storm off that plane and punch evil bonnie or at least have her look around at the fifteen open seats that my kid's carseat could have occupied.  SERIOUSLY?!?!

then i heard the flight was only an hour long and i was like "y'know what, who cares, it's an hour, and it's nap time, my kid will sleep."  well, the flight was much longer than one hour.  maybe even more than two and a half hours.  because we got to branson and apparently there was only a half mile of visibility (as had been the case all day) and they needed at least a whole mile of visibility to land.  my question: WHY DID WE TAKE OFF IF WE KNEW WE COULDN'T LAND?!?!  anyways, we circled in the air for-ev-er before they flew us to kansas city. then we landed and waited for two hours for buses to come get us.

getting on the bus.  john's skateboard backpack held baby's stroller nicely.

then we drove OVER FOUR HOURS on a bus (with a twenty minute break... great, because we totally wanted to lengthen this experience!) to branson.  we were in the very back of the bus.  i was sitting next to baby and her carseat (which was not secured in any way... why don't buses believe in seatbelts?!?!) and my honey was sitting behind me next to a guy our age that fought in the war and has post traumatic stress disorder.  my honey normally doesn't talk much but he was loving this guy.  one of honey's best friends growing up went to kuwait and was sent home home with PSTD and schizophrenia.  so honey really knew how to handle this guy.  they talked the whole four hours and it was hilarious.  he told so many stories about the cambodian mafia and being tortured and being in foreign prisons but you never really know what's real and what's not.  honey and i both majored in psychology so this was all very interesting to us instead of scary or intimidating.  the guy told chris he was part norwegian and part cherokee so chris started chanting with him.  it was just the two of them but they got a pretty good "branson" chant going for a while.  ;-)

so as i said, we were at the very back of the bus where it was super bumpy and pretty hot.  baby had already taken two interrupted naps during the day but was getting really tipsy (surefire sign she's tired) and cuddly so i was held her.  and then wouldn't you know it, but just ten minutes from the end of the bus ride, she spit up a little on my shirt sleeve.  poor baby, so i turned around to tell chris and then it was like that scene from sixth sense.  projectile vomit. vomit, vomit, vomit over and over and EVERYWHERE.  it COMPLETELY covered the front of my shirt and the bottom half of my hair.  SOAKING wet.  and i had no extra shirt with me and since we were in a bus, and my bag was down underneath and also since we were in a bus, there was no sink or running water in the bathroom.  just some prepackaged moist towelettes, which did nothing for my situation.  the situation was completely hopeless.  i stepped out of the bathroom (apparently everyone had been hiding their noses under their shirts to avoid the overwhelming aroma of nasty milk baby vomit) and asked chris's two younger brothers if they wanted to give me their shirt (who cares that it was freezing cold and pouring rain outside?!?!) and luckily the older of the two (john) had a giant sweatshirt i could have.  so i took off my soaking wet shirt and put the sweatshirt on.  but that did nothing for my hair which looked like i'd dipped it in chunky confetti cupcake batter.  so i just had to pull it back and wrap the dry hair around the wet hair to contain the vomit in one super nasty bun on the top of my head.

finally, the bus stopped and we got off and waited in the airport baggage claim area (suuuper tiny airport, it was deserted except for the two busloads of people).  turns out, baby girl was also pretty covered in puke but it had mostly dried and contained no chunks... still smelled disgusting though.  we got our rental cars and lugged everything through the rain and got them all loaded with our bags and carseat and everything.  we were off!

chris's parents and two brothers were in one car and honey, baby, and me were in the other.  we were on our way to the hotel (30 minute drive or so) but had to stop for food.  sonic was the only option.  i don't handle large quantities of fast food very well late at night.  especially while traveling.  i always have a hard time eating when i travel.  we drive through the slowest sonic on the planet, get our food and head to the grocery store across the street.  baby fell asleep in the car (fabulous, a third nap, and at 10:30 at night... will she sleep tonight?) so honey stayed with her and i went to help gather groceries for the week.  the place was void of any other customers and we were still gathering groceries when the store closed at 11.  the grumpy cashier was anxious for us to get out of there.

k, to the hotel we go!  check in, pull around, lug all of our bags and the million bags of groceries (food for the week for 12 people!) through the pouring rain and up to our room.  home sweet home... kinda, but it really felt like it.  we unloaded the groceries, tried to get baby to eat (still wouldn't.  apparently she has trouble eating while traveling too!), gave her a bath, and got her in bed.  then honey went to bed.  then i showered and washed off all of the crusted vomit, blow dried my hair (i cant sleep with wet hair) and remembered baby's spit up clothes.  i didn't want them to stain so i washed them, by hand, in the bathroom sink and hung them to dry.

dried crusty hair (with chunks), right before i got in the shower

at 2:02 am i got in bed and went to sleep.

welcome to atlanta

first off, have i mentioned before how much i hate packing?  because i despise it.

let me tell you i've had more pleasant flying experiences than the one i had today.  there was no crying or anything and she was really well behaved but my baby did not sleep even one second of our three hour flight.  it was like trying to contain an octopus.  an octopus with adhd.  i was ready to pull my hair out.  but you know baby with her hair pulling fetish did that for me.  luckily i was wearing a black shirt so everyone could see that half of my hair was attached to my head and half was not.  it was disgusting and painful.  also her diaper may have leaked on her, me, and my nursing cover, and before we even got on the plane, i did quite a bit of trucking around the denver airport because the security guy couldn't scan my text message boarding pass and i had to go back upstairs to the delta counter to ask them to print out a paper boarding pass so i could haul myself and my bags and my baby in her carseat back down through security.  and then since that took so long, by the time i got to the plane, everyone had boarded and they said i had to gate check my rolly bag because there wouldn't be enough room for it.  i hate that.

on a positive note, delta didn't even bat an eye at my "diaper bag" which is actually just a huge duffle full of all of baby's things for the trip, my rolly gate checked bag was waiting for me on the baggage carousel, baby finally passed out at noon MST (she'd been awake for almost six hours), and mother and i had a delicious lunch at the varsity.  i love being home.

other things happened but instead of writing about them, i'll just post the pictures.  it was never fabulous but lately, my photography has seriously gone downhill.

waiting for mom

my bag and my "diaper bag".  not pictured: my loaded purse.

still passed out

don't let the grogginess fool you.  baby loves the varsity.

bath time!

go ahead and tell me.  i have the cutest kid ever.

she was playing with a dinosaur so i gave her stegosaurus spikes.  i'm a really good parent because i take advantage of bath time being an educational experience.

this is weed.  or sister lisa.  i love her to death and tonight was the first time i'd seen her in TWO WHOLE YEARS.  welcome home from finland weed!  remember you're always welcome at the maycocks where my dad will serve you a nice salad with the fatted salmon.

have you ever wondered why i'm so nazi about my kid always wearing a bow?  let me tell you.  the real purpose of this picture was to compare my child to my brother as a child.  sans bow and avec comb over, my baby turns into her uncle wally.  yes, he actually goes by uncle wally.  but i swear he's not weird and creepy.  except when he attempts a mustache.  but really, aren't those maycock genes amazing?  and dominant?

not pictured: BBB (big booty belen) who, after tonight, will now be going by the name "buns."  i love that girl.  especially when she says "toaster" with an american accent.  

let's start from the beginning... atlanta

i have some catching up to do... picture wise.  i've been making a conscious effort lately to take less pictures.  because when i take a ton of pictures it's too overwhelming to post them on here... or even facebook.  like that time my sweet christopher took me to europe for three weeks... there is no evidence of that... except on my computer.

so, i promise i'll post ALL of the pictures on facebook... and just give you the highlights right here.

starting with.... deliciousness.  first stop varsity.  of course.

baby's second varsity experience.

you thought i was kidding?  i wasn't.

sunday, it snowed.  and it didn't get above freezing til wednesday.

check out that accumulation!

cousin picture with skye after church.  not sure why baby looks so fat in this picture. 

uncle wally/baby matching picture.  we took lots of these.

tuesday night, i helped mom make a million cookies for a cookie exchange

made me feel like a kid again helping mom cut out the shapes and laying them on the cookie sheet.  pure heaven.

and the teething continues.  she looks just like the baby on the box with that one finger stuck in constantly.

the after picture of some organizing.  no wonder i loved tetris so much.  you should have seen the "before."

diana and i spent an hour madly rushing to different post offices trying to mail missionary lisa a package.  apparently i've passed along my hatred of the post office because this is what baby had to say about the experience.

mom and i spent a lot of time working on this puzzle.

a lot.

i had my very own christmas while dad, mom, and buddy documented the occasion.  felt more like my birthday than christmas.

i got this fabulous varsity t-shirt!

baby got this cute outfit for next summer.

monday night, diana, belen, and rachel came over to make smores.

baby girl is now the spit bubble master.

and tuesday, the night before i left, we hung out with the other maycocks and my blogging sister, emmy, came in town.

emmy packed for me because i hate packing.  she's really great.

mother and i finished the puzzle!

and then we had to say goodbye.  

all of the pictures from this atlanta trip can be seen here on facebook.