Fat Tuesday Reunion

The primary reason for the timing of our Texas trip (although we would have certainly gone sometime during the summer) was a reunion with my 5 best girlfriends from college---the Fat Tuesday group. We met at Emerald's house in Abilene and had a great time eating at some of our favorite Abilene restaurants, exploring the many new additions to ACU, playing with the two newest members of our group (Lily, 21 months, and Shepherd, 8 months), and talking, talking, talking.

Although I've seen all the members of the group at various times over the last several years, we hadn't all been together since the summer of 2008. Many things have changed since then (namely, we've gained one husband and two babies), so we really needed to catch up. I'm hoping this is something we can make an annual tradition.

Me and Lily. She took a little while to warm up to me, but by the end of the weekend I think we were pretty good buddies. She's such a petite little thing, but she sure knows what she wants. Lily bosses people around in this tiny voice, and it's hilarious. But, seriously, she is such a sweet, smart little girl, and it was so fun to watch Em be such a good mom to her.

The whole gang (Lily, Emerald, Erin, Kalyn, Shepherd, Carolyn, Brittany, and me). I think it's pretty amazing that we were able to get everyone with their eyes open and looking at the camera except for Shep.

Lily's suspicious of Carolyn. :)

Miraculously, someone got Shep to laugh at the exact moment the picture was being taken. I wish I could take credit for that grin, but it wasn't me. I'm in love with this little boy. All he wanted to do was crawl around, but I kept picking him up and making him let me hold him. :) One day, I was kissing him on the cheek, and he turned around and gave me a peck on the lips. It was so cute! I just about died.

Erin and Britt enjoying dessert at Cypress Street Station

And what would a Fat Tuesday reunion be without a cake? Erin is a girl after my own heart. We walked into McKay's for a little snack and walked out with this deliciousness. Yummmmm.

Lily enjoying a little bit of Em's dessert. When I'm a mom, my child will have to order her own dessert. :)

While I was having my "girl time," Darby had a little mini-reunion with two of his closest friends from ACU. On Sunday, we were able to visit Westgate together. It was so wonderful to see everyone. We miss Westgate soooo much. Several people there are trying to convince us to move back to Abilene when Darby graduates. And, in fact, the big news is that ACU is starting an engineering program, so we'll see. . . . In all seriousness, I don't think we'll go back to Abilene, at least not right away, but I NEVER thought we'd live in Illinois, so I'm not ruling out the possibility. I cannot tell you how excited I would be if that happened. When I was at ACU, I loved it, but I never thought I'd want to live in Abilene. Now that I'm gone, I really appreciate what a neat community it is. At least, if we don't live there, we know we'll always have friends and family there who will welcome us and give us an excuse to eat our beloved Sharky's burritos!