This weekend we celebrated my birthday and Mother's Day. We were all good to each other. On Saturday Mom, Grandma, and Sierra took me out to a big breakfast. I was encouraged that Grandma came from Raleigh to see us! Afterwards, they dropped me off in downtown Roanoke to paint pottery with my friend Kari- we both painted something to hang on the walls in our homes. I didn't get a picture of either of these events :(, but when I pick up the fired and glazed pottery, I'll bring my camera!
When I got back, Aaron and I took a long afternoon nap and got up in time to get my gift: an outfit from my favorite store, Ann Taylor Loft. He picked out what he liked and that's what we went with! He included the whole package in the gift: the skirt, top, shoes, sunglasses, purse, and headband. It was a fun experience. When we got back, Aaron made a steak dinner for me. He even had a birthday cake and sang to me! We ate on our deck, and as soon as we were finished, the fireworks started going off and we were able to watch together. Now, he's magical, but he wasn't the one to orchestrate fireworks for my birthday. They just happened to be doing them at the baseball stadium across the street from us. It was a memorable night!On Sunday after church we went to my parents' house for lunch and swimming. We celebrated Mother's Day and my birthday. I got a couple of gift cards, a birthday book, and mom crocheted this awesome blanket for the black and white room in our house. She spent a lot of time on it! We also gave gifts to mom for her day. It was a relaxing afternoon... (I didn't drop my pants for the photo...I am wearing a bathing suit.)

Dad served mom on Mother's Day by helping her clean the pool.

Stephen arrived home late Sunday night. We met him at the airport with mom, dad, Michael, Joey, and Sierra, and then everyone came over to have dessert and carry on the excitement of having Stephen home. He was tired, but slept in on Monday so that we could go to Outback that night for a celebration and to hear more about his trip. Today he and I had lunch together, too...practicing our Spanish!Nothing like huggin' your mom or dad's neck after having been abroad for 4 months!

The weary traveler (48 hours no sleep).

Last night we had our monthly social so that the couples in our class can get to know each other better. It was our turn to host the social, so we proposed a dress-up date night! We all dressed up and went to downtown Roanoke to the same restaurant that Aaron and I went to for our anniversary. Then we came back to our house for dessert and conversation.

Mrs. Susan Reynolds

Yesterday was my oldest brother's 26th birthday. On Sunday we had a pool party at our parent's house. Mom served crab legs and dad grilled steaks. We played Marco Polo in the pool and relaxed in the hot tub. He opened gifts and we had cake. What a great party!
You'll notice that my dad has his uniform on on a Sunday night. Our party must not have been as fun for him because he left to go to work for about an hour!

On Sunday we invited a family from our church and a family that I work with in Vinton over to our home for lunch and to the Salem Avalanche baseball game. We had a blast! There were 11 people in the house...the most we've had so far in here, but it worked well. We learned a lot about Liberia and Togo, the countries that these families are from. I think they were happy to meet each other. It was a great afternoon!

1. You get to clean the house thoroughly.
2. You get to work in the yard:

3. You get to have lunch with a great friend (Carissa and I went to Olive Garden today).

4. You get to see your youngest brother go to prom with a really sweet girl (Caitlin):

This weekend we went to NC again! It was our 4th trip in 5 weeks. We are glad to go, though. On Friday we left in the early afternoon for Fayetteville. We met Aaron's family there at PeePaw's house. Uncle Tom's family also came that night and we had a big pizza dinner. We celebrated Ben's birthday since he will be in Iraq on June 15. On Saturday we hung out together until a big lunch, for which Aunt Julie, Casey, Johnny, and Emma joined us. It was a big party! We were glad to spend some time with family.

Happy Birthday, Ben (on June 15)!

We played outside a lot yesterday.

Aunt Julie with her grandbaby Emma.

We will miss you, Ben! Come back safely!

We couldn't hold that pretty pose for very long.