Thanks, Volcano

Shortly after Mark and I were married we had the incredible opportunity to live in Wymount Terrace (married student housing at BYU). We lived there for three and a half years. I consider those years precious, memorable, and priceless. It marks a pivotal point in my life and I believe I left a better person as a result of the experiences and opportunities we had, and because of the people with whom we associated.
A couple weekends ago we had the chance to have a mini-reunion with two of our favorite Wymount friends - Ashlee and Tyler Frank, and Karen and Jamey Gregson. The Franks currently live in Washington state and the Gregsons live in England. They decided to "meet in the middle" and come to Florida for a visit. They stayed for a week in West Palm Beach (about 2 1/2 hours south of us). Unfortunately, we couldn't stay the whole week because Mark had to work, but we did get to spend a couple of days with them - reminiscing, laughing, and renewing our friendships.

All the gang together

Mark, Tyler & Jamey

Erin, Karen, & Ashlee

The kids loved the attention they got from all the adults and we had a great time playing at the beach and swimming in the pools at the luxurious resort. After spending a couple days together, saying good-bye was difficult, especially knowing they were still having fun together (we left on Monday and they were staying till Saturday). Aubree pouted the whole drive home (she had gotten quite attached to Ashlee during our short visit), and I can't say I blamed her.
The next Saturday, however, Mother Nature conspired to give us more time with our friends. The ash spewing from the volcano in Iceland and the resulting shut down of all air travel to Europe, made it impossible for the Gregsons to get home. Though tough on them (their 2 kids and jobs were waiting for them in England), we had the pleasure of having them stay with us for almost a week.
We decided to let Jamey and Karen sleep in Aubree's room and I informed Aubree she would get to sleep on an airbed in Bryce's room. "Unless," I joked, "you want to sleep in the crib!"
Aubree quickly became infatuated with Jamey. She was glued to his side the entire week. In fact, she was so interested in Jamey, that she wasn't even interested in the "baby in my belly" - a novel situation. Jamey was so good and patient with her. I'm getting slightly concerned about her overly affectionate nature. I hope by the time she's a teenager she's a bit more reserved... Karen totally won over Bryce's affections. With Aubree and Bryce thoroughly entertained, my week was wonderfully relaxing (Karen even made dinner two nights and she's a great cook!).
We got to play tour-guide and did some fun Florida things like:
Scouting for alligators (we saw 10 on our wildlife drive!)
Observing manatees
Soaking up the sun at the beach
While we're glad they can finally go home to their children, we're sorry to have them leave. The only thing that would have made the week better is if the Franks could have been here too!