There's no place like home...

Sometimes I wish it were as easy as knocking together my ruby slippers to find my way home.  The past two weeks I have learned just how elusive home is right now.  We love being in Calgary where all our family is near, but going back to Michigan for Jared's grad made us realize just how much it became our home while we lived there.  Driving into the Rochester area we felt a wave of comfort flow over us.  We spent a few days with some of our closest friends, and even though we were sleeping on the floor, we felt more comfortable than we have in many months.  First we went to the Govern's, and the Paxtons came to play aswell.  After the first hugs things fell right back into place and we sat and talked and laughed and carried on as if we had never left. 

The neatest thing was to see Eli fall right back into his friendships.  It didn't take a few minutes for he and Ava to fall back into it.  I honestly have never seen two kids play so well as they do, and five months apart didn't change that at all.  Here's Ava helping Eli undo his buttons.  We seriously miss Ava!

After the Govern's we went to stay with the Jamison's.  We LOVE the Jamisons!  The weather was so gorgeous that we stayed up and talked in the backyard until way too late, we went to the zoo and otherwise enjoyed ourselves.  Here's a few shots of the zoo.

The nicest part about being there was having Jared around all the time.  I'm not sure I like this idea of him working and being away all day, every day.  We like having him around!

On Sunday morning we did crepes with the Wallaces and then went to Rochester ward, OUR ward!  I didn't even want anyone to make a big deal about us being there, because I wanted it to feel like we still belonged.  It was so nice to be surrounded by people we knew.  I went up to two new sisters that had just moved in and told them how lucky they were to be there, and how wonderful the ward was, and I felt like telling them if they didn't appreciate it like they should they didn't deserve to be there!!!  Seriously, I almost did.

 We spent the last few days in Michigan with our dear friends the Paxtons.  Sarah is so wonderfully pregnant and I secretly hoped she would go into labour while we were still there so I could meet her little baby. But instead of birthing, we spent the time doing what we've always done: hanging out and letting the kids play.  It was wonderful!

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We read the greatest book at the Paxtons called Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy.  Luckily, they happened to have a bumblebee costume so E could reenact the entire book.  He makes a wonderful Bumblebee Boy!!!

We spent the last day there at Greenfield Village, a historical village that Henry Ford created.  It was really neat to explore.  We never had a chance to go there while we lived in Michigan, so I'm glad we went on this trip.

It was really a wonderful trip.  I am already planning our next visit back.  Tyler and Eric graduate next summer, so I figure why not go and see them walk?!  Hopefully between now and then we will find our home, but it's nice to know that we will always have a family there!