Our Epic Road Trip - Georgia

We got up and going on the morning of the 30th...we were on our way to Georgia! We've all been so excited to see Jami and her family, and to finally see their new life in Georgia. As we drove through St. Louis, Danny took a little detour off the beaten path so we could get a good look at the St. Louis Arch. It was pretty cool!

We drove through Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee before getting into Georgia. I can't even begin to describe how captivated I was by the landscape. There were just so many trees and rivers! At one point, somewhere in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains, we entered a sort of valley with the mountains on either side of us. I was absolutely stunned to see the whole vista covered in a solid blanket of trees! It was so gorgeous.

After driving 571 miles and being in the car for about 10 hours, we finally made it to the Downs' house in Cumming, GA! It was so wonderful to see everyone again...but most especially our sweet Sister Rose Downs. She had just come home from her mission to Irvine, California a couple of weeks  earlier, and it was so good to hug that girl again! And my amazing family made sure to have a little birthday party ready for our Claire, complete with presents and a birthday cake made by none other than Jannet Downs (Jeff's mom). It just made Claire's whole birthday. We spent the evening touring the house, visiting, and playing with cousins. Definitely worth driving 2000 miles to be there, without a doubt.

The next day was graduation day! We expected the graduation to take a couple of hours, and so it did. There were a LOT of names to read! Of course our favorite was "Natalia Camille Downs..with honors". We also had to give a big cheer for Tali's "friend" JB. :) I cannot believe my Tali, my bestest buddy, graduated high school. I so clearly remember playing with her when she was just a cute, chubby, pig-tail wearing toddler. She's always been such a good friend to me, and a blessing in my life every minute she's been here. I'm so so proud of her, and so so lucky to be her aunt!

After graduation we met up with another family from Jami's ward, the Damiano's, for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Chuy's. The food was really good...but the experience we had there was even better!! It deserves it's own post entirely, so I won't spoil the surprise here. :) It was a great graduation day, and Tali was so happy we were there for her big day. And so were we!

The one thing we wanted to do while we were in Georgia was hike. So the next morning Jeff and Jami took us out to the Chattahoochee River Trail...which is basically their back yard. Again, I couldn't get over how gorgeous everything was!! And I didn't mind the humidity one bit. In fact, I kind of liked it. The trees...oh my goodness, the trees! Chance showed Johnny the cool vines that grow on the trees. You know, the kind Tom Sawyer would use to swing out over a river bank and into the water with! So cool. The other cool thing was how comfortable Joey was in his new hiking back pack, and how comfortable Danny was wearing him the whole time! Joey would nap when he wanted, and then happily watch the surroundings when he was awake. It was awesome! After a mile and a half or so, the trail opened up to the banks of the Chattahoochee River...which was so beautiful. It was such a huge river, and the water was clear!! There were lots of fly fishermen, and kayakers too. I wished we had the time and equipment to spend time in and on the river. Another trip, for sure. We had the best morning out on that trail, and it felt so good to get some physical exertion in after so many days spent driving.

Our time in Georgia was awesome because aside from the graduation on Wednesday, we had no plans! Nothing we had to do, and no where we had to be! We enjoyed slow mornings, though Joey tended to want to start the day early. But he was kind of the star of the show, so everyone was okay with his early start to the day. :)

We decided we had loved our hike the day before so much, we wanted to check out another trail the next day. Jami took us to "The Greenway", which was...you guessed it...gorgeous!! This might have been my favorite spot. It is miles and miles of boardwalks, surrounded by the tallest most beautiful trees. Some are more than a hundred years old! The kids even found turtle in one of the little ponds on the side of the boardwalk, and my kids thought that was about the coolest thing ever. We all enjoyed walking and talking, and I found that I spent a lot of time talking to Rose, Tali, and Ace. I have loved these kids for as long as I can remember...they were, in so many ways, like my first kids. I have loved them fiercely since the days they were born, and they've alway been my friends. But it struck me how much I enjoyed them as people, not just my nieces and nephew. I decided I needed a selfie of me and my used-to-be-littles, but we couldn't get a decent picture. Danny got frustrated and said he'd just take it for us, but I was adamant I wanted a selfie. It has a different look to it, you know? So he said, "Great, have Ace stick his arm out and it'll look like a selfie." And you know what? It worked! Best fake-selfie ever!! When will I learn to just listen to Danny? :) My sweet husband was all about assisting everyone with their crazy schemes that day, as he also lent his strength in boosting Rose up for their epic piggy-back pic. :) And Johnny was in his element with all the critters about! He found a dragonfly, and he also picked up a caterpillar that the boys had found but everyone else was too skittish to pick up. Johnny plucked him right up, and when I told him to put him back he said, "But Mom, he likes me! I think it thinks I'm his father!" That had us all laughing...

It has been unusual, and possibly has never happened before, that we have so much time to just be at the Downs' house. We are good about getting together, but it's usually for the major events...and it's always a marathon trip. I loved watching everyone just be together. In the girls' case, I'm pretty sure Lily had to beat them off with a stick so she could go to the bathroom in peace! :) They had so much fun together though. The boys played and then fought and then played again, so they did just like boys do! I even got to do some cooking with Tali, which we both very much enjoyed. 

On Saturday, our last full day in Georgia, we decided we needed to get back out hiking. This time they took us to Haw Creek Park. The trail was so cool, and different from the other two we'd done. And this one ended at a little playground, which was nice for the kids. And by kids, I mean Danny and Ace, too. :) Somehow we ended up taking slow-mo videos of everyone jumping off and onto the equipment. It was a blast! Also, I have to add here (since this is when I finally took pictures of them) that Ace and Joey were insta-buddies on this trip. Joey absolutely loved Ace! He would pretty much only let Ace hold him, and he especially loved pretending he couldn't hear Ace when he would call out to him. It was hilarious to watch! What's crazy is I remember playing with Ace when he was Joey's age. Where did the time go?

After the park, Jeff treated the adults to a nice BBQ dinner...and that included Rose and Tali! We all ate WAY too much, and enjoyed shouting conversation to each other over the rather loud (but good) live music. We had a great time, and it was the perfect way to spend our last evening in Georgia.

The next morning, we went to church with the Downs and had a wonderful experience during Sacrament Meeting listening to some very powerful testimonies (again, I'll cover that in another post). Then we had an impromptu dinner with the Damiano's after church, and Tali and I were so grateful we had made SO MANY meatballs and doubled the sauce the day before! It was such a wonderful afternoon that we had a very hard time pulling ourselves away. We had a six hour drive ahead of us that evening to get us to Florida, but we just didn't want to leave. It had been the best visit, and with the Fam being in Georgia, these visits aren't as frequent as we would like. Luckily for all of us, the Downs will be heading to Utah in July. If we didn't know we'd be seeing them so soon, I don't think we would have been able to leave!

I know I've written a lot about my relationship with Jami and her family. So many of my happiest memories growing up are with Jeff, Jami, and their kids. And I am who I am today in no small part because of the time I spent living with their family. Most of those memories took place in their home in Parker, Colorado...so I wondered how I would feel in this new home. And you know what? I felt every bit as much like I was coming home there as I did when we would go to Parker. I didn't realize how much that meant to me until it was time to leave. I cried for the first 15 minutes of our drive away. My heart was happy and sad at the same time, my heart simultaneously full and broken. I am so grateful for my family! I'm grateful for all the time and work that we've all put into our relationships, so that we can enjoy the heavenly benefits of those relationships. I was overwhelmed with how much I enjoyed my time with my grown up littles, and it hurt to leave them behind...just like it always has. My heart broke for my kids, as they cried and cried leaving their favorite cousins behind. And my heart swelled with gratitude that these nieces and nephews that I have loved so much have in turn taken my sweet children into their hearts and loved them as much I as do them. I learned so much about heaven and family on this trip. We were only half way through our epic road trip, and it's already the trip of my lifetime.