Zack's First Big Blue!

Zack got to compete in his first Big Blue Comp! He actually had two competitions this weekend and sadly I had to miss both of them. Thankfully Christopher is home and was able to go cheer him on with the help of Nick and Xander! I have no idea if they won any trophies - but Zack had a blast and that's all I care about. Also, Xander couldn't find Nick at all Saturday morning. He looked everywhere! Can you find him?

 

Windisch's on our Home Turf!

I can’t even explain how excited I was when I heard the Windischs were coming our way for a wedding. I didn’t care if I only got to give Charlie a quick hug—I would have driven anywhere just for that!

But somehow, we got so much more than a quick hug. We got to actually hang out, catch up, and talk. We grabbed lunch, then let the kids run around the Udvar-Hazy Museum while we strolled, visited, and tried to squeeze years of catching up into a few hours.

Before I knew it, it was time for them to head out so they wouldn’t miss their flight. It’s crazy to think about how much of our lives happened during that short time we lived in New Mexico together. These are the kinds of friends you may not see for years, but when you finally do, you just pick right back up like no time has passed.

And seriously… it is completely unfair that Charlie apparently never ages. 😂❤️

Hunters Farewell

While we were busy having fun at the airshow, the West Coast kids were having their own crazy-busy day!

Kallie, Josh, and Ethan got up bright and early and made the four-hour drive to be at Hunter’s 11:00 a.m. farewell. They stayed for his talk and dinner, then hopped back in the car and headed to Provo so Kallie could make it back in time for her performance of The Lamb of God. Ben met her there, and they had a great time!

(Not sure what happened to Ben during the whole first part of the day… 😂)

And yes, Andrew insists that he did comb his hair before the farewell. He just happened to ride his motorcycle there, so I’m guessing that may have undone some of his hard work. 😂

I think Kal and Andrew were both pretty excited to see each other again. I absolutely love that they’re close enough to actually get together and see each other! ❤️

 

Oceana Air Show

We really do have the best friends. Not only are they okay with our weirdness… they fully embrace it. 😂❤️

We love going to the Oceana Air Show every year, and this year the Deans and Freckletons decided to join in on the chaos—and honestly, it made it even better!

There were some pretty great highlights:
✈️ Jesse got to ride in a McLaren (which, obviously, was a BIG deal).
🥤 22 FREE Monster drinks. Jesse and Zack were in absolute heaven and quickly turned into professional Monster-fetchers, sending people back for more free drinks. 😂
💙 The Blue Angels!
✈️ So many amazing planes and jets.
🥰 Stella and Xander being their ridiculously cute selves.
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 And, of course, getting to spend the weekend with some of our favorite people.

The not-so-great highlight? Apparently drinking an unreasonable amount of Monster and then waking up the next day feeling like we had been drugged and were suffering from a hangover. 😂 Happy Juice would never do me dirty like that.

The air show is SO loud that we actually didn't get much chance to visit with everyone until we all ended up getting food at Sam's Club afterward. That was probably the only real downside to the whole weekend—we had all these people we love together and couldn't actually hear each other! 😂

But then I got this picture of Xander with his future in-laws and… 🥹❤️ MY HEART. I mean, look at those faces. How am I supposed to handle this level of cuteness already?!

So grateful for friends who don't just tolerate our weirdness but jump right in and become part of it. We love being a "Deckleson!" ❤️