Home Sweet Home! (Part 1)

It has been about 3 years since I have been home (to Maryland) for something other than a funeral. I needed a fix...big time. And I got it! Matt and I planned to go about a month or so ago so we saved up all of our birthday money so we could pay for a rental car and plane tickets (my mom works for the airlines so they were pretty cheap). Matt's little brother who had never been back east came along as well. We had a great time! Meghan had gotten married the night before (more on that later...still waiting for pictures) so we were pretty sleep deprived when we got to Charlie and Fran's (Scott's parents) Saturday evening. They took us to a nice dinner at Mama Lucias. This is one of their favorite restaurants and I will say it was pretty yummy. Even though we were stuffed to the gills we decided to get dessert at Jimmie Cone (trip #1). I don't have any pictures from this night because like I said, I was pretty much delirious from sleep deprivation at this point.
The next day was set aside for visiting family. We got up and went to visit my mom's best friend Terri. We were only able to stay for about an hour and a half, but we had a nice visit. Terri is so funny. She is just like me so I can relate to her neuroticisms (i.e. her "plucky"). I really had a fun time seeing her; its too bad that I don't have a picture to document the occasion. After Terri's we headed to my aunt Tina's house. Tina invited a bunch of family over so we could get to visit with them all. Tina and Amy made a baked ziti and macaroni and cheese lunch for everyone. Carbs and cheese...yum! Of all the days this was one of my favorites because we got to see so many people. I miss my family so much and it was so nice to get together with them all. Here are some pictures.

Here is a group picture of the whole family

My grandma. This lady is one firecracker. She just doesn't slow down. The picture below was right after taking pictures. It was too funny not to post. That's right...she is picking up dog poop with her handy little contraption. The Crooke/Gonchar Family. This is my aunt and all of her kids. I adore these kids and I was so glad to get to spend some time with the younger ones because I want them to know who I am!

The other Crooke family. This is my uncle Doug and my cousin Chelsea. The rest of the family was not able to come because they live in VA. I haven't seen Chelsea in some time. I cannot believe how old she is!

The Smith brothers and me...I am not really that short, they are just really tall!
The McChesney Family (minus Tyler...he left before we took pictures). They are like a second family to me. They are just a fun group of people!

Matt with me and the girls. I love these girls. The two older ones were the flower girls in our wedding. They are helping me in my effort to convince Matt that he wants girls when we start having kids :) I think its working because these girls are so sweet!

Later that night we took a special trip to Jimmie Cone (trip #2) with all the kids. It really made me want to live there so I could do that all the time. I am so sad because I forgot to take pictures. This was just such a fun day. Thanks Amy and Tina for getting this together. I cant wait to see everyone again!