Dirty Thirty

You only turn 30 once, and there's no better way I could have celebrated my birthday than with my family! Chris, Hannah and I met my parents at my sister's house in Charlotte, North Carolina where we had an amazing and memorable week. There's so much to recap from the trip that I don't know where to start! So here's a run down of moments I won't forget:

• Running the fastest I've run in my adult life through the DFW airport to make our connecting flight to Charlotte.
• Watching Tangled with Hannah over and over again on our iPad, right before she dropped it and cracked the screen. Yup. And we were just about to sell it.
• Finally landing in Charlotte and discovering that Hannah soaked the seat she was sitting in. The poor girl warned me, but we were landing and the 'Fasten Seatbelt' lights were on!
• Being greeted by my family after a long day of traveling.
• Pulling up to my sister and brother's awesome house for the first time and being reminded that we're all grown up... mostly.
• Staying up late and watching Hannah and Gina paint each other's toenails.
• Chasing Mia around the house and snuggling with her on the couch.
• Visiting my sister at work and seeing my Dad hug her boss. :)
• Going to an incredible petting zoo called Lazy 5 Ranch and almost losing a finger to a giant cow deer monster thing... with fangs.
• Painting pottery with the girls (including Cindy Crawford) and meeting some of Gina's best friends!
• Going out way past our bedtime to hang out with the Fambroughs and the Buehlers... who don't appreciate Ferris Bueller jokes.
• Sharing a full size bed with my toddler who throws punches in her sleep. 
• Having Siri tell me Happy Birthday.
• Attending my first ever NASCAR race - WOO! I've never been more proud of my brother-in-law! This actually deserves a posting all of its own with a paragraph dedicated to how my sister nearly threw down with a she-man who was three times her size. It was awesome.
• Listening to my little girl lead our family in singing Happy Birthday to Mommyyyyyy.
• Eating the most amazing chocolate birthday cake.
• Laughing harder than I've laughed in a loooooooooong time.
• Going to my sister's church and helping her teach first graders in Sunday school. I especially appreciated hearing how they would be willing to help their friends through hard times, which for some reason centered around simultaneous hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and floods.
• Eating dinner at Pike's Soda Shop - a diner where a scene was shot from Shallow Hal.
• Watching Hannah gradually warm up to Mia to the point that she actually snuggled with her while watching Tangled.
• Spending an evening out at the U.S. National Whitewater Center!
• Passing President Obama on the Interstate on the way to the Biltmore Castle.
• Going to the Biltmore and having more fun playing chase in the garden than site seeing inside the castle.
• Packing up and saying goodbye without crying like a baby.

I think it's true what they say - absence does make the heart grow fonder. My family is close, so you can imagine we cherish every moment we have together. I have to say that this trip was one for the books! See more pictures from our amazing trip HERE!