Ben's Hutch Friends

We had to make a quick trip to Hutchinson for Ben, Abby and Luke to go to the dentist.  Ben asked if it would be possible to see his buddies while we were there.  It's hard to say no to him, since every time we go up there, I get to go to lunch with my friend, Athena.  I told Ben that if his friends could meet for lunch, then he could see them.  Thankfully it worked out!

These boys have been friends for such a long time and I am always happy to see them together! It is so amazing to see the you men that they have become!  I am so happy that after moving away four and a half years ago, that they are still friends and look forward to seeing each other anytime they can!

Changes in Hutchinson

Big changes are happening in the Grief family.  After about 15 years in Hutchinson, Kansas, Jon's parents are moving away.  They are moving to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Jon's brother and his family moved there recently.  Ken and Jeanie felt like they were being led out of Hutch and it seemed like Baton Rouge was the most obvious choice.  To listen to the story, it is so amazing to hear how God put everything together and made it so obvious that Ken and Jeanie are doing what they are supposed to do.

We made a trip to Hutchinson for one last visit, Ken and Jeanie's garage sale and to help with bringing boxes and furniture up from the basement.  Whatever needed done.

Jon, Ben and Ken worked hard and got so much done!

Jeanie also planned to celebrate mine and Luke's birthday.  Fun times!

Of course, we had to take some family pictures.

(I love that little monkey in the tree!)

The next time we see Ken and Jeanie it will be in Louisiana. 

Christmas in Hutchinson

Jon's brother and his family were making the trek from Virginia out to Hutchinson, KS for Christmas, so we headed up for a visit. The whole Grief family was together!

The cousins were all happy to finally see each other after a whole year!

Emily and Luke got winter hats from Grandma and Grandpa. Too cute! Luke LOVES his Angry Birds hat!

Luke enjoyed some quality time playing dinosaurs with his Uncle Jamie.

Ben and Nathaniel got new knives and couldn't wait to check them out!

Abby and Katie got manicure sets. I loved seeing them getting manicures from Grandma.

We played a rousing game of Headbandz! FUN!!

A fun family weekend!

Holidays in Hutchinson

Since we moved to Oklahoma over three years ago, we have gone back to Hutch for Thanksgiving. This year we had different plans for Thanksgiving, so we thought we would head up the week before.

Our family was excited to be able to go the Hutchinson Christmas Parade. For several years, Ben and Abby participated in all of the parades. It seems so different to be watching the parade with them instead of participating in it!

Luke really loved the parade! Everything that came by was so exciting to him! I love watching things like this through the eyes of my little guy as he sees these things for the first time! It was very chilly at the parade, however, so we ended up leaving early. Luke wasn't very happy when he found out that we missed the horses! Next time!

One of the things that I love to do while in Hutch is so see my friend, Athena! We don't get to see each other very often. For the past several years we have been doing our Black Friday shopping together. This year, we won't be together. :( This weekend we were able to meet up at Chilie's for a Diet Coke and some appetizers and catch up with each other! We had a great time! I am so thankful that Athena and I have been able to maintain a friendship since I moved! Thanks, Athena, for taking time out of your busy weekend to get together with me! I treasure your friendship!

Ben was also able to spend some time with his buddies while in Hutch. I am amazed that these teenage boys have been able to stay connected! I have said it before and I will say it again, I believe that these boys are going to be life-long friends!This is Luke's favorite thing to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house...

He loves to play with Toby! Thankfully it hadn't been too long since Luke had seen Toby last, so it didn't take very long for him to warm up!

I know this picture is blurry, but I think it so cute! I had to run out to the van to get the camera and capture this before either one moved! (The camera was cold from being outside.)

Abby enjoyed playing the Wii at Grandma and Grandpa's house! The two of us also enjoyed cable! We don't have all of the good channels at our house and got involved in watching cooking shows until midnight!

Since we weren't going to be together for Thanksgiving, Jeanie made an amazing meal in celebration of Thanksgiving while we were together. YUM!!

Thank you, Ken and Jeanie, for having us for the weekend!

A Visit To Hutchinson

We finally found some time to head up to Hutch for a quick visit to see Jon's parents. It was a beautiful weekend so we were able to spend a lot of time outside!

It didn't take Ben long to climb up in his favorite tree!


This is how Jon and his dad spend a lot of their time when they are together.

Jeanie's birthday was coming so we took a sopapilla cheesecake up with us.
Happy Birthday, Jeanie!

Luke went to the grocery store with Grandma and came back with these cupcakes. What a mess! He loved them!

Dorky!


Luke is in love with Toby! (Well, after warming up to him anyway.) Luke wouldn't really give Toby a break the whole time we were there! That poor dog was wore out and probably glad to see us leave!



The top of this shed has always been one of Ben's favorite places to hang out at his Grandma and Grandpa's house. He wasn't very happy that we allowed Abby to get up there...

Abby, however, loved it!




Abby always loves to play with the neighbor's dog, Emmy.

I love this! It's not very often that you see these two working together. Nicely, anyway... Ben was pretty patient with Abby and willing to help her out!



I tried several times to get Luke to want to be in there tree. He is a boy, after all. He is supposed to want to climb trees, right? He was afraid for a long time, but finally asked me to put him in the tree!



We had a very relaxing weekend hanging out in Hutch.

(For those Hutch friends that are reading this, we hope to be back soon and be able to visit. This was such a short trip that we decided that we needed to just spend time together as a family. Hopefully next time!)

The Three Amigos Summertime Fun!

I know I have blogged about Ben and his amigos before, but it never ceases to amaze me how these three boys have been able to maintain such a great friendship over the past three years since we moved away from Hutchinson!

A few months ago, Sam's mom called me to see if we could arrange a time this summer for Ben to go up to Hutch and spend a few days with the guys. Absolutely! Ben counted down the days until it was time to go! He was packed three weeks early!

Sam, Ben & Luke

They had a great time! When I picked Ben up I found out that he hadn't slept at all the night before! That wasn't exactly shocking news. That's pretty normal when the guys all get together. They want to spend as much time together as they possibly can while they can! I can't blame them! Anyway, I thought Ben would end up sleeping most of the way home. He didn't! He talked almost the entire way! All the way up until we were 15 minutes from home! (That wasn't terribly shocking either since Ben is into sharing all the details of everything!) This is what happened when we got home...

He crashed! Obviously a great few days!

It is awesome to watch these boys all grow up together, yet far apart. They are three of the nicest boys that I know! I definitely think they have the makings of a life long friendship!

A Visit To Hutchinson

We made a weekend trip to Hutchinson for a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Grief.

Jon was working on his mom's car with his dad and, of course, Luke wanted to "help". The boy loves tools!
This is what Abby and Jeanie did while the guys were outside. I think this looks WAY more fun!
Of course there had to be some normal brother/sister shenanigans!
Luke was such a good boy while we were there! I looked downstairs and this is what I saw. What would we do without trains! (Thank you, Christy, for letting Luke borrow some cool trains from your house!)
Another one of Luke's loves...Toby! He couldn't get enough of this dog! (Once he decided that Toby wasn't going to get him!) Toby got quite a workout while we were there!
We had a nice to visiting Hutch and it was nice to get out of town for the weekend!
There is, however, no place like home! :)

A Quick Trip to Hutchinson

We made a quick little trip to Hutchinson last weekend. We hadn't been up there since Thanksgiving and Abby had Girl Scout cookies to deliver. For some reason, every time we try to go somewhere someone is sick or gets sick. This trip was no exception... Ben was SO excited to go to Hutch so that he could see his best friend, Luke. As we were on the road, Ben stops playing his video game and says, "Hey guys, I brushed my teeth and got all excited and now my throat feels weird." Great! I started digging for the large ziplock bag that I keep in the van just in case someone feels like they are going to get sick. Jon kept insisting that he was fine, that it was all in his head, that he was just really excited. But, let me just say, thank goodness for the ziplock bag!!! The crazy thing is that as soon as he was done with that little "episode" he felt totally great! Crazy! So, onward we went!

Little Lukester eating a snack on the road!

"Cheese!"

Goofballs!

I think we figured out how to get Luke to travel well...the dvd player! He has been a horrible traveler since birth, but this was his best trip ever! Both ways! Yes, he is watching a video, but we didn't even have to turn it on until we were about 30 minutes away!

Abby passed the time by writing a story about Ben getting sick in the back of the van on the way to Hutch.

Ben being Ben.

Jon and I were able to go out on a double date with some great friends while in Hutchinson!
We had a great time having dinner with Athena and Randal at Carlos O' Kelly's!!

I don't know what I would do without this girl! She's awesome!!

Getting ready to watch a movie.




Luke likes to "share" your popcorn!


We had a good time, but as always, the time always passes too fast and we don't get to see everyone that we would like to! I'm sure we will be back before too long...