Headed South

(Pirated from my sister-in-law Marilyn, who painted this awesome map of Tennessee)

Having grown up in the west, who would have thought that everything in the east would be so close together? Since Ben and I have been in DC we have been to Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and most recently Tennessee. When my brother called to invite us for General Conference weekend, I had no idea Kingsport, TN was only a six hour drive away. And the benefit of growing up in the wide open space of the west is that six hours in a car is small change. Especially without kids. So Friday afternoon we packed up our stuff to head south and see my family.

It started out to be more of an adventure than we anticipated, mostly because Google Maps makes everything look so easy.

Step 1: Rent car. (Easy enough, considering they put Ben on as a driver since they didn't realize he's under 25).
Step 2: Maneuver one-way streets in busy city. (Slightly harder. I had looked them up online before leaving but there's always one that throws you off. We went in a few circles before we could get to the Barlow Center).
Step 3: Pack up car. (By far the easiest step. Can I just say how much I LOVED having a car again?)
Step 4: Confuse Google Map instructions. (Yep, we got lost leaving DC. However my trusty navigator aka Ben soon got us back on track and we were on the right highway after only 20 minutes of aimless driving).
Step 5: Drive in Friday afternoon DC traffic. (Worse than we thought).
Step 6: Enjoy the beautiful Virginia countryside.


Step 6 was obviously our favorite. Ben and I loved the rolling green hills of Virginia and thought the entire drive was straight out of a storybook. Red barns, cattle grazing, green grass, large old mansions set on hills... I'm sad I didn't take any pictures (so here's one I took off Google). We arrived on Friday night in time to talk with my brother David and sister Emily, their spouses, and families. Since they live in the same neighborhood, we got to spend plenty of time during the weekend with 10 of my nieces and nephews (pending 11 in May when David and Marilyn welcome their eighth child: a boy).

Saturday morning I was so excited to wake up and hear the birds chirping instead of the buzz of the city. Living in DC has taught us that we're country people (no offense to the city folk) :) We had a waffle breakfast, went to a yard sale, Ben and David went to WalMart to have a real "southern" experience, then conference began. Here in the east it starts at noon and it was nice to have a couple extra hours in the morning.

We enjoyed lots of treats during the sessions

Ben with his stash

With my nephew Peter. Robin's Eggs are the most fun to eat
because you can paint your lips... or face.

We watched the first session at David and Marilyn's, then went to Emily and Darren's for lunch and so all the men could play paintball. Behind Emily's house is 7 acres of forest so they divided into teams and shot the living daylights out of each other. That was until Ben decided he could have more fun shooting himself (just kidding honey :) ). While trying to get a stuck paintball out of the barrel, Ben's gun went off in his face, hitting the bridge of his nose and sending paint into his right eye. For a moment we weren't sure if we had just recreated "You'll shoot your eye out" from the Christmas story, but after a good rinse Ben could see fine. Let's just say we're grateful we didn't spend the second session of conference in the Emergency Room.

Ben in all the paintball garb, pre-"you'll shoot your eye out"

The paint-ballas

Saturday night, while the men went to Priesthood, Emily, my niece Eliza, and I all went shopping. I didn't buy anything, but it was so fun to walk around Target and TJ Maxx. I haven't been to a strip mall in months and it was highly therapeutic :) Sunday we got to enjoy beautiful Tennessee weather, walk around David and Marilyn's yard, see Emily's food storage, and listen to more conference. Conference was wonderful, and I loved all the topics and speakers. We arrived home Sunday night after being in the car a grand total of 12 hours. But after having so much fun with my family, it was worth every minute.