Fun with the Fam

Ryan, Meagan, and Lexie came to visit over their Spring Break which fell from Easter weekend through the following weekend. They stayed with us the first weekend and we had SO much fun!! Cousin time is hard to come by and they made the most of it!!

Friday night, we had some friends over to hang out. Saturday, we woke up and Ryan took over the kitchen and made us all a huge breakfast! On the menu was eggs, bacon, and pancakes!! Yum-o!!!

After breakfast, we loaded up and headed to the mall because us girls needed a pedi!! Not sure why I don't look very happy in this pic, but it was a very happy time indeed!!

After the pedis, we were standing around talking and thinking about what to do next when Ryan noticed that Carter was having a blood drive. If you gave up some blood, you got 2 tickets to the Rave! Ryan was planning on giving blood at some point while he was in town anyway so it just seemed like the thing to do!! After much paperwork ... seriously LOTS of very interesting questions that make me hope I never need a transfusion ... we were ushered upstairs to the special room where the magic happens!!

The kids were all tagging along, as this was a very interesting twist in our day!! Emily and Ryan began the process, talking one on one with a person, taking of vitals, etc. I brought up the rear and before we knew it, we were all hanging out together and the blood was aflowing!!

The kids took turns with the camera and this is the best shot we got of the three of us! The funny part of this little story is that Emily and Ryan were going strong when I sat down but my blood was apparently very ready to leave my body because it just came on out!! I was finished and cleaned up before Ryan or Emily finished!! While I was basking in the glow of finishing first even though I started last (as though it was a race!!), the technician calmly mentioned that if I were ever in a serious trauma situation, I would probably bleed out before I could be helped!! That put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm!!

Another interesting part of this little blood giving adventure was that you could call after a couple of days and get your blood type and cholesterol reading. The cholesterol wouldn't be exactly accurate because we had eaten that morning but it would give a ballpark figure. Ryan and I discussed the fact that our huge breakfast might skew our numbers so imagine my surprise when I called and my cholesterol was 126!! Yay me!! All that healthy eating I do is totally paying off!! Ha!!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Easter's next!!