Baylor Homecoming weekend 2013

Baylor Homecoming always means fun times with the fam.  Enjoy the pics!

Fun times with cousins!

Lunch with Brady @ school!

Fun @ the parade getting lots of candy!

My parents with Sloanie!

Fun on campus after the parade!

Loving Dr. Pepper hour!

6 of my 7 cuties

Joining the Immortal 10!

Yes, my sister & I made this dress!

Love spending time with these kiddos!

All good things must come to an end :(

It has been so fun reliving the trip and sharing in the blogging with my girls! I'm kind of sad to see it come to an end. If you haven't kept up, here are the links to all other 11 posts.  This is the last post, sharing about our travel day home on Friday. 

Part 1: {Hatching the Plan} by Jess
Part 2: {Getting Ready} by LA
Part 3: Saturday {Surprise Time} by T
Part 4: Sunday {First Day} by Kasey
Part 5: Monday {Second Surprise} by Jess
Part 6: Monday {Being Surprised} by K
Part 7: Monday {Double Party} by T
Part 8: Tuesday {Grand Bazaar} by Kasey
Part 9: Wednesday {Sightseeing} by Jess
Part 10: Wednesday {The Cisterns and Ice Cream} by K

Part 11: Thursday {Last Day} by LA

We had worked really hard and because we had brought so much stuff for our friends, we managed to go from 8 checked bags on the way there to 5 on the way home, and from 4 carry ons to 3.  Of course none of us were excited to leave and have to say more good-byes.  We had to head out around 9 that morning because you never know what traffic will be like. C had secured a sweet ride for us back to the airport. Jess is especially excited here, lol. 

Photo crossing the bridge from Asia to Europe. 

We had a little fun taking pics at the airport. Never too late to squeeze in some more photo bombing. Oh, and incase anyone is curious, it's probably not a good idea to shout, "photobomb" in the airport...just a guess ;)

Sad faces

Hard saying bye to this sweet face!

Checking in. 

C, the master of the photo bomb!

Way to jump in Jess!

Oh C, Brent & Jess...at it again! Even E snuck in!

This trip was truly more than any of us could have expected or asked for. It was the sweetest time with sweet friends. The Lord blessed our time together and truly seemed to multiply our hours. I'll remember it forever. What a gift it was to all of us. 

The trip back was literally the longest day of our lives. 8 extra hours added in during our flight made for a 32 hr day. I think Brent won for watching the most movies on the plane. Here we are at the end of our journey.  Home, tired, but so thankful for an amazing trip of a lifetime. 

Thanks for following along!

Turkey trip continued

So, we last left off with Sunday night.  Here are 3 of my friends who posted different events & perspectives from the fun day we had on Monday...more friends arrive, more surprises, and a party! How much better can it get?

Monday before the E's arrive - Jess @ Raising Rays

Monday being surprised - K @ Willing to risk. Ready to go.

Monday night = PARTY TIME! - T @ Harvesting Tulips

TUESDAY

Tuesday was probably one of my favorite days of the trip...you guessed it, we went shopping! Not just ordinary shopping, we ventured to a whole other continent (from Asia to Europe) and headed to the Grand Bazaar! It did not disappoint! Hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of how Grand it truly is!

 On our way to catch the mini bus to then catch the ferry.

On the ferry! One of my favorite parts of getting places. Such a nice breeze up on the top and a great view! Sweet time just sitting out there chatting with my friends, like it was just a normal day! Loved every minute with these girls!

Before we headed in to the Bazaar, we decided to eat lunch so that we could last longer shopping.  This was my first meal to actually eat what I thought of as a Turkish dish...I know, pretty sad. A few of us shared an appetizer that was basically rolled up friend cheese.  And then 2 dishes, chicken kabob & beef doner.

 

 

I should be honest here and say that the first 5 minutes in the Bazaar overwhelmed me!  The shop owners constantly hound you! You can't look at one thing without them wanting you to buy it.  Either I got used to it, or it seemed to die down, cuz after about 30 mins I hit my stride and we all started making purchases!

Most of the shop owners spoke decent English.  It was so crazy to me, when they realized that T & K spoke the language they would often give them a better price! Blew my mind!  We did pretty well bargaining with them though.  A few really liked speaking English to us and tried to keep us talking.  Here are some fun pics of shopping and a few of the friends we made along the way.

 We LOVED and all ended up purchasing one of these Turkish lamps!

 All 5 of us bargaining with the scarf guy! It took some great haggling skills from LA, but in the end we got a great price!

 He was thrilled with all the money he made off of us!

 Fun purchasing musical instruments.

T was such a trouper being 8 months pregnant! She lasted a few hours through shopping and then went to find a place to rest outside.  I'm not sure, but I think we ended up shopping for about 4 hours in the Bazaar.  We all felt great about our purchases and were ready to leave mid afternoon.

On our way back to the L's apartment we found a guy selling fresh squeezed orange juice.  This was one of the things I had been told to have while in Turkey.  Let me tell you, it was so refreshing, especially after the long day of shopping we had had.

 When we got back from shopping, the guys went & played basketball, which I'm not sure how Brent had any energy left as he had joined us at the Bazaar.  When they were done, the guys took the E kids back to the other apartment so that we could have a girls night! To be honest, we didn't do anything super special, we just enjoyed hanging out, catching up, having girl time. We did order chocolate milk shakes from McDonald's and have them delivered on the back of a motorcycle...silly I know, but you can't do that in America! ha!

Stay tuned...posts from the rest of the week coming soon!

The trip of a lifetime!

Hello, hello, is anyone out there?  It is no secret that I have let this blog fall by the wayside.  I can't believe I haven't posted in over a year! Shameful! Well, it is with good reason that I am resurrecting the blog, and who knows, maybe, just maybe this will inspire me to get back in the rhythm of blogging.

On September the 6th 3 friends & I set out for what was the adventure of a lifetime! That's right friends, I headed across the ocean for the first time in my life! And let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint!  Ok, let's face it, since we all know that my blogging skills are lacking, my friends & I have split up the story telling of what we did each day.  I am actually starting with Sunday.  So, in order to see the whole chronology of the trip from all of our points of view follow the links embedded below!

Hatching the plan...how we came up with this crazy idea - blogged by  Jess @ Raising Rays

Friday & Saturday - travel days & surprising T - blogged by Leigh Ann @ Blessings of Motherhood

Saturday - T's perspective on the surprise of her life when 4 dear friends just walk into her living room unannounced - blogged by T @ Harvesting Tulips


Sunday

Well, as can be anticipated jet lag hit us all pretty hard and we unexpectedly slept in til 10! We all woke up shocked that we had slept that late, but I suppose that's what happens when you cross over 8 time zones!

Even though T had no clue we were coming and no time to prepare or go to the grocery in anticipation of 4 guests arrival, she just so happened to have all the fixings on hand for some delicious breakfast tacos! That's right, you heard me, we traveled across the ocean and our first 2 meals were very much "American" ha! Spoiler alert: it took me a few days to embrace eating a whole meal that was Turkish!

It took us a while to get ourselves moving, but after a nice breakfast and showers, we headed out to see the city!  It was so amazing to see so many people (16 mill in the city!) and so many building.  High rise after high rise!

We think we counted and we took 10 different modes of transportation while we were there: plane, taxi, mini bus, tram, trolly, ferry, our own 2 feet (lots of walking!), personal car, some thing I can't remember the name of, shuttle bus @ the airport, and I might be forgetting one?  Here we are waiting for a mini bus, and Brent & LA on the bus.

C & T took us to a cute little place where you can get Cay by the Bosphorus with a really nice view! It was relaxing and fun to see a bit of the city and just sit and enjoy a cup of tea.  Tea's not really my thing, but I gave it a go anyhow, Leigh Ann on the other hand really took a liking to it...who knows how many cups of Cay she drank while we were there!

After our tea time we headed to the mall for lunch...this made me feel right at home!  So much so that I ordered a Burger King burger...I know, I know, not very adventurous of me! I promise, I did eventually eat Turkish food.  Here's a pic of one of the first Turkish dishes that LA & Jess had for lunch. Beans, salad, couscous...doesn't sound too weird, right?

After lunch the guys & E headed home to give us girls some shopping time!!! You know this made me happy!

We also headed to the grocery so that we'd have food for the week.  It was so cool to see how T shops & buys things for their family.  Some things were easy to tell what they were, others were more challenging since all of the packages were in Turkish! She's learned a lot and knows her way around very well! It was so fun just hanging out and shopping together!

Oh, you should keep your eye out for frequent photo bombing! C is the master at it!

Here we are in a taxi, headed home after a nice day together :)

We were pretty tired & it was getting late, so we ordered some pide.  It's basically pizza but with no sauce.  Can I count this as my first Turkish meal?  Not sure it was very adventurous, but it was yummy!

We headed to bed after that...I think this is the night that I remember laying there til about 3 am...my body didn't quite adjust to Turkey time.

Ok....stay tuned for the rest of the week!