When friends came to visit

Back in December, I had two old friends fly in Kansas City! I met these girls ten years ago when we were summer missionaries in Myrtle Beach. Here we are with the rest of our Myrtle Beach gang back in our glory days. Stacey, Tricia, and I are in the front in orange, white, and red respectively. 

We had a mini-reunion in Baton Rouge in the fall of the same year, but I hadn't seen these girls ever since! I'm so thankful for facebook, twitter, instagram, and texting so we can stay in touch. It didn't even seem as if so much time had passed between getting together because we're so connected! Of course, being together in person is so much more awesome than any group text and we had a great time.

Here we are now... still baby-faced, but a decade older! We had so much fun!

We had plenty of fun just hanging around and doing nothing at all, which doesn't sounds all too exciting but it was cool just to be doing nothing with fun friends. Does that make sense to anyone? Well even when doing nothing is enjoyable, it certainly doesn't leave much to blog about. We had a good mix of hanging out, but also exploring the city. Here are some photos of the fun things we did. I borrowed a few of these pics from their instagram feeds. Thanks ladies! :) 

Welcome to Missouri Tricia and Brue!

The first Kansas City meal: Arthur Bryant's BBQ. Yuuuuuummm!!!

And then we toured The Roasterie. I'm not a coffee person and so I've never visited, but I knew we needed to visit when these gals were in town. It was actually quite interesting touring the facility. I hear the coffee is delicious if you like that sort of thing. I can attest that the hot chocolate was quite yummy.

Some of us had more fun than others...

We visited Christmas in the Park

And stopped by the Magic Tree. These pics just don't do any justice to this tree. It really is so cool!

We made a trip up to Crown Center and toured the Hallmark Visitor's Center. And of course we pushed the funnest button in all of Kansas City-- the one that makes the bows!

Afterwards, we visited Kaleidoscope. 

The kids painted.

They made the iconic puzzles, too!

After lunch, we enjoyed a fun production of Rudolph at the Coterie children's theater. It was a cute show!

After visiting for several days, Stacey flew back home to spend the holiday with her family. Then, the next day, Adam (Tricia's hubby) flew in! Adam spent the summer at Myrtle Beach with us, too. He's top center in the picture up top. This photo of Adam reminds me of him while we were summer missionaries -- only it was the backyard Bible club kiddos climbing on him instead of our own!

We spent a couple of jam-packed days celebrating the holiday and then we went about exploring the city some more. We visited Union Station.

And we walked over to check out Liberty Memorial.

I just LOVE this view!

While we were driving one night, we took a wrong turn. I honestly just loved getting to see the city from a completely different perspective! It's still my favorite skyline. 

Of course, a trip to Kansas City wouldn't be complete without a visit to what was formerly known as Oklahoma Joe's. The restaurant recently changed it's name to Joe's Kansas City BBQ. Regardless of the name, it's my favorite BBQ and I'll willingly accompany any visitor who wants to check it out!

I am so thankful that Tricia and Stacey (and Adam!) took the time and effort to come visit! They were probably just hoping that I'd stop sending "Top 10 reasons to visit KC" messages if they actually came.  When Derek and I are feeling up to traveling with three little kiddos, we're looking forward to visiting Stacey, her new little puppy, and checking out her new house in Charlotte. And then heading down to see Tricia, Adam, and Brue (and their new arrival coming this summer) in Baton Rouge. They have promised my kids that they could hold baby alligators. I haven't decided if that's a reason we should go or stay home! :)

Okay, so who's coming to visit next?????