Bandit Reunion 2011

Two weekends ago we had our annual college friends reunion!! Every year we get together with the Vests and the Mitchells, Michelle when she's not in Africa and sometimes Alden and Scott. We were all great friends when we were at A&M - Michelle and I were roommates and Amy and Courtney were roommates - and I love that we still get together to hang out every year even though we are spread across the state now!
This year was a little quieter than normal though. Courtney and Trent are expecting again and Courtney has just been too sick to travel. Trent had an unplanned, last minute football camp to go to the weekend we were meeting, so they had to skip out this year. We missed them a bunch but can't wait to see that sweet new (boy??) in January! And, like last year, Michelle is in Mali doing awesome awesome things and we miss her terribly! We're hoping for an extra big 2012 reunion with everyone back!
Randy, Cooper, Kendall and I drove up to Longview to spend the weekend with just Amy, David, Kate and Hannah, though, and we had a great time! This was our first time to get to meet Baby Hannah and their first time to meet Cooper! Hannah is just a few months younger than Coop, so they had a good time doing baby things together.

We swam a bunch over at David's parents' house in their pool. They have a great walk-in beach area and when Cooper was in her float, her feet touched and she just walked all around! She loved the freedom! Here she is hanging out with Kate.

Love those sweet little feet sticking out of the bottom!

One night at dinner, had finished feeding the babies and were cleaning up, but they were still wanting more food, so we gave them some puffs....yes...on the floor. We're awesome like that. The little girls shared...

...and then the big girls decided to get in on it. With a little help from Kendall, who poured more puffs out when they were all gone.

Randy said this video reminds him of those little wooden toys where you pull the strings and there are chickens on the end all pecking at the kernals of corn. Are you with me? Not sure what those toys are called. :) We have cute little chickens.


We enjoyed just spending a lot of time hanging out and not doing a whole lot. Kendall loved playing with Kate's toys and Cooper loved sharing Hannah's toys! Amy and David moved into a new house (that David built!) right before Hannah was born, so we loved getting to see their new place!

Friday afternoon, Amy made cookies with the big girls. She even had them put a stick in it and then they got to decorate them and eat them like suckers! What a great idea!

Friday night after we ate dinner at Randy's favorite Longview place - Big Dave's Barbque home of the Hot Pucker - we went to a park that had a splash pad and fun playground. Cooper and Hannah enjoyed swinging next to each other.

We also tried to take some family pictures, but you know how that goes these days! Amy put Kate with Cooper and Kendall with Hannah though and got some cute pictures of the girls at least.

And of course we lost Kendall when we tried to take a family picture. So here is Mom, Dad, and Cooper....

...and then Mom, Dad, Cooper and a not-too-happy Kendall. Why must a family picture be so hard??

Amy and David, we had a great time and are so thankful for your hospitality! We love getting to see you guys, even if it's just once a year. Already excited for next year! Courtney - stop getting pregnant! :) And Michelle - come home already! We miss you so much! Love you girls!!!