A Family in the Making: VA Heppdings 4th of July Visit

If you asked anyone who knows me well, they would tell you that my favorite part of living in Destin is having friends and family visit year round. I absolutely love having a house full of company-as often and as many people as possible. Phil certainly fills my love tank, but the love tank overfloweth when I have a house full of company. I love that I can cook, clean, and play tour guide for my friends. I enjoy that many of my friends come down often enough that they feel like they can just relax and have down time at our house. Maybe I should have opened a bed and breakfast as a career.

This summer, we had the best company ever - the VA Heppdings. Phil's oldest brother, Fred, Heather (not only my SIL, but one of my closest friends), and their 3 kids-Will, Jackson, and Ava came for a week long visit. They drove all the way from Forest VA, and it was constant fun and go from the moment they arrived.

We got to show off our fun little town by going to see fireworks at Harborwalk on their first night here. No trip to our house would be complete without multiple trips to the beach. The boys loved playing in the sand and riding the waves. Will got to experience The Track and ride tons of exciting rides-all for free! We also enjoyed yogurt, playing at the house, and enjoying the air conditioned house during the blistering hot summer afternoons.

The most fun part was watching Nolan and Ava play together. They are exactly 1 month apart in age and play so well together. There is a precious connection they share and they interact so well together. They spent hours and hours playing on the living room floor together. The cutest thing ever was putting them in the toy box, with just their diapers on and some 4th of July headbands, and snapping picture after picture of them. See below. They also splashed around in the bathtub together playing with their toys and getting clean.

After the house was quiet and the kids were asleep, Heather and I enjoyed SOOO many laughs and giggles over countless stories about our husbands. We share so much in common. She isn't only a sister, she is one of my nearest and dearest friends. We always talk about trying to find a way to live closer to each other. Our evenings were spent on the front porch blabbing about anything and everything or in the back room playing with the Cricut machine and scrapbooking.

It was a sad day when they left, but we have November to look forward to, and many, many more visits after that. We are starting to line them up-one after another.