Right after Emily’s wedding reception, the Sutter clan gathered at the hotel where most of them were staying to celebrate Grandma Sutter’s 80th birthday. All 5 of Grandma Sutter’s children where present, 7 of her grandchildren with spouses, and all 10 of her great grandchildren participated in the celebration. I’m so thankful we were able to celebrate with Grandma. She’s a pretty special lady…she continues to serve in the church where she can and still teaches children’s SS at her church faithfully. Thanks Grandma for all you’ve done for all of us!

Sunday, New Year’s Day, we were all pretty wiped out. We got to spend some extra time with Sam and Ashley and their kids and visit with some other friends. Our kids had a great time playing with their cousins, Colette and Jude.

Monday we were able to visit with our good friends Michael and Erin Lyons. They were visiting Erin’s parents in PA and squeezed us in too. Thankful for our short time together – it’s always a joy and never long enough!

Monday through Wednesday we visited with friends, packed and packed, and made our last stop at Chick-fil-A. We’re very thankful we were able to spend extra time with Grandma Buecher. Becca enjoyed being her roommate and the kids enjoyed interacting with her. So thankful they could have some time to get to know their Great Grandma B.

On Tuesday Becca got to go to first grade with Grammy. My mom teaches first grade at Logos Academy in York, Pa. It was a special treat for Becca to get to be a first-grader at the school for the day. Becca even gave a presentation for the class about her life in Cambodia. Becca was thrilled with her day!

On Thursday we packed up a van and were driven to NY by a man from my dad’s church and my dad. We spent several hours with the Flower family before we flew out at 12:45AM Friday. Thankful for the ride to NY and all the Flowers did for us as we waited and to take us to the airport. (No pictures.)

A huge thank you to all my parents did for us while we were in PA. Isaiah just loved being with Grampy Grace. My dad took Isaiah everywhere with him. They made several trips to Starbucks so Isaiah could get hot chocolate. My dad gave Isaiah a special bag and spent the week filling it up with things for Isaiah to take back with him (random things like name tags, pencils, gum, stickers, pens, fruit snacks, etc.). They were always on a mission to find more things to put in the special bag. Becca and Anna also got special bags. Unfortunately my dad got a bad cold after the wedding…so the hot chocolate trips decreased in frequency.

My dad also went out of his way to feed us. My dad loves grocery shopping and had asked for a list of foods we wanted to eat. He kept the house stocked with fresh fruit, chips and salsa, hotdogs, and he kept asking us what he could get. And he expectantly grilled us steaks. We liked the steaks so much he went out and grilled them again the very next night! So glad we were able to spend some time with my mom after the busyness of the wedding.