2300 miles

last weekend was weekend #3 of being away from nashville. in the past three weekends, my sister and i have collectively covered approximately 2,300ish miles. from nashville to ft. walton beach and back. from nashville to gatlinburg and back. and, lastly - from nashville to Dumas, AR to cabot, AR and back. that's a lot of freakin' driving. but, we have had a blast along the way.

this past weekend was the annual Ding Dong Daddy Days festival in Dumas. i'm sure you haven't forgotten my previous post. how could you forget that a little town called Dumas has a Ding Dong Daddy Days festival? i mean, let's be serious.

meg and i rolled into Dumas to the fog of mosquitoes that sounded like rain splatting the windshield (i don't miss those wretched little creatures), the aroma of dirt/fertilizer, the sight of chevy's on 22 inch rims, the distant echo of rap music, and the stillness of a little one-horse town at 10pm. - ahhh, home.

meg and i decided over the weekend that as we get older and as our lives have transformed and progressed, the term home is a relative term. home is now sprinkled all over the map - from Dumas to Memphis to our very own homes in Nashville. i was sure glad to be home with my hubster by sunday evening. we have decided that home is defiantly where the heart is, literally.

~i digress.~

so, we went home this weekend. meg and me. another nearly 1000 mile round trip trek home for the 5k and to see our Ding Dong of a Daddy :)

the "race" started at 7am. we had to fight mad traffic [insert sarcasm] to make sure we made it there on time. i was concerned about the heat and humidity initially, but the morning was nice! there were fewer people there than i had originally expected. in years past, the cheerleaders had participated and other groups in town came out for the 5k. but, most of the people this year were from "out of town" - they weren't from around there..... if you're from a small town, you know the phrase.

but, there were a few people in particular that i was so excited showed back up in Dumas. one of my very best friends from high school, Rusty, was there! rusty and i competed side-by-side in softball, cheerleading, and gymnastics basically all of our lives. we were partners in crime and had a blast, nearly 10 years ago. it's amazing how quickly time passes.

it was so good to see her, her younger sister, Sarah, and Collin - all of which live in Dallas now. so, there we were - a bunch of "has-beens" that had come back home for the DDDD 5k. it was great.

i blogged in my previous post that my goal was to beat my personal best time - i murdered it.

go me!

my best 5k time was 26:55. my time this weekend? 25:49. *clap*clap*

thank you, flat straight roads of dumas :)

told you it was straight and flat.

meet Rusty - super successful pharmacist in dallas. she and justin actually graduated together from good ole DHS. if i had $1 for every pic we have taken like this...

have you met her? she's pretty much awesome.

the "has beens" - Collin, Rusty, Sarah

that's my Ding Dong Daddy :)

and, no trip to dumas is successful in the summertime without spending some time on the good ole muddy arkansas river.

last but not least on our journey through arkansas, i got to meet my little "niece" for the first time!

on sunday, meg and i travelled up to cabot, AR on our way back to Nashville to visit with my bestie Bobbi and FINALLY meet miss Layni! she is absolutely precious! and, her mama looks great! i wish i lived closer so i could be there to love on her more often :(

after 2,300ish miles on the road - my little butt is parking it for a few weeks! yay!

justin will wrap up this summer semester in 10 days!! then, there's a little R&R with him to enjoy before fall semester starts.

can you believe fall is just around the corner???