Road Trip To The Bontragers

The last weekend in March I was blessed to enjoy a road trip to Eastern Iowa with my dear friend Elizabeth Ulmer. Elizabeth and I had wanted to make a trip to visit our wonderful friends Chelsy and Allison for a LONG time and it just hadn't worked out! Finally in March God opened up our schedules to go and we were on our way in great anticipation of a weekend of fun, fellowship and of course LOTS of laughter! ;) When you're young you do crazy things and have the time of your life while you're doing crazy things!!! :) It ended up that the Bontragers had a singing concert on Sunday April 1st and so we were only going to get to spend Friday and Saturday with them, thus to give us the most time together possible Elizabeth and I left from Omaha, Nebraska after one of my sister Anna's bridal showers at 10p.m! :) We arrived at the Bontrager residence around 2:30a.m. after enjoying our trip in the steady rain/thunderstorm the whole way there...the lightning show was incredible! :)
And let the fun begin!!! :) Chelsy and Allison had planned out all sorts of fun stuff for us to do together while we were there...the Bontragers are so wonderful about serving their guests and their home has such a cheerful atmosphere, it was SUCH a blessing to me personally to spend a weekend with them! Friday morning once we managed to pull ourselves out of bed Allison made me an AMAZING SUGAR FREE mint mocha coffee to wake me up...it was a great start to the day! :) Elizabeth, Allison, and I were all on a sugar fast while we were there and it was the best place to be when one is observing just such a fast because Allison made us all sorts of delicious sweet treats SUGAR FREE! :) Friday also included browsing through some cute antique shops, shopping for fabric for new singing outfits for the little Bontragers, thrift store shopping, visiting the Bontragers sweet grandmother, getting caught up on each other's lives, and mint chocolate SUGAR FREE ice cream to end the day....thanks Allison! <3 <3 <3
On Saturday we headed out for another day of fun! First we went to the Kalona Cheese Factory and sampled their amazing and diverse flavors of cheese as well as grabbing some cheese curds for lunch...mmmmm!!!! Then we headed into the adorable town of Kalona and spent some time at one of the really cute stores in town that had a bunch of unique stuff. After this we had a picnic lunch in the car, (the weather was pretty cold and so we opted not to have it outside) and then we raided Kalona's darling coffee shop for some delicious coffee and good fellowship! We stayed at the coffee shop for a couple of hours talking and enjoying the comfort of their sofa and quiet of their shop...it was a BLAST!
Once we got home the family was in a tizzy preparing for a few days away from home, a couple of concerts, and a new CD recording project. I enjoyed the chance to get to spend some time with the little girls....Elizabeth and Rebecca are SO MUCH FUN to spend time with! They took me outside and proudly showed off their mother cat's litter of five adorable kittens and then we went inside and had some book reading time! Thanks Elizabeth and Rebecca you're the best! :)

~Friends -- Love you Allison! ~

Saturday evening was a blast! Us four girls had the house to ourselves and we had an amazing time! First we went for an invigorating walk, then we came home and had thought provoking discussions, tried out new hairstyles, made sugar free treats, looked at dress styles we liked online, and just had the time of our lives having girly time! :)
Thanks Chelsy and Allison for an amazing weekend, and thanks dear friend Elizabeth for taking the road trip with me! That weekend in March was such an adventuresome, fun filled, encouraging one that I will not forget any time soon! I'm thankful to the Lord for blessing us with it!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:34