Asheville

We do get out of Durham sometimes. Every once in a while. The most recent was yesterday - Chapel Hill. Haha, okay so going to church hardly counts. We went to Asheville! As always, we had a blast and I hardly took any pictures. So most (all) of these are courtesy of Ranita (she and Shiwen came with us!).

On Saturday we went to downtown Asheville (say it like Downton Abbey - it's a lot more fun!).

In that cool place with lots of art...
I forgot the name - anyone know it?

Some street performers

Lunch at a Mediterranean place. The food was delicious
 but this picture sums  up our experience there with Benjamin: hectic, frenzied...

We couldn't leave without Doug playing some chess!

A pistachio turtle. Oh that was delicious.

Fortunately Ben fell asleep after lunch for the remaining
 2-3 hours of our pedestrian-ing.

On Sunday we went to church and then to a park in Granny's neighborhood. Not to mention the delicious chocolate cake Granny made or the yummy Chinese food Aunt Heather made for us that night!

Doug and Shiwen are playing the Chinese version of Jacks.
Neither of them were very good at it haha.

Thank you, Ranita for taking such lovely pictures :).

And that was how we spent spring break.

Surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa! (and Aunt & Uncle, of course)

I can remember three (maybe four) times my family drove to go on vacation. So imagine my surprise when my family decided to drive to visit us in North Carolina! I was thrilled to have them come and they did not disappoint - we had a blast.

This is essentially the only picture I took while they were here, but it sums up their visit nicely - playing with Benjamin. He absolutely adored his Uncle Daniel, frequently preferred Sarah over me, cackled with his Grandpa, and snuggled with Grandma. I absolutely love visiting and being visited by family. Plus things are "accidentally" left at my house: chocolate covered blueberries, milano cookies, a $20 bill, apples, yogurt, Twix, a pair of darn tough socks (??). Does everyone's mom do that? :)

Our weekend (and bellies) was filled with food from Durham's best eateries: Q shack, Tonali, Sitar, Ox and Rabbit, and homemade pizza. We toured Duke Gardens, went swimming, and watched General Conference.  My favorite talk was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk from Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to read it again. I don't know how anyone gets through 8 hours of conference without busying their hands or "resting" their eyes.  This year I worked on burial gowns for UNC hospital. The pattern I used was quite simple and it went faster than I anticipated.

I think it looks precious though my heart aches for the parents who need it.

On a happier note, my sister got engaged! Wahoo!

Congratulations you little lovebirds.