I’ve had a major itch to plan a weekend getaway all winter; now that the weather is beginning to hint at spring the time had come to get out of the house! We had the perfect excuse to visit my sisters in Iowa City this past weekend and made a nice little weekend of it.

It’s hard to believe my youngest sister will be graduating from Iowa in a few short months. I couldn’t be prouder that she’s followed in my footsteps as a Graphic Design major! This excites me for many reasons (family business?!) but I have seriously been looking forward to her BFA gallery show for months and that is exactly what brought us into town this past weekend. So…. I packed up my trusty navigator and back-seat driver (snacker) and away we went! It only took approximately 7 hours to make a trip that usually takes about 4.5 hours…

But we finally made it and all was well in the world!We had a fun visit in Mount Vernon Saturday morning and Emerson got to bake cupcakes at my Aunt and Uncle’s house! No complaints here – you better believe I snagged the delicious recipe. This was also the point in the trip when Emerson was gifted the ‘baker’s hat’ that she literally wore the rest of the weekend. It was a quick but memorable leg of our trip! On we went to meet up with the rest of the fam for lunch! Things got a little hairy here as E missed her nap and wasn’t in the least bit happy about it. She snapped out of it at the sight of chips and salsa! That’s my girl!And finally, the great finale of the day was seeing Jory’s art show! Her big reception (with food) was earlier in the week, but our private family viewing was just as fun. My dad laughed out of amusement and Emerson pulled Meggie around by the hand ‘finding art’ while my mom and I haggled back and forth over which pieces of photography we will someday hang in our homes. It was a great collection and I am so excited to see where her passion takes her! I couldn’t be more proud!

Before heading home Sunday, we met up with Kristen and her boys for breakfast! I was so excited to see them and finally meet baby Will for the first time! Emerson loved talking to him and tried teaching him to use a spoon… a little prematurely. Big brother Landon sat across from me and literally smiled for the entire meal… I don’t even think it was because of the pancakes with sprinkles — he’s just a sweetheart! I was definitely wishing we lived closer by the end of our weekend!