Jackson and Ryan

My very good friend Ryan and her new baby Jackson came to visit today. He was 4 weeks old yesterday. He is just absolutely precious! Boy, it's going to be strange getting used to a brand new baby again, but I can't wait!

Ryan and I have known each other since I was 3 and she was 2. Our mother's worked together when we were little and that is how we met. We have been friends ever since. We had the best childhood growing up together and practically spent every weekend together.

Ryan and her husband Larry met on our vacation that Ryan and I took cross country. We were on one of those Thelma and Louise "finding ourselves" vacations. We had just both gotten out of relationships and were just heart broken, so we left all of our worries and troubles behind and took off on a Wednesday night. By morning we were in Chicago! We didn't really have an agenda or any reservations anywhere, we just new we wanted to get to Vegas and New Orleans. The first night we stopped to actually sleep in a hotel was in Nebraska, woke in the morning and continue our drive. Most of our stops were in rest areas to freshen up. We stopped then in Denver, CO for lunch, yep, just for lunch. We got back in the car and continued our drive. We had a scare at night in Utah and almost ran out of gas. I wish I could go into the entire story b/c it is the most hysterical thing ever, but we ended up begging this lady to open her gas station b/c she just had closed up for the night and we were able to fill up and be on our way. We made it to Vegas at about 3am on Sunday. If you have never done it, I recommend driving into Vegas at night. It was the most BEAUTIFUL sight I have ever seen coming up over this mountain and seeing the lights of Vegas. I was so overwhelmed & stood out the sunroof to take a panoramic shot. AWESOME! We stayed a couple of days, got back in the car, drove to the Grand Canyon and camped out at the Grand Canyon. It was so hot during the day, but man does it get cold at night!!! We then drove off and our next stop was New Orleans. That's where we hung out with the marines for the night and one of them just happened to be Larry. New Orleans was definitely a trip. We had such a blast. Let's put it this way, we spent the night in the French Quarters right on Bourbon St. and at the end of the night, I said "hey, let's go to Bourbon St., I really want to go there". Everyone laughed and said, "Sher, that's where we have been ALL night". Ooops. What can I say, I was on vacation and had some drinking to do with my girl and our new friends!! After New Orleans, Ryan and I drove off to FL and spent a couple of days on the beaches of FL. We then left and the drive up the East Coast was a reality check that we were heading back to our lives. BLAH! But it was the best vacation of my life and it could never be duplicated!

Ryan and Larry stayed in touch and a few months later she packed up and moved to VA where Larry was based. They later got married and some time later moved to CT when Larry was out of the marines.

Now they live in Suffield with their beautiful baby boy Jackson!!

This was Olivia's first time holding a baby and she did great. Don't they look so cute! That's what she is going to look like with her baby brother.