Reunion in Arkansas

It's been 7 years since I've been to Conway, Arkansas and even longer since I've seen my high school friends in Crossett, Arkansas. For those of you who don't know, my family moved around a lot. I went to two different high schools in Arkansas. From 8th grade to 10th, I lived in a small town in southern Arkansas called Crossett. Then for my last two years, we were in Conway, Arkansas, which is about 3 hours north of Crossett.

I've been planning on going back for years, but an opportunity never presented itself until last year when one of my best friends announced her engagement. I knew I had to plan for this, or it was likely I'd never see these people again. Luckily, her wedding was in Little Rock and that's only 30 minutes south of Conway, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit some dear old friends in Conway as well. : )

If you don't feel like reading my whole life story, then feel free to skip this next part and scroll down to all the photos. : ) I won't be offended.

Before my 8th grade year, we moved to Crossett. Growing up is hard to do, and I feel like Crossett was probably the worst place for doing it. We attended a very small branch every Sunday, and I was the only young woman for about a year before a couple of girls moved up from Primary. My only source of friendship in the church was an hour away in Monroe, Louisiana where I went to just about every single stake function they had. Dances were the bomb there and I still keep in touch with many of my friends from there. However, I hung out with my school friends more often and we were all really close until our 10th grade year. There was just a lot of teenage girl drama, and I definitely had my fair share of it. By the time we moved on to Conway, I was actually relieved to get out of there.

Moving to Conway was really nice, because we were old friends with a family there, and I'd have a friend in school to hang out with. Luckily, we were in a ward and there were SEVERAL young women to associate with. I loved it. Eventually, I graduated from Conway High School in 2003 and went out to BYU-Idaho. I hadn't been back since then.

I couldn't wait to see all my old friends. I knew there would be some awkward moments and quite possibly even a cold shoulder, but I tried not to have any expectations of this trip. The day of my friend's wedding, Trapper and I drove up to Conway to see this family. We were lucky to come out on the week of Toad Suck Daze! This is a big deal in Conway. They have rides and booths for entering contests and fun games. They also held a 5k, in which one of my friends took part in. Trapper and I strolled through downtown Conway where they were doing a lot of different booths and food stands. We came across one of those events where you have to keep your hand on a car for as long as you can if you want to win it. I can't remember what it's called. These guys were going on 48 hours though when I took this picture. Luckily, for them, they get like 10 minutes for a potty break every so often.

I wish we could've gotten a picture with the guys dressed up as toads, but they disappeared when we went to look for 'em. Darn them.

After Toad Suck, we visited with my old friends. It was SOO great to see them. Mr. Bob and Mrs. Vicki are like second parents to me, so it was a joy to be with them. It's amazing how much we've all grown up. In a way, I wish we could've brought the kids down just so they could meet them, and Jackson and Braden could play with Brinley and Kalisa, Katie and Sarah's little baby girls. Katie's my age and Sarah's my sister's age. They also have a boy that's my brother Josh's age. It worked out pretty well for us all being friends! At the end of our visit, Trapper and I changed clothes and headed down to the wedding. I'm really mad at myself for not taking any picutres of the Lorimer's. I can't believe I forgot.

This is back in Little rock at the wedding. My friend Jennifer with her husband Matt. They were so adorable to watch. And she rocked that dress.

This guy was probably one of the best friends I ever had. When we arrived at the wedding, he was the only one who got out of his seat to hug me and ask me how I was doing. Like I said, there was a lot of girl drama back when.

Another picture of the two whispering sweet nothings.

Me and Jenn. It was unfortunate that it had to rain on her wedding day, but luckily, it didn't start pouring until after I took all the pictures I wanted.

This is the whole Crossett gang. Take out the girl on the far left and the blonde girl in the very middle and this would be our little group from high school. Oh yes, and that's the dress I found after much searching. I was happy when I got it,but after awhile, I wasn't satisfied. I wanted something a little more colorful. Oh well. It did the job. I'll just have to keep looking for another one.