A weekend with the Hancocks

Our good friends, the Hancock family, recently moved back to Kentucky. They lived in Kentucky when we first moved to Indiana. We started a tradition of staying with them so we could go to the temple. Both of our families have five boys, so it was a perfect fit. We would stay at their house on Friday night, then each couple would take turns going to the temple the next day. We have so many fun memories of getting together with them every month. We did it so much, that now our children refer to each other as cousins!

We were sad when our friends moved to Utah. We missed them a lot and I'm sorry to say that our temple attendance started to slow down. We have a two hour drive to the closest temple, so staying with our friends made attending every month much easier.

We were all excited to find out that our friends were moving back! Our boys were so excited to go visit their "cousins" again. We found a weekend that worked for everyone (not an easy task when 10 boys are involved) and we started counting down the days.

One of the first things the boys did when we got to the Hancocks was try out their new hot tub. It's a good thing all the boys are good friends because there wasn't much room left once all ten boys got in. The boys had a ball. I'm thinking that will become a new tradition on our monthly trips.

One of the best parts of the trip was the babysitting. We have finally entered the phase of life when our oldest boys are old enough to babysit!!! We decided to leave the oldest boys in charge and go on a double date with Mark and Jen to the movies. It was a lot of fun. We kind of felt like we were cheating - but we didn't let that stop us from having a great time! The boys were all excited because they got to stay up late and watch a movie. They all did a great job.

We were also able to go to the temple Mark and Jen while the boys babysat. We realized that we had never gone together before (we were usually watching each others' kids). We had a really nice temple session and we were able to help Jen do some sealing for her ancestors. It was a great way to spend the morning.

After we got back we decided to go have an early dinner at Five Guys (seems fitting). It's the perfect place because everyone likes the food. The boys also love the free peanuts. I'm not so sure the lady cleaning the floor shared their same love!

Once dinner was over we had to wash down our hamburgers with Graeter's Ice Cream. We found out about this ice cream from some friends who lived in Cincinnati. We tried some and loved it. When we got back home (Kentucky at that time) we found out we had a Graeter's nearby! We try to go there as often as we can when we visit!!

It was a great weekend. We are really glad the Hancocks moved back. They are wonderful friends. We are thankful that after all of this time they haven't gotten tired of having us over every month. It's a trip we all look forward to taking.