Deg goes to Chicago and Deej and I head to Indiana/Tennessee (and accompanying picture dump)

Deg's company is working on a piece of software called Scissorhands (yes, like the movie). It optimizes cutting machines for printing facilities.Whatever that means. Anyway, there was a huge trade show in Chicago during the beginning of this week, so Deg and several of his coworkers went to peddle their wares. Saturday, about an hour after I got home from running that dang half marathon, I drove Deg to the airport and he flew to Louisville, Kentucky, where he met up with some dudes from work and they drove the 5 hours up to the trade show. More on that later.

The CEO is a pretty awesome guy and offered to fly me out since he was already flying Deg out. He didn't even care that we were going on different days. I'm not gonna say no to that! So, Deej and I hung out until Monday morning and then we flew out to Louisville. That night, we met up with a former coworker, Liz, and her family for dinner. Then, trying to kill time and wear a kid out who'd been on an airplane all day, we surprised some good friends, Dixon and Denise, by dropping by to say hello. Well, they're pretty much the best people ever and insisted that we not check into a hotel but stay with them. After we showed up without warning. Now that is awesome. We had a great time with them, and their three year old and DJ were just the best of friends. It was an absolute joy to see them and to spend time with them.

Yes, I put my kid on a leash to get through the airport. But look at how cute it is, and the freedom he was able to have was just beyond necessary.

DJ and Grant played all sorts of games with these balloons, including but not limited to attack, scream, smack, and bite.

The next day, DJ and I ran a few errands, went to play at the park, and then went over to the school I worked at. The kids were excited to see me, but also excited to see Deej, too. I was pregnant for nearly the entire 2012-13 school year, so they were really excited to see "Walker Junior Wait-for-it Charizard Valentine III" (their chosen name for my kid). I'd brought him to see them right before we moved, but dude was teensy. This time, he showed off his dance moves in the middle of the room. That's my kid! Anyway, I got to see tons of my kiddos and coworkers and I just was so excited to be back there. I have never had a job that not only made me feel at home but helped me to explore my talents and grow as a human, so it was beautiful being back.

Swinging at the park while waiting for our trip to the school.

DJ and Kylee, who are like maybe 3 weeks apart in age. Her mom and I were pregnant work buddies together, which was fun when we taught a class together and the kids joked that we'd go into labor at the same time in the middle of class. 

That night, we stayed with my coteacher, Hannegan, and her family. Her 3 boys loved all over DJ, showing him every toy they had and fighting over who got to do what with him. It was darling. The youngest looked at his mom with puppy eyes and said, "Mommy, I've never gotted to be a big brother." Sorry about bringing my child over and making your kids baby hungry! Anyway, I had so much fun catching up with her and spending time with her family. When you spend two years in a room with another person where you both teach children, you bond in a way that would probably be disturbing if it wasn't so awesome.

Reunited and it feels so good!

These boys could have played all night long if we would have let them.

This picture is deceivingly important. You see, I've never seen Star Wars (a story for another time), so Hannegan's boys are obsessed with DJ getting to know all about Star Wars, so he obviously had to play with all their Star Wars toys.

DJ is a big fan of dog beds.

The boys got a kick out of DJ sleeping in the littlest brother's bed. They all had to come peek on him sleeping a few times.

The next day, we left early and drove 4 hours to Knoxville, Tennessee. My bestie from Indiana, Heather, and her family moved there, so obviously I had to go see her. I think I took every possible wrong turn on the way there, but we finally made it. We let the kids play for a bit and then we took them to the zoo. Deej hadn't ever been to a zoo before (it's too hot in Sin City, I guess), so it was really neat to show him that. Then we came back, ate dinner, gave the kids a bath and put them to bed, and hung out until we just about passed out from exhaustion. Before we crashed, though, Deg called to say that our flight had been moved back, which was awesome news for me. That meant I didn't have to leave at 6 the next morning and could stay till about 11.

All three of the cuties

I don't know what Heather was telling the kids, but even the baboon stopped to listen.

Me and the Deej... and an elephant butt.

Sandbox time!

Babies in the bath

They even watched the movie in the same position

Someone needed to go to bed rather than take a picture with matching Batman jammies

I mean, really. The cuteness!

 The next morning, we hung out and let the kids play. They were so darling together. The 4 year old, Emily, was very interested in showing me everything and the 18 month old, Ethan, and DJ are already best friends. I'll show you the pics here in a sec to prove it! When it was time for me to go, both Heather and I burst into tears and I told her she has no choice but to move out to Vegas when her husband's done with the yearlong internship he's doing now. Then Deej and I drove back to Louisville, picked up Deg, and had a Subway sandwich picnic in the park to burn off some energy before flying back.

Best friends forever!

I love taking selfies with kids - it's always funny.

These two missed each other. We picked Deg up, and from his carseat, DJ grabbed Deg's arm and hugged it for a good, long while as we drove to the park to get out some energy before we flew back home.

On to Deg's business. They were the hit of the show. Because their product is called Scissorhands, they had some models dressed up (not too skanky - I'll show you a picture), and I guess that got them some attention, but then when people heard what they were doing, it got a lot of attention. There were several big name companies that were very interested, so that's awesome for them. They came back feeling so good about things, and one of the guys even mentioned how they couldn't have wished for it to go that well. I'd go into details, but I don't really understand the tech end of things, so we'll just say the software is cool.

Deg with the models. You know you shouldn't be worried when your husband looks like he's gonna poop himself.

Deg wearing the scissor hands

It was all a bit last minute and sort of a whirlwind trip, but it was so fun to go back and see everyone and everything. We're about a week away from our year-a-versary of moving to Vegas, so it was neat timing, too. I am so glad Deej and I had the opportunity to see everyone.