Great Friends

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. Marc and Dana are some very good friends of ours that we met when we lived in Shreveport. We were in grad school with Dana and she and Em hit it off immediately. I met Marc through her and it didn't take long for us all to become close. When we graduated, Em and I moved to Longview and Dana worked in Shreveport while Marc went to grad school. Once he finished, they both moved to Longview. We were pretty much joined at the hip with them during their 2 years here and they have become some of our best friends. Marc is one of the funniest people I've ever known and Dana has one of the biggest hearts there is. Most of our weekends were spent together, we had "dinner night" several nights a week, and we were all fortunate enough to work together. We took trips together, ran 1/2 marathons together, worked out together, watched movies together, pretty much did everything together... so Em and I were saddened to see them leave when they moved to Phoenix at the beginning of October to be closer to family. About 6 months before they moved, Dana found out she was pregnant and on December 2nd, baby Jake joined the cast. Em and I flew out to Phoenix on December 4th and spent about 4 days with them. He's a great looking kid with a head full of hair and he performs all his baby "doodies" well! We wanted write about Marc and Dana so we could share a little about them with those that don't know them, and to let them know how much they mean to us. We miss you guys terribly and can't wait to see you soon! Here are some pics from their going away party and our trip to see them last month. Enjoy!

Party

Phoenix

Surprise!

Our friend Dana turned the big THREE O on the 15th, but she and Marc were on vacation so we celebrated last night. It was a surprise party and I have to give Emily credit for the planning and execution. Dana thought she and Marc were coming over for dinner with one other couple when, in fact, there were about 20 people. Hiding that many cars is not easy, so I had Marc tip us off when they were en route and we all stood out in our front yard and waved as they came up the street. Dana didn't catch on to the surprise until they were actually in our driveway. GREAT SUCCESS! I'm pretty impressed with Em too, because she's terrible at keeping big secrets and she held on to this one for 2 whole weeks! Impressive. Everyone had a great time. We grilled burgers and dogs, visited with friends, and played Wii and Rock band like there was no tomorrow! Hope you enjoy the pics. Happy Birthday Dana!