Lansing Friends

The time we spent living in Lansing was definitely one of the best periods of our lives. We had so many friends-- many of whom came to MSU for one graduate program or another-- that we grew very close to in such a short period of time.

This summer we've been lucky to have three of them come stop by for a quick visit, and it was awesome to pick up where we left off, with a few more kids than we had before. Mark and Allysson with their kids, Eliza and Sherman-- on their way back to Nebraska from a vacation in Utah. Mark and Allysson were Ethan's first primary teachers.

Mark has a PhD in something agriculture-related-- I'm not going to even attempt to explain what he does. All I know is that when they BBQ'd with us at my in-laws, he suggested manure for my mother-in-law's garden, and now it's growing like mad. He must be good at what he does. :)

Luke and Sherman were born days apart, but of course haven't seen each other since they were babies. When Luke woke up and Sherman was already gone, Luke was really bummed that he couldn't play with his new buddy.

Marlene and Emron-- also have PhDs, in Spanish and American Literature, respectively. They live the kind of life Derek and I dream about living, but are too practical to do-- they travel to Guatemala, Brazil, Austria, usually with their kids in tow, for extended periods of time. They are our most fun liberal friends :) and we could talk with them for hours on end-- fascinating and fun.

We missed seeing their adorable kiddos, Moses and Anya, who stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Marlene and Emron went house hunting in Georgia.
Megan and Greg, with their adorable kids Ellie and Jack, who are almost exactly Luke and Janie's ages. (Now we have at least two chances of an arranged marriage working out!)
Greg also has a PhD in something related to agriculture-- and/or analytic chemistry?-- all I know is that I said "mass spectrometer" in our conversation with Greg and I think I used it correctly, so I was pretty proud of myself. Did I mention that pretty much all of our friends from Lansing are brainy?!
I think of Megan every time I see apple sauce, since she taught me to can and we spent 2 full days canning apples one fall in Michigan.
Megan and Greg were also our running buddies--we've done several races together.