Trista and Ryan Sutter of The Bachelorette speak out amid talk of a break

Trista Sutter is back with her family.

The Bachelorette alum, who met her husband Ryan on the first season of the ABC dating show, had spent some time apart from him recently, but that appeared to be over by Sunday, when he posted a photo of the couple and their teenage kids, Maxwell and Blakesley, happy on the beach.

The photo was accompanied by a sweet note, which read in part: "Welcome back @tristasutter We missed you."

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The updated reassured fans after his messages earlier this month revealing that his wife was spending Mother's Day away from him and their children. In another, on May 17, he explained that Trista was "at a place in life where she is searching a bit. An opportunity presented itself that may help her on that quest. With her family' support, she has taken it. Part of that process means that she is temporarily inaccessible to us. I miss her. We miss her."

She dismissed any speculation that they had split with her own post on Saturday.

"Geez people. Can't a girl have a nervous breakdown/trial separation/midlife crisis/death/divorce in peace around here?!" she joked. "In all seriousness, for those concerned, I’m safe and sound, happy and healthy, in love and grateful. For those who'd rather focus on being critical and searching way too hard for darkness, good luck with that."

She said "an opportunity for perspective and personal growth presented itself and with the unconditional support of my family and friends, I chose myself and betterment, knowing that my stay-at-home-mom job and my kids end-of-the-school-year needs were in the best, most capable hands."

Trista defended her husband's posts about missing her, which some commenters had criticized as overly dramatic or just for publicity, and promised to share more information later.

"We look at Instagram like a digital diary," she wrote. "Most of the time, the world doesn't pay too much attention. This time, he couldn't say anything right and just about every news outlet picked up his "cryptic/confusing/attention-seeking/dramatic" pictures and captions. To me, they gave me exactly what my Words of Affirmation love language needed to get me through some serious self doubt and fear…and that's all that matters."

The Sutters became engaged in February 2003, at the end of The Bachelorette, and they're one of the couples held up as proof that The Bachelor and its sister shows can actually work. They were married in a televised ceremony in December of that year.