Me (holding Maxwell), Emily, Laura (holding Abigail), and Hillary

Girls weekend 2014

Last year was the start of an amazing annual event...girls weekend. I feel so honored because this years location was Seattle. It was so fun showing everyone my new city. Unfortunately, Abby couldn't make it this year. We all missed her so much but know that we'll all have years it might not work out.

This is us missing Abby.

We spent Friday at Pikes Place Market, which was lots of fun. We all shared pictures from the trip and I think Laura took most of these.

These women mean the world to me. We are all so different but also the same. Being in the crazy season of raising little ones definitely binds us together. 

Emily and I are still nursing so our babies got to tag along this year. We decided that if we were able to make girls weekend a priority this year (with all of us leaving little ones at home) then we should be able to make it happen every year in the future.

Abigail and Maxwell (both 8 months)

Girls weekend 2014 (I think we were about 30-31 weeks pregnant)

First Starbucks

Fresh peaches from Pikes Place

The highlight of the trip was the Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room. The roastery is only about 7 months old and is the Disney World of coffee. All of the staff were so kind and informative, it was a neat experience.

We found a cozy spot for lunch and all enjoyed sandwiches, a specialty coffee drink, and tarts for dessert. It was perfect.

Saturday morning we had a mini baby shower for Hillary, who is expecting baby #3 in November.

Girls weekend for us might mean a little sight seeing but the main purpose of the weekend is life updates (and lots of coffee drinking). Everyone gets a chance to share. Some years one of us will need a full day to share and someone else will only need a 30 minutes but we are all attentive and truly interested. If God put me and Joe in Colorado 7 years ago for no other reason but for me to meet these women, it was worth it.

After everyone left on Sunday, I hugged Joe and cried. I am so sad to be so far from these special friends but also so thankful that I know I'll see them in about a year.

Maxwell turned 8 months while all of my friends were in town this past weekend so I took his pictures a couple days late. This little guy is so sweet and learned so many new things this past month.

He officially says, "Mama" and all my friends got to hear it. He usually only says my name if he is in his crib or really needs/wants me, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Max's first tooth is just starting to poke through. It's hard to see it but you can definitely feel it when you touch his gums.

This little guy is busy and is completely mobile. He isn't crawling on his knees yet but will get all around the house army crawling.

Maxwell loves life and when he gets really excited, he moves his arms up and down. Here are some other firsts this past month...

first time riding in the front of the shopping cart,

first time pulling himself to a standing position,

first time sitting alone in the bathtub (he really looks like his daddy here),

first time feeding himself a pouch,

and first time standing.

It's been a busy month of learning and growing!

This past week, my friend, Emily and her family came to visit us in Seattle. I met Emily when we were both about 6-8 weeks pregnant with our 2nd babies. Our first two are 9 months apart and our 3rd babies are 10 days apart. Our kids love each other and my girls have talked about Rebekah and Mackenzie on a daily basis for the past 7 months. Emily and I text each other multiple times a week. She is a special friend that I'll have forever. When she told me that her family wanted to do a family vacation here before girls weekend, I was so excited!

Even though bedtime got really late and my kids kept everyone up, I'm still glad we did a sleepover...they were so excited.

These two have such a special bond and it took us moving away for us to realize how much they mean to each other.

Maxwell and Abigail met just a couple times before our move so it was so fun to see them interact together.

We spent most of our time at the beach, which was so fun for everyone.

These kids can play for hours.

Best buddies. These girls have been friends for about 3.5 years and get along so well. They have done FaceTime several times since we have moved and will carry a conversation for up to an hour; it always amazes Emily and me.

Laura got in a day before the "official" start of girl's weekend. It was so fun to have an extra day with her. She lives in Nebraska and I hadn't seen her since last years girl's weekend. I love the way she loves on my kids (she has 3 little ones at home).

Abigail (8 months), Mia (4), Mackenzie (3), Rebekah (5), Naomi (3), and Maxwell (8 months)

Such a fun week with some of our favorite people. We miss you all already!

"If there comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever." Winnie the Pooh