My girls....weekend away

I have these 2 girlfriends that have known the real ME for a very long time--half of my life. Wow, that sounds like a long time! I met Natalie (above right) when I was 14, just before my freshman year in high school....I had just moved to Houston. We lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same church. Emily (left) didn't move to the area until a year later....she also went to my church, and she and Natalie ran track together and became friends, but we didn't become good friends until we were both 16 and the boys we were dating were best friends. So we did a lot of double dating and chatting about the in's and out's of those boys we liked. They went to BYU before me, but I met up with them there and we had the same major and took some classes together. We all got married within a year or so from each other. We've lived all over, and kept in touch and saw each other when we could (all our parents still lived in Houston).

(Here we are, back in the day) The past two years, they have both been in Houston, just a few hours from me. So we'd meet up and talk about our lives...parenting and such. It's just so great to have solid people move through the stages of life with me. They make me laugh, we cry together, we hold each other up when times are tough, remind me to be my best self, and keep me in check when I'm slacking off. Collectively we have 8 children and still going....I know all of their siblings and they know mine...their husbands actually grew up and went to our high school, too. They truly care about me, and for that I am grateful. I love these girls!

We met up in Dallas b/c Natalie just moved there and has the baby, Emily drove up from Houston, and I drove from Austin.....all by myself! Michael actually called me on my drive as I had my MP3 player blaring my newly downloaded favorite songs, and I exclaimed to him, "I am having so much FUN with myself!" Just to sing loudly with the idea that I was meeting up with my friends. Navigating the unknown Dallas area with my mapquest map beside me I crossed over 8 lane highways and thought, "I'm a BIG girl now!" Emily is moving in a few weeks to the East coast which is so sad, but we've decided its worth it to do these "Girl Weekends" at least every other year. Remind me again why I can't pick all my favorite people to live on the same street as me? Stinks sometimes.

We ate out....went shopping, and stayed at a hotel with down comforters and nice padding. And just talked all night long.

I'm so grateful I have a supportive husband who doesn't "bat his eye" at holding down the fort and encourages me to have fun like this. Also grateful for good friends who helped me when my hubby couldn't get off work the whole time.