Thankful for Friends!

Hey guys!  How are you?

Hope your weekend was great and you woke up *not* dreading Mondays like I usually do!  I got lots of good beauty sleep last night so I’m feeling a little less-grumpy than usual on this Monday morning.

We had a great weekend.  I shopped for Halloween decorations (more on that later this week) all day on Saturday, then came home in the afternoon to tidy the house and get ready for friends to come over.

Whenever our friends come over for a casual night like this, I don’t feel the need to dust and vacuum and go all-out with cleaning the house.

Everyone but us has kids, so they’re used to dust bunnies and dog hair tumbleweeds!  Making sure the TP is in the holder, and the beds are made is the extent of cleaning I do! Our friends are super laid-back and could care less!  Below is Tom with Andi Kate and Leland.  Their dad, Nick, and Tom have been lifelong friends and just got back from Wyoming together.

Here’s Ann Parker, our next door neighbor!  Funny girl.

Tom and Andi Kate bonded on Saturday night.  This picture makes me smile. 

I love seeing our back yard like this!  Patio full of friends and yard full of kids!

In all we had 8 adults, 7 kids, and one dog…try to keep up:

Nick and Jessica have Andi Kate (3) and Leland (2)

Anna Mary and Chad have Ann Parker (2) and Ben (4 months)

Erin and John Allen have Webb (7), Harper & Turner (both 4 months)

Tom and Laura:  Reba (3)

Once the sun went down and the bugs came out we headed inside and it was total chaos with all the kids in our non-kid proof house!

It was totally fun, though.  Webb, such a good big brother!

I love this picture…Andi Kate just so happy and content with her friend ‘Mista Tom,’ and Leland…not so much. ha ha.

Andi Kate and Ben with Nick.

Leland chillin’ in Ben’s bouncy seat.  This girl is CRAZY and I love her.  One second she’s in a bouncy seat, you turn around and the next she’s on top of the refrigerator or something.

Me with Harper!  Or was it Turner?  I seriously can’t tell them apart.  I was holding one all night, feeding him and talking to him, calling him one name….then Erin tells me it’s the other one I’ve got!

I don’t know how she tells them apart.

No party is complete without some couch-wrestlin’…..

And some football watchin’….

Love this picture…Tom is kinda awkward with a baby but overall he’s great with kids!

Sidenote:  how much do you love my boots?!?!  I got them on sale at Victoria’s Secret (sidenote to the sidenote…Tom was disappointed to see VS come in the mail only to find it was footwear ha ha….)!  I love them and they are SO comfortable. 

I will live in them this fall and winter, I’m pretty sure.

Saturday night after everyone was gone and the kitchen was clean, I ended my night with this:

All my fave design shows on the ole DVR!  It’s the little things….

So all in all it was a fun Saturday night and I just wanted to document the fun silly nights like these, that make our life so rich right now!  We are so blessed to have these fun wonderful friends.

Sunday morning I was up about 45 minutes before the sun to set out for a long run with Kristi and Bex.  We had 8 miles planned.  We were going to do a 4-mile loop, stop at the house for fuel and water, and repeat the same loop.

And we did it!  Not without complaining and sweating, but we got it done!

I’m pretty sure I had negative splits, too, which made me happy.  Rounding the minute here, but it was something like:

First Half:  11:45 mile

Second Half:  10:30 mile

I completed the entire thing in 1:29:19, which is about a 11:10 mile.  Right on target!

Training is trucking right along and going much better than last year, when Bex was pregnant and Kristi hadn’t picked up running yet.  Training with friends DEFINITELY makes it easier to get up in the morning!