Girlfriends' Retreat @ Tahoe

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the weekend at beautiful Lake Tahoe with my dear friends. I drove two friends up with me on Friday morning to Tahoe. That drive went by SO fast because we just talked and talked. The accommodations were amazing. I had my own master suite to myself. Everyone had their own room and bathroom for at least 1 of the nights. We wandered the Northstar village, went to dinner together, and chatted the night away on the first night. It was so wonderful to be able to not be on a schedule. I woke up when I wanted the next morning and just took my time. We all went on what we thought would be a mile and a half hike, but we started on the wrong trail, and then went back to the correct trail and then missed the switchback to the summit. So, we figured that we hiked around 7 or 8 miles. But, when we did make it to the summit, it was gorgeous!!! We relaxed in the hot tub, rode the stinky gondola due to all of the sweaty mountain bikers, roasted marshmallows at the fire pits, watched a chick-flick, and laughed & laughed & laughed. I am so lucky to have such great friends. Thanks SO much, Kristin, for organizing this and for the use of your condos. I am so blessed with a wonderful husband who supported me on this weekend. The boys went to the school carnival, camped in the backyard on Friday after a movie, went to church w/o me while picking up two other boys for church, and managed to get some chores done on Saturday, too. When I arrived home Sunday night, G was busy making cookies for B to take to school for his birthday Monday. How awesome is that?!!! Thanks, G!!!

Bunko Babes

Doing what we do best: talking & laughing!!!

Tuesday night was my bi-monthly Bunko night. Everything is divided up among the group: 6 of us host once a year, and 6 of us bring small prizes once a year. Anyway, I look forward to it every time. I love these girls, and we enjoy visiting, catching up, and just being together. We had yummy salads, homemade dinner rolls, appetizers, and dessert. I ate way too much because it was so delicious. We share stories, updates, advice, recipes, and most of all ... friendship. I won one of the prizes for having the most mini-bunkos (3 of a kind). I rolled 20 of them! (possibly a group record) Amy brought these way cute huge clothespins for the prizes and I really needed something to hold my recipes when I'm cooking. It's SO cool. Several of us stayed for another hour to visit after the prizes were handed out. Thanks for hosting, Raimi!

Girls' Night Out

Last night we had a Girls' Night Out. We met at one of our favorite restaurants called Costa Vida. I tried one of their HUGE burritos that had sweet marinated pork, seasoned rice, black beans and all of the trimmings. It was SO good! The best part, was visiting with my dear friends. We all just enjoyed being out together. It was funny when our friend, Lisa, picked up some of us: she didn't have to come to the door to get us. We ALL were eagerly waiting for her and jumped into her car! Thanks for driving, Lisa!!

Next, most of us ventured over to this really cool store called Home Goods. They have so many nice things and the prices were low. It was fun to browse, giggle, and chat. Most of us "window shopped", but a few of my friends bought some things. Only about 3 of my friends had been to this store before and were eager to bring us all there.

Then, the 5 of us that drove together spent almost another hour in the car just visiting in front of Angie's house. Fun. Fun. Fun!!! I had a great time. Thanks for organizing this, Keri. It was so nice to come home and have the kids already in bed asleep. G and I stayed up and visited for a while & watched a couple of quick shows (we FW'd through all of the fluff on American Idol to see who was voted off. I thought Jason C. was going to be gone!). Anyway, I'm thankful that I have a very supportive husband and wonderful friends. I'm very lucky.

I like this quote from Chieko Okazaki: "Friendship is a gift, a special quality of relationship between people in which some of our social, emotional, and spiritual needs can be met." Amen to that!!