the best kind of weekends

Last weekend Brent and I made the trip up to Wisconsin to visit my college roommate, her husband, and their two kids. We left around five on Friday and didn't get to their house until almost midnight. But did that stop us from sitting up and talking until 1:30? Heck no!

They asked if I would snap a few pics before I left-- when they are this cute! Of course! :) 

Renae was truly a Godsend in college. Something just worked with us and we easily could live with each other: even if it meant I had to tolerate her 53 naps she took a week, or her blue-tooth talking she did, and even if it meant she had to tolerate how loudly I typed and how infrequently I showered. It just worked.

And then she got married. And I got married. She moved to Chicago. I moved to Louisville. We still made the effort to get together once or twice a year. And low and behold, our husbands fell in love with one another too! It just kept getting better!

Then she moved back home to be close to her family and start a family. Then I moved back home to be close to my family and start a family. And we still have managed to make the 6ish hour drive once or twice a year…though it is proving harder with children!

We are always able to jump right in where we left off. Don't you love friendships like that? You don't have one? Go get one right now! This weekend we kept it simple: they made us breakfast, we lounged around, the guys took the kids for a walk, we talked and talked and talked. It was Renae's birthday, so Saturday evening her parents came over and watched the kids and we went out. The four of us hardly knew what to do with ourselves. Yes, they get time to themselves occasionally, as do we. But to be out with great friends! Kid free! For an entire evening! Renae couldn't handle the endless possibilities so we went to one place and got a cheese fondu appetizer and then hit the road and went to another! Because we were in Wisconsin we got cheese curds for our second appetizer at the second place and, let me tell you, we are still talking about them. And then…THEN…they treated US! On Renae's birthday. These guys, I'm tellin' ya, are the best. The food was great, the conversation was awesome, and then it was time to head home to kids that had already been put to bed! So Jared made us milkshakes and we all went to bed feeling a little sick from having eaten so much! It was a good night indeed.

Sunday morning we hustled around and got out the door with three kids and four adults and only managed to be about ten minutes late for church. Brent and Renae talked about how much they hate being in a hurry and being late, and Jared and I were like, eh, whatever…which is why our matching works :). There was a nice brunch after the service and we forced egg casseroles down our kids and then headed home for naptime and the Packers game, of course. We lounged around and played cards until the kids woke up, then later had some frozen pizzas called it a night. I'm telling you, it was the best kind of weekend.

just the girls

my favorite picture of us

Monday we took our time packing up [Brent had Monday off because of Veteran's Day], and then hit the road around eleven. It was so incredibly cold and it snowed that morning, but Blythe was an absolute peach in the car.

It was a great time, as usual, and we only hate that we can't do it more often. I even warmed up to their Chocolate Lab, Dori a bit. And by warmed up I mean that I let them let her out of her crate and walk around in the same room I was in. Big deal. BIG deal. The kids played great together [Jaden will be three shortly, and Jera and Blythe are just a few months apart. Jera and Jaden did a great job of sharing toys. Blythe…well, we're working on it]. We can't wait until our next get together, which will probably include one more child. We always talked about this when we were in college: being married and then having babies and getting together and what that would be like. Well, it's chaotic and noisy and everything wonderful we thought it would be.

At the park after church on Sunday

Brent joked that I HAD to write this post because while we were there we were trying to remember if we'd been at this house of theirs once or twice. Brent swore it was twice because he remembered having gone golfing with Jared two times at two separate locations. I was pretty certain it was just once. Renae said, "Let's look at the blog!" We pulled it up, and sure enough I had blogged about it and it answered all our questions. We laughed and they told me I had to blog about our trip again in case we are confused in two more years about what really happened. :) 

We love this family

And we even got a photo of us!