California with my ladies and our babies

On August 25th, I flew out to have a quick girls weekend with some of my dearest friends. Normally, when you think of a "girls weekend" you imagine a bunch of grown women without husbands and children going absolutely crazy at the destination of their choosing (doesn't it usually seem like it's Vegas?) Anyway, for this girls weekend, Karlee had her kiddos and Kaite and Jessika live in the area so, it could have gone either way on kids/no kids so, I decided to bring Patrick with me. We took a late flight on Thursday night and arrived quite a bit after Patrick's bedtime but he was a good boy and really did quite well on the plane. Kaite and Tyler picked us up and they were ready with an extra car seat for Patch. I didn't have to pack much which was nice. We caught up a bit (I had just visited in February and stayed with them) and I told them about my recent work chaos. Had I known I was going to be losing my job, I probably would have planned my visit to be a little bit longer so I could have gotten an extra day with Jessika. Kaite had to get back to work and Karlee had lots of family stuff going on but, I probably could have gotten some extra Jessika time :( Anyway, they had a pack and play all set up for Patrick already and were the best hosts.


On Friday morning we met up with Karlee at Willy's Bagels and Blends. Kaite wound up getting work off that day and we had some lady time. It was so surreal when Karlee drove up because I hadn't seen her since the summer I was pregnant with Patrick. 3 years people! I was meeting Maverick (her little boy that's a few months younger than Patch) and seeing Leila who is like 4 going on 17. For breakfast at Willy's though, it was just Karlee. She's pretty pregnant so, I think when she can simplify her life and opt to leave the other two with Gram, she's happy to do so. :) Then we jetted over to Karlee's house and put the kids down for naps while us girls visited and caught up. In the afternoon we headed to the Stoneridge mall where I could pop over to the Apple store and get my phone looked at. The screen was locking and I couldn't even power it down. The last time I used it was early that morning to facetime Scott and then boom, it crashed. The problem appeared to be fixed so, we ate lunch at Panda Express and headed home. We had a short visit at the Rudd's house that evening and headed back to Kaite's for the night.


On Saturday we went to a Brentwood 3rd ward breakfast and cleaned the church real fast. We headed back to Kaite's house and got ready to meet up with everyone at a splash  pad nearby. The kids had a fun time and I just wanted to play in the water. I did play a bunch and didn't sit and visit as much as I should have. Toward the end of our fun at the splash pad, we had the kids all dressed and ready to get in cars. Patrick, Maverick, and Leila started making me and Jessika food out of tanbark from the playground. :) Patrick loves doing that at the park lately. Kaite and Jessika headed out to grab ice cream from a local shop that makes different flavors every day. We were getting ready for a ladies night in/ slumber party! Karlee and I headed back to the Rudd's house and on the way our kiddos fell asleep. It was adorable. All 3 of them squished in the back of Karlee's dad's truck in clunky car seats. Leila started to fall asleep. Patrick and Maverick crashed. Karlee had been having a hard time with Leila at night because she wasn't sleeping well so, I made an attempt to keep her awake by having her clean Brian's sunglasses. That did the trick and we were able to get her home. Karlee and I put our boys down for a nap and Marty ordered a pizza for us all. When the kids woke up, they played outside a little bit and we all watched the movie "Sing". I had never seen it before and all my mama friends seemed shocked. Jessika left her kids at the Speer's house to sleep and Kaite planned to just make it a late night and head home with James once it became clear that he could not stay up any longer. We all chatted about meaningful spiritual stuff toward the end of the night. It was so nice to share those feelings with the friends I feel closest to and to get their insight on some of the topics that I've been struggling with. Great gals. Perhaps those thoughts and feelings are best left for a different post.


On Sunday we all went to church. Jessika did stay the night so, we all got ready together which was really fun. I felt like a million bucks in my new-ish dress that Scott got me for Mother's Day. He spoils me. Anywho, I sat in the pew with the Rudds and Patrick did pretty dang well in sacrament meeting as in...he sat there the whole time!!! I didn't have to leave the chapel even once. I have no idea how that happened. It's probably because Karlee had some pretty awesome busy books that she made and some fun wipe away Usborne books. I have got to get me some of those. We played hooky for the next two hours of church and Jessika ditched so that she and Kurtis could visit Ben Fox and his family who had just moved back to the area. Chris Murray found his way to us and I was so thrilled to see him! He hadn't seen Patrick since probably close to a year ago when he and Cambry were passing through town to attend a funeral but Patrick was in nursery. We tried to arrange a time for me to visit them after church and, it worked out perfectly. I packed up my things before church so, we transferred everything to the Speer's van (including the car seat) an they drove me to the Speer's house where there was a family birthday party going on for one of the kids. I was trying to coordinate all the specifics of the evening but had to wait on some last minute decisions from the Murrays...even though I'd been texting Kent and Chris since Saturday about making plans. The Speers weren't quite expecting me for dinner and the Murrays had not yet responded on when they wanted me to come by. When I arrived at the Speer's home I felt a little funny sticking around for this dinner last minute so, Patrick and I borrowed Jessika's van and drove in the direction of Kaite's house. I texted Kaite to see if they were home and NO they went to her parent's house last minute for dinner. CRAP! I couldn't now go back to the Speer's and the Murrays JUST responded to come by in like 45 minutes so, Patrick and I just changed in the Speer's van, drove to the splash pad, and bummed around for a bit. It worked out really well and Patrick had a lovely time in this now familiar park. We popped over to the Murray's house for a couple of hours. It was dinner time but I wasn't sure if they had eaten yet or not so, luckily, I had a left over burrito that Jessika got me still in my backpack. I devoured that at the Murray's house and Patrick didn't seem too interested in food but, Maarti did give him a few snacks and he played with some of Chris' old toys. OH MY HEAVENS was that memory lane! We had a great visit and caught up on a bunch of things. Warren family. My family. Me and Scott. Chris and Cambry. etc. I kept checking in with Jessika to see when they would be ready to head out as I had their car and needed to drive back to them. As I headed out, Kent came out (he missed our formal goodbyes in the house because he was on a call doing bishop-y things) and he gave me a big squeeze and said "you're a really good mom Michelle. It's fun to see you as a mom." That melted my heart and I told him that every mom needs to hear that more often and thank you. :) I headed back to pick up Jessika and Kurtis and Dan and Theresa were generous enough to share a bit of food with Patrick as he did not get a full fledged dinner.  We packed that for the road and after a very brief tour of the Speer's farm (and by tour I mean Patrick ran out and Ella ran after and they both stared at the cows), we headed to Mare Island to Jessika and Kurtis' house. Jess and I stayed up late and played a fun singing/ music game and ate candy. Classic us. We stayed up late snuggling and talking after the kiddos went to sleep (also classic us) and our topics of conversation drifted to church and life's hard stuff. She's an incredible woman and I admire her strength. SO MUCH. She's a peer and has been through so much. More than any of my other friends my age and I just have so much respect for how resilient she is.


The next morning, I had a VERY early flight. I set my alarm and popped downstairs to get ready and pack a few snacks. I helped myself to breakfast and tried preparing a few things that I thought Patrick might enjoy. I helped myself to those things too...snacks and such. Jessika's alarm did not go off so I had to barge into her room and wake her. I felt pretty bad about that. We hopped in the car and drove to the airport swiftly. Patch was sitting in the back seat and jabbering about things and asking questions. Jess and I were talking about plans for the day and plans for our next visit. Patrick and I pretty much barely made it to the gate as they were boarding the plane. PHEW. Patch did a pretty good job on the plane and my parents picked us up from the airport. They took Patch on to Kathie's house and I jumped into a day of resumes, networking, and job applications.


Life is amazing. It's amazing that on Monday morning I was in the Bay Area riding in the car with my best friend and that by late Monday morning, I was back in Salt Lake for a day of work. It's amazing that technology makes it possible for me to talk with my dearest friends even when they're thousands of miles away. It's amazing that time passes and yet with those gals it feels like we can always pick up where we left off. I'm pretty lucky.