Such a great weekend

It's been a while since I've felt like I had a genuinely productive weekend, while also having fun with friends and family.  This weekend was so great on so many levels.

Friday night, we decided to go out to dinner as a family because Ryan will be doing football every Friday started next weekend. At the last minute, some friends invited us to join them in celebrating at a tepanyaki restaurant (where they cook the food in front of you) and, although that's normally not in our budget, I'm getting ready to be promoted for the third time in my Tastefully Simple business and we've only celebrated once. So we agreed (actually, I agreed and called Mike and asked him to be flexible) and we had SO much fun. After spending a fortune and eating to the point of feeling sick, we decided to treat the kids to cookies at a neighboring bakery. I mean, the night was shot anyway, so why not? Bedtime was preceded with meltdowns and sugar crashes, which was to be expected.

Kaylin's first "Shirley Temple"

On Saturday, we spent time as a family in the morning, cleaning the house, reading Little House on the Prairie and relaxing.  Then that afternoon, I ran some errands (alone!) before going to a bachelorette day for a friend on my Tastefully Simple team. We got manicures and pedicures, then went out to dinner in downtown Scottsdale.  Being that it was St. Patrick's Day and baseball Spring Training (that's a big deal around here) the restaurant was packed. And being that our friend was wearing a veil and a bright pink "Bride" sash, a TON of...um...intoxicated gentlemen continued to send us rounds of drinks all night long. One of them even ended up picking up our WHOLE appetizer/dinner/dessert bill. Hanging out with beautiful {mostly} single ladies was something I haven't done in ages. It made for a very cheap evening!!!

On Sunday, we woke up to cold, wonderfully fun, rainy day.  After getting drenched on our way to the car after church, we came home and had cookies and cocoa.  At 10:30am.  Then after lunch, I got a call from one of my past Tastefully Simple hostesses asking if we could meet to discuss her signing up to be a consultant. As I pulled out of the driveway, the rain had stopped and Mike and the big kids were planting flowers in the front yard. My hostess and I sat and chatted for almost three hours (we have lots in common!) and she went home to sign up to join my team.  To celebrate, I brought home Chipotle and we ended the night playing Jenga and making Domino creations on the kitchen table. I felt like the poster family for a Milton Bradley commercial.

It was just a really great weekend, all around. And I hope it will linger in my memory for quite a while!