I Did it Again! I Took a Trip Without My Husband!

This all came about by a phone call from my sister, Jenni, who didn't want to be alone on her birthday. She made some joke about how I should drop everything and come up to Washington to stay with her while Mark was out of town. Next thing I knew I had called Joe, asked permission and planned a trip to Seattle.
I didn't want to stress out too much so I took my time getting there. I left just after church and made it to Spokane by 6, where we were staying with a mission friend and her husband. We made a few stops on the way to keep all of us happy.

The next morning the boys woke up far too early, so we set out earlier than we expected. We made one little "hiking" stop for AJ at a beautiful canyon overlook.

By lunch time we had made it to Snoqualmie Falls, where Jenni met us for lunch.

After that we headed back to Jenni's house to enjoy a week of doing next to nothing...and I loved it. We did whatever we wanted and just enjoyed relaxing together.
The night I got there Mark was still home. He didn't leave for his business trip until morning, so jenni convinced him to babysit while we went to a movie together.

It was nearly empty, and we didn't really care what we were watching, we just enjoyed going out as girls and drinking divine hot chocolate.
Our week was filled with walking kids to school.

Aj even got to attend Back to School night with Sadie and pretend to be a student. He loved every single minute of it!

Playing at the park

Shopping of course

And we decided to pull out the Halloween stuff and get to work.

Jenni asked me to invent a spiderweb...so I did!

Jenni's actual birthday was also filled with fun! after eating early morning donuts, we had breakfast with friends,

Had a bit of down time,

And then ordered in Thai food and rented a movie to watch while we slummed on the couch. It was wonderful.

I love going to Jenni's house so much because the kids all just adore each other. Sadie loved showing Aj around and Payton loved having someone to pretend with. 

Now the two little ones were nearly inseparable. Here are just a few precious moments they shared.

Aj loved that he got to sleep on the "bomb bed" all week long. It made me realize just how small he still is. 

I had a wonderful time and was really sad to have to leave. But, my husband needed me. 

I did however get to see a few friends on the way back. I was sooooo glad I finally got to catch up with Jacqui and Andy from school. It really had been too long. I hope now that live closer we can make it a regular thing to see each other now and again. 

Half way home I stopped in Spokane to see and old Elementary school friend. We haven't talked much since high school, but as soon as we met up we hit it off like nothing had changed...except the fact the we are 10 years older...Thank you Lauren for taking the time to come have a picnic lunch with me. It was muchly needed. 

Well, I sufficiantly wore out the boys and expected it to be smooth sailing from there, but then....Completely stopped traffic for 2 hours in the middle of nowhere. I had no cell service and no where to go. so to make the best of it we got out and played a bit. 

Turns out the problem was an overturned truck... yuck. I am glad I was a ways back. 

Eventually I made it home at 11 PM. It was a wonderful trip and I hope to do it again soon... but this time with the moral support of my husband. :)