Mommy's Weekend Away

a week before mike got back, i had the opportunity to take a little mommy time.  miracle of all miracles ;) most of my meredith girls were able to take a weekend away to relax at the beach and enjoy some 'girl-time'.  

thanks to my dad and anne, i was able to take an extra 2 days away to get some other things done, like summer shopping, movie catch-ups and friend time that i hadn't had an opportunity to do in a while. 

This is my first picture of the trip...a car selfie!  never thought i'd catch myself doing this, but first time away without kids in close to 2 years deserves a picture, yes? 

first stop was visiting this sweet lady.  emily and i met while working at caswell 12 yeas ago. I haven't seen her since my wedding. As much as life has changed since then, it was wonderful to catch up with an old friend and i'm so thankful for sweet friendships that pick up right where you left off! 

here's my meredith girls.  

megan, sarah lynn, me, jennie, kayla, michelle, and dee.  not pictures due to geographic distances and responsibilities are tara, heidi and amanda.  of course we always miss you guys!

We spent our weekend talking A LOT, playing games, eating, beaching and getting our nails done.  It was so great to catch up with everyone and i can't believe it has taken us 8 years to do this.  spoken plans have been made for next year.  i sure hope it works out again!

a beautiful view to calm my soul

and great friends that make my heart happy

sweet baby audry, who was just one of the girls for the weekend

pedicures.  i didn't get the flip-flop memo.

we rock at games 

card shark ;)

of course as much fun as i did have, coming home was pretty sweet too.  4 days without my littles made me eager for lots of snuggles! oh how i love my babies. 

Mommy's Day Out

Hill and I had originally planned to getaway for the weekend while she was here, but timing never did quite work out between Mike's work and her family being here to watch the kiddos. So the next best thing is a day away courtesy of my sweet husband and Hillary's brother.

We left the house at 9am and got back home at 11:00pm. It was a really good day.

although it started out like this...We were afraid this rain could ruin our day, but thankfully after a little North Shore shopping the weather cleared and the sun came out and it turned into a very beautiful day. See?
After a little theraputic shopping we had a yummy lunch at the new mexican restaurant, Luibuenos and then went to our secret beach and spent the next 4 hours or so alternating between wading in the water and laying out in the sun, talking and reading. It was glorious. Seriously. i mean just look at this view. A surf instructor even let Hillary borrow his board while he went into to Haleiwa to get some food. Only in Hawaii would someone trust you with their board without even knowing you. After the beach we went to our favorite restaurant on the whole island, Haleiwa Eats. Excellent Thai Food. We make it a point to eat there as much as possible. and guess what? while we were the only 2 eating there (because it was a little earlier than the dinner rush, in walked Terry O'Quinn aka JOHN LOCKE to get take out...i about jumped out of my seat. Wish i could say i had some proof but it was obvious he didn't want to be disturbed. You'll just have to take my word on it. We saw him. AND he had a pretty young girl driving him around in a little hybrid car. hehe. we were leavin gthe North Shore right at sunset which was one of the best times to make the drive. In my 5+ years here i have always wanted to stop on the side of the road and take pictures. This time we did. Look how pretty it is! I wanted to get a pic of the 2 of us with the pretty background so we tried to set up the self timer...we had a hard time getting the camera steady though.

this was the best we got...not quite the materpiece i had imagined, but i love the pic all the same :)

Locked Out

Holden has been obsessed with the gate at the stairs, he just stands there and hollers at he walls, sometimes though, Oliver comes and watches him. That drives Holden even crazier because he can't get to the cat. I believe Oliver appreciates the barrier. He even convinced Nora to come check things out too.

After prying them away from the awesome staircase and gate, i got a few silly minutes with my kiddos.

Being a Mommy is awesome!

Huerta/Rackley Wedding: The Last One

The last of my college besties got married in December. Amanda was a beautiful bride and the wedding was a lot of fun. As usual it was wonderful to catch up with the girls as well as have some time away just having fun being "jessi" instead of "mommy".

I also have to send a big shout-out to Carol and Keith (Mamaw and Papaw) for watching the twins while I was at the wedding. You guys were great and I appreciate it so much!

Miss Fiesta being her usual self!

the "maids"--love this picture, good job Meggo!
Meredith Girls for Always!
JessiBessy, DeeDee, Miss Fiesta, Meggo, and Tata

A Mommy Day!

Today I had the BEST day. A wonderful family from church offered to keep the babies for me today while I went out to do whatever I wanted. You can check out the Castor family at their blog -- here. They are expecting a new little one soon and the twins are helping get the boys ready for a new family member! Beth (the mom) told me that her husband asked what I was going to do all day long...haha, what didn't I do?

First I went to the beach, just me, a towel and a book. It's been a LONG time since i didn't have to carry my whole house with me to the beach! I was able to lay on the sand for about 2.5 hours enjoying the glorious day and reading a good book. Jenn has gotten me started on reading Harry Potter. I have tried once before but stopped after book 2. This time is going much better. I am in the middle of Book 5 and enjoying the series. So it seems that most of my spare time is devoted to reading these days!

Then I picked up some sushi for lunch, and headed to Starbucks/Borders to read. I had a wonderful black sweet tea with lemonade, that i will have to go back and get again. Yum.

Afterwards I went to a few stores to do some shopping. It was nothing like this little image suggests. This time of year in Hawaii poses a great challenge. The weather is still warm but all the stores are selling the same winter clothes that you are seeing on the mainland. Eh. It was still nice to look at clothes and try some on without juggling a baby or two from hand to hand! I will most likely end up with a few of the pieces i looked at in preparation for my trip home for the holidays!

Lastly, before making it back to the house, i stopped to get a pedicure. Oh how much i LOVE these. This is not a picture of my toes..although i did choose a similar dark color in honor of the upcoming holiday.

SO...like i said, it was a GREAT day! Thank you so much Beth, Joe, Austin and Logan for giving me this wonderful day to do some of the things i really enjoy. You guys are great!

Have You Read This?

If not you should. Entertaining. Engrossing. Thought-Provoking. Haunting. The last book in this trilogy just came out last week and i am still thinking about it 2 days after reading it. I highly recommend these books!

It's official

i'm a member of the late twenties club, haha--oh well!

For my birthday part of today, Mike made me a chocolate chip cheesecake...i really love these, and this was his first attempt. I have to say he did an excellent job. It not only was great tasting, it was also very pretty! The cheesecake greatly exceeded Mike's last cake endeavor, which i have pictures of below...

yes, the straw is holding it all together! and this is Mike after the cake catastrophe--a bit irritated!

Much better job this time babe-- you may turn out to be a baker yet! I love you!