BHappyInToday: (Memorial Day) Weekend Recap

Oh, what a wonderful weekend! Not only was it a long weekend, but the weather was fantastic! All of Minnesota was rejoicing, and was out to play this weekend. We had a great weekend filled with friends, family, BBQs, and fun!

On Friday, we hung out after work, had dinner, and got Linnea ready for bed. I let Jeromy finish up the bedtime routine, so that I could go to MOA to get my eyebrows threaded. Call me strange, but it is one of my simple pleasures. I tried eyebrow threading as part of my 30 Before 30 project, and totally got hooked. It kind of hurts, but it is SO efficient and effective. My brows can get quite unruly, and I feel like it completely changes the look of my face to have them nice and clean. After that, I made a quick stop at Target. I came home to a lovely backyard fire. Jeromy and I enjoyed the weather and company. I think I've sent before that we're not always great conversationalists in the midst of our busy days. It's so wonderful to have the time and opportunity to slow down and talk - we should do that more often!

On Saturday we had our typical loungy, slow morning, basking in the beautiful weather. Then we got ready to head out for a fun family BBQ! We met up with Melissa and Dawn at a little park area next to the Lake Nokomis Community Center. The weather was perfect! I was so fun to get our families together. Melissa and I have been good friends for a few years, but I just recently met Dawn through the blogosphere. We all click so well, and it was fun to see all the husbands and kids click too. We played on the playground, sat and talked, had a picnic feast, AND we got to introduce Dawn and her awesome family to geocaching, one of our favorite family hobbies!

This girl LOVES to swing...

How cute are these two building sandcastles?

Hee hee!

Yay for friends, new and old!

We had a BLAST! When we got home, all three of us totally crashed and took long naps.

After we got up, I called my mom to say hi, and she ended up inviting us over for an impromptu dinner. They just got back from Italy, and we haven't spent much time with them since then, so it was really nice to chat and hang out. We had my dad's awesome BBQ chicken. The weather was awesome, so we spent the whole time outside.

When we got home, we put Linnea to bed and then hung out together outside. I read for a bit (I'm re-reading The Fault in Our Stars - it is even more amazing on a second read). Then I did the Q&A with Jeromy post. We had a good time with it! Lots of laughs. We know each other so well, that I can predict his answers, and we have fun teasing each other about our quirks.

On Sunday (another beautiful day!!) we headed to church. We're on the summer schedule, which means church starts at 9:00. It's always a little tough for us to get there on time (we live 20 or so minutes away). But then it's nice because when church is done, we still have time to be productive in the morning. We stopped for a quick geocache (which I found right away, thank you very much :-) ). The weather and trees were so pretty - we couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

When did she get so big??

I love my girl!!

After that we made a quick stop at Costco and the grocery store, and then home for lunch and nap.

In the afternoon we went down to Farmington, and bought Linnea a big girl bed off Craigslist. We don't have a mattress yet (hopefully we'll get one this week), but it's a start. We had an impromptu dinner at Noodles since it got a little late, and then swung by to get "big girl sheets" at Target (one Frozen set, and one Minnie Mouse set). Linnea's pretty pumped.

And then we got a bonus day! Monday! There's something just WONDERFUL about having Monday off. I mean any day off is great, but Monday's off are particularly fantastic. Monday morning we had planned to do a family bike ride with our friends Tom, Jackie, and Gavin. But the weather was looking a little questionable, so we decided to play it safe. In the end, the weather held out, and we would have been okay...but we had a great time with our back-up plan. Instead of the bike ride, we went to Good Times Park in Eagan. We had never been before. It's an awesome indoor playground - tons of fun equipment and space to run around. (Note to self: remember this place in the Winter!). We had a BLAST!

I love this action shot of Gavin!

Love the "tongue of concentration" and Jeromy's smile

Swoon...

Ha ha! This little spinner toy kept them entertained for a while, and made us dizzy just watching!

We got home, and Linnea and Jeromy had lunch, while I met up with Jackie on my own for lunch. Jackie's birthday was on Sunday, and mine is on Thursday. We have a long standing tradition of having lunch together for our birthdays. We met on Tavern on France, and it was lovely. We sat out of the patio and had salads, raspberry lemonade, and chocolate fondue for dessert. It was soooo good, but I ate way too much! I'm so thankful to have such a dear friend - we've been friends for half our lives!

After I got back, and Linnea got up from her nap, we headed over to Tom and Jackie's house for a friend BBQ. We had a great time - again, getting to spend the whole time outside! Woo hoo!!

Coloring on the deck...