Best Friends!

On Thursday, after Dylan had safely landed and collected our children, I took off from work and went on a Best Friend Tour in honor of National Best Friends Day. I didn't plan it that way, and I think National (Fill in the Blank) Day is usually silly...but how appropriate this was on Thursday. My first stop was the Torrances' house to visit Sarah, Aaron and family. They're doing a several months long US tour while they work remotely and transition to new jobs. When they wrap up their stateside visit, they'll be making their new home in Capetown. I'm pretty sure I'll have to figure out a way to visit them at some point. After that, it was a quick check-in with Lexie, who had flown into town from Atlanta for a visit that she had coordinated with her parents, who had just come in from Albuquerque. I was so excited to see her, my soul sister, and for the chance for her to finally meet my boys!

On Friday, the boys and I met up with Lex at Kierland for lunch at the Shake Shack. They instantly fell in love with her because how could you not? We moseyed around for a bit and let the boys run around in the 100-degree heat before Dylan showed up to take over parenting duty. Lex and I used the opportunity to do some more catching up over iced teas at AJs before it was time to get out of my sweaty gym clothes and prepare for the evening ahead. With Dylan and the boys over at my parents' house for a swim session, I was able to rest for a bit and then shower and get ready in a quiet house.

Next up: drinks at the Hyatt in Gainey Ranch. It's Lexie's favorite spot in Scottsdale, and one of mine, too! Our third musketeer, Steph, joined us, and we got all up to date on everyone's everything. It was a really, really nice time. After an hour or so, we had an impromptu visit from both Steph's and Lex's parents. I immediately felt like I was in 1994, and it was so awesome. These girls are my oldest friends. I love the history we have together.

But the fun didn't end there. Steph, Lex and I headed to Tanzy for some late night fine dining. By late night, I mean we left the Scottsdale Quarter at 10:45. I'm normally two hours into a sleep cycle by that time, but staying up late has never been more worth it.

The boys and I took a lazy morning at home on Saturday, and Dylan headed out to get some work done. The Bolics were able to carve out some time in their weekend agenda and made the road trip to come see us briefly. The boys put on a good show for our friends. It was a brief but very nice visit. Still, though, we weren't done with Lexie. We met up with her at Jalapeno Inferno on Market Street a couple hours later and followed it up with frolicking around the fountain. With Lex there to take over the bulk of my toddler-chasing and general parenting duties, I can honestly say it was a wonderful dining-out experience with the family. (Thanks, friend!)

I was ready to take an early night by the time we wrapped up on Market Street, so we bid farewell to Lex and made our way home. Sunday morning was for checking out houses, and then we had our final hurrah with our out-of-town guests. They went for an early lunch before everyone headed in their separate directions, and it was the perfect timing for us, too. With our stomachs growling, we descended on Panera (a family favorite!), where our boys were surprisingly well-behaved. While Dylan was telling Walt about his job, we decided on a quick hangar tour before it was all said and done. And then, after seeing the airplane, it was finally time to say good-bye. I'm hoping that I've convinced the whole family to move out here. But if not, we will have to get together with them again before too much time has passed.

Of course, I didn't get any photos with my friends, but I managed to gather quite a collection of pictures of my kids from the week. I'd tell you about the week leading up to this most excellent weekend, except that the details have been blurred because, well, the part of my life worth sharing and remembering really only happens from Thursday night thru Sunday (or, sometimes Monday).

The baby is not really a baby anymore

Wrestling and rough-housing, and I love it!

I managed to not get a drop of paint on my boys...but it ended up all over my shorts that had never before been worn.

I think we may have to add a second wiggle car to our toy inventory.

Mexican food and a pitcher of margaritas calls for smiles all around.

As for right now, Gavin is watching his favorite show, "How it's Made" and learning about piano construction, Graham is snoozing in the crib, and Dylan and I are kicking back in the living room doing nothing really productive at all. At some point, we'll have to make some plans and prepare for the week ahead. A typical Sunday leading up to a typical week before we shake things up with some summertime fun. Typical can get boring, and I'm getting antsy. Stay tuned!