Girls trip 2012

Lets begin with a story.... Once upon a time I ventured off to the great land of BYU.  I was a young 18 years old and blindly signed up to live in the apartment style dorms on campus.  I was matched with 5 other girls, 3 from Arizona and 2 from Texas.  I was the odd one out and quite shy.  It took me some time to warm up and make friends with my roommates, but I'm so glad I did.  Here we are 7 years later and the friendships made that year are still going strong.  We have all graduated and gone our separate ways but for one short weekend we got together again to rejuvenate ourselves with some much needed girl time. The last time we were all together was actually at my wedding over 3 years ago.  If you are interested, here is a flashback that includes all of them (plus some other amazing friends).  Its sad to say, but I've been less than stellar at keeping in contact with most of these girls, so it was great to reconnect!

A special shout-out to Sydney in advance for the pictures. I took three pictures the whole weekend and they were of decorations at the baby shower.  All pictures that follow are hers and I'll try to use enough of them to break up what is sure to be a lot of text.  Thanks for being the photographer Syd (although it means you aren't in a lot of the group shots, which is sad). 

My trip started off with a plane ride to Arizona.  Chelsea, lives in Arizona with her husband and two adorable kids.  I offered to help drive up with Chelsea because I knew it would a good excuse to play with the kids and chat with a dear friend. The car ride consisted of entertaining Claire with endless toys and songs, a surprisingly few cries from Emma, and me picking Chelsea's brain about being a mom. Although she was shy at first, I tricked Claire (age 2) to being my friend and was glad to have a little buddy for the rest of the trip.

Me playing with baby Emma

I may or may not have let the others do the craft "work" while I played with the kids

Our drive took us to the great state of Utah and the loving home of Sydney's parents.  They were gracious enough to let us crash their home. I'm not sure they knew going into this ordeal just how much we could take over a house (it started out as just the basement but turned into the kitchen area, dining room and living room too) but they welcomed us with open hearts and I for one greatly appreciate them!

The group (minus Syd the photographer) at the pool

Relaxing in the water while the little kids enjoyed the swing toy 

Prior to going I was a little anxious about how it would work out being together again with everyone after three long years.  Let me just say, it was as if we had never been apart.  I truly believe that it was so easy because these ladies are some of the best people out there.  (Like I said, I was really blessed with the random roommate selection my freshman year.) Throughout the trip everyone was so concerned about everyone else and excited to hear updates and stories.  There was no girl drama, thank goodness, but I should not have been worried because there never really has been any drama between us.

Me and baby Vivian waiting for our ice cream at the creamery 

Enjoying our lunches at the park and sporting our home made t-shirts

Our time together consisted of lots of girl talk.  Two of us (Elise and I) are currently pregnant so we made sure to get tips and tricks from three amazing moms.  Chelsea and Maria both have two kids and Tausha has one and all three are loving mothers to their children.  In addition to baby talk, Sydney has recently fallen in love and is planning a wedding so we got to talk with her about all things love and marriage.  Seriously people, are there happier things to talk about than love and husbands and babies?  I think not.  We had some great conversations and I know I learned a lot about myself, how I can be a better wife and how I want to parent our daughter.  Our conversations were incredibly uplifting and no one resorted to bashing husbands/kids/life.   It truly was great to be surround by such goodness and I left feeling empowered, rested and rejuvenated.

More chat time while chilling on the edge of the water at Bridal Veil Falls

The water was cold, but that did not deter Sydney from heading out with Creedence

Aside from talking, or rather during all the talking, we had some fun activities planed.  A special shout out to the planning committee....Sydney, Maria and Rebecca!  We had craft time, took the kids to the pool, took roommate pictures, ate ice cream from the creamery, had a picnic in the canyon, played at bridal veil falls, celebrated with a baby shower for Elise and I, surprised Sydney with a bridal shower, went to the splash pad at the mall and visited temple square.  Of course we also ate lots of yummy homemade food and indulged ourselves in a special splurge trip to our beloved Kneaders for breakfast one day.

Decorations at the baby shower

Food at the shower, Thanks Rebecca! 

There was also lots of time to play with and entertain babies/kids.  I jumped at the opportunity and enjoyed the chance to get some of my pre-mom jitters out.  4 of the 5 kiddos were girls so it made my heart long for our little girl to join us.  Hopefully she is just as cute and adorable as my friends kids.

Baby Emma's adorable feet in the water

Tausha and Harmony enjoying the refreshing water

Claire and I having fun

Have I mentioned yet that this was a GREAT trip?  We schedule the next one for February of 2015 and I'm already looking forward to it.  By then the number of kids may have doubled (at least) and hopefully we will all have some more exciting life stories to share (I'll have a 2 year old, say what?!). I know all of you girls read my blog (or at least you claim to) so I just wanted to say thanks so much for taking me in and letting me join to "cool kids" group 7 years ago!  You are all amazing women and I am so blessed to have you in my life to learn from and laugh with.

Elise, Sydney, Tausha and Harmony, Me, Rebecca, Chelsea Emma and Claire (Maria sadly had to leave prior to this picture being taken)