daddy parties

so this past weekend, i went on a women's retreat with my church.

i knew not a soul there.

unless you count the awesome wife of a guy anthony prays with at his men's bible study who invited me via text and called the church to get me in her room and made me feel all warm and welcome all weekend.

never underestimate the power of going out of your way to be someone's friend.

take it from that someone.

because, seriously, who wants to go get trapped in the mountains all weekend with a bunch of women they don't know?

she was great. she was my friend before she even knew whether or not i was some wackadoo she'd be stuck with for 3 days.

so, it was going out of my comfort zone to go. but i'm totally glad i went. met great ladies. learned more about my great God. hiked in God's great creation. ate great food i didn't have to cook on dishes i didn't have to wash.

and then there is my fantastic husband, who encouraged me to be gone for TWO WEEKENDS IN A ROW.

that's right, he's a good man.

i know its a lot for him to do single parent duty on his own and i appreciate it.

and so do the kids.

the fun doesn't stop.

there's the beach...
exploring...
park trips. times a million.
sleeping arrangements...

and other special things like shopping trips where ella got new shoes and a cute little purse and other old navy clearance bargains.

seriously, daddy parties are like their favorite thing in the whole world. i'm pretty sure before picking me up he had to tell the kids, "now make sure you tell mommy how much you really missed her."

and then they probably got all confused and glanced around the minivan and finally noticed, oh, mom's not here? no wonder we've been having so much fun.

anthony puts parents everywhere to shame.