My girls' weekend

2 weekends ago I took a trip to CA on my own for a weekend away from mommy and wife duties. It's been the first time in over a year that I've had the chance to do this and thought I was long overdue. I fly in Thursday night and stayed at my parents' house. While the weekend was an excuse to spend time with my best girlfriends, it was also a chance for me to see my parents and brother.

Friday morning I had an appointment at Burke Williams. I'm embarrassed to say Kristi and Thane gave me a BW gift certificate oh about 5 years ago and I never used it. I figured what better way to start my weekend away than with a facial and visit to BW. This was the first time I've ever been to a spa and had a facial and let me tell ya I'm hooked! It was pure bliss! Nothing says time to relax like a few hours at a spa. I loved it!!! After my pampering and relaxing, I drove around Orange County for a bit, got to visit Michael at his Pier One store in HB, did some shopping at Trader Joes, and met up with Sierra at Barnes & Noble for a brief visit. It was so fun walking around Pier One and showing Michael all the things I want to buy once he transfers to a store in CO. That could be dangerous for me. I'd love to decorate my house with stuff from his store. You may be wondering why I shopped at Trader Joes. Well, we don't have a TJ in CO, and they have some of the best snack foods. I actually brought an extra duffle bag to load up on TJ goodies. I especially had to get a few boxes of TJ Fig Bars, which Inara, Avery and Jack LOVE!

For dinner that night, Mom, Michael and I went to one of my favorite restaurants: Lazy Dog Cafe. Boy do I miss that place. It was great to get some alone time with Mom and Michael. After dinner, they dropped me off at Bella Terra shopping center to meet up with my girls: Elizabeth, Sierra and Cami. They were dining at Cheesecake Factory, so we hung out there for awhile and chatted and, of course, indulged in a little cheesecake. Hey, I was on vacation, so I splurged. We then walked around our old stomping grounds, Barnes & Noble. Boy, has the store changed. It was fun looking at books with my best friends I met at the store what seems like a lifetime ago.

The next day the four of us girls met up with our other best friend Chara for lunch at Kabuki. It was great chatting with Chara and hearing all about her experiences student teaching. (She's getting her credential to become a health teacher. Way to go, Cbu.) We then went to a showing of Alice in Wonderland. It was perfect that I came into town the weekend this movie opened because Elizabeth is a huge Alice fan. I'm so happy I got to see it with the girls. It was a fun movie, weird, but fun. I headed home after the movie to rest a bit and have dinner with Michael and my parents. Later that night I headed over to Elizabeth and Cami's place for game night and hanging out. I have to send a big thank you to Mike, Sierra's hubby, for watching their baby girl Layla all weekend so Sierra could hang out with us as much as possible, which I know isn't easy to do with a 5 month old.

I had hoped to get in a trip to California Adventures to do a little Disney shopping, but (my luck) the weekend I was in So Cal was crummy weather. I was bummed to have to cancel my trip to CA Adventures because I was looking forward to getting time to see Diane (Jason's mom). I did get to chat with her on the phone for awhile though at least. Instead of a trip to Dland, Sunday morning I visited Sierra and Mike and got to see baby Layla. She's so adorable!!! I can't believe how big she is already. Sierra and Mike are such amazing parents, and it made my heart sing to see the two of them SO happy with their baby girl. I joined the three of them along with Cami and Sierra at Rockin' Crepes. They had warned me that they come to this place because of the food and the atmosphere, not the service. The restaurant was super cool looking with pictures of metal bands all over the place. The crepes were scrumptious too!

That afternoon we all got together at my parents' house for our Academy Awards celebration! The four of us used to always watch the Oscars together, so this was a big reason why I chose this particular weekend for my trip to OC to spend time with my girls. It was just like old times. We even had our ballots out, gabbed about who was wearing our favorite dresses, and munched on yummies. It was a perfect ending to my trip. I'm so grateful I got to spend time with my best gals. I miss them all so much. I love you girls!!!

Kylie's visit

Lisa, Kyle and Kylie got to come out here two weekends ago. I was so excited to introduce them to our new "home" and show them around. Inara couldn't wait for Kylie to get here too. We had set up a toddler bed in the guestroom so Kylie could sleep in the room with her parents. Inara even helped put the bedding on for Kylie. Like I said, she couldn't wait for Kylie Bear to get here.

They flew in Thu afternoon. We laid low that night and hung out at the house. I had made dinner for us, and it was fun for all of us to sit down at the dinner table together. Friday, Inara had preschool, so I took Lisa and Kylie driving around and to Park Meadows Mall. Kylie was fighting a cold, so we came back to the house so she could take a nap. When I brought Inara home after school, she ran in looking for Kylie. When we told her she was sleeping, Inara kept asking if she could wake Kylie up. She was so eager to play with her cousin. That night we all went to The Counter (burger joint) for dinner. That night, I introduced Lisa to Glee and she was instantly hooked.

Saturday all 6 of us went to Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was kinda cold, but we all made sure to bundle up good. We then ventured to Golden. We had to take them to Woody's for the all you can eat pizza buffet. Afterwards, we walked around downtown Golden. The guys ended up going into a store when suddenly Lisa pointed out a crowd of people dressed up across the street. We hurried over to the crowd to show the girls the people in cowboy costumes and to find out what was going on. Come to find out it was the weekend of Buffalo Bill's birthday. There were a bunch of men dressed up like Buffalo Bill, women dressed in cowgirl gear, and a man in full Indian gear. Then one man was stopping cars and talking to the crowd gathering on the street. He spotted Lisa and asked her to come over to him. He introduced himself as Doc Holliday. He was super funny and chatted up Lisa and the crowd. He then mentioned that he was looking for a wife since he had to kill his last wife. He put his arm around Lisa and asked if she wanted to be his next wife. We were all cracking up. After the fun encounter with Doc and Bills, we headed over to the bridge and let the girls go down the slide a few dozen times. The 4 girls ended up heading home since it was naptime for the little ones. The guys decided to drive to downtown Denver so Kyle could see Mile High Stadium. On our drive home, I noticed a car in front of us with a license plate that read Abe Lcn. Huh? Wonder if the guy is an Abe Lincoln impersonator? So I pulled along side the truck to see the profile of honest Abe. Lisa and I were cracking up. She grabbed her camera and the driver noticed, so he took off his sunglasses and smiled. Too funny! I love random moments like that. Lisa and I are still laughing about this one.

I made dinner for us that night and began wondering where the guys were, when I finally heard from Shawn that they stopped at Best Buy so Kyle could go chat with General Manager. When they got home, Kyle said we couldn't be mad at him because he was chatting about a transfer. Well, guess Kyle really liked CO after just 2 days. Haha. The guys ended up watching the girls that night and putting them to bed so Lisa, Kristi, my girlfriend Jen, and I went to see the movie Valentine's Day. It was good to get out without the little ones in tow for some sisterly bonding. When we got home, Lisa and I then watched a few more episodes of Glee. We were determined to make it through the DVDs before Lisa left.

Shawn, Thane, and Ed took Kyle snowboarding that Sunday, while us 4 girls met up with Barb, Kristi, Avery and Jack for lunch. Boy was it exhausting trying to enjoy lunch all while managing the 4 kids. Not that they were overly rambunctious. They were just being 4, 2, and 1 year olds. Next, we headed over to Kristi's house so Lisa could see it. It was fun to see all 3 girls playing together again.

Shawn and Kyle were pretty pooped when they got home from snowboarding. Too bad we didn't let them rest because we needed to head out for dinner. Of course, we had to take them to our favorite Mexican restaurant, 3 Margaritas. We walked in and I greeted a few of our favorite employees. Kyle asked how often we go there and if we owned stock in the place. Funny guy. I had told Lisa about the elderly lady who works there that reminds me of Grandma Mary. As soon as she came to the table, Lisa had a big smile. Yep, she's so like Grandma. We had a great dinner and final night with the 3 of them. Lisa and I even got in a few more episodes of Glee, although we didn't make it to the finale. The best part of the night was when Kylie said, "Audie, I never never never want to leave. I love you!" During their visit, Kylie must have told me she loves me at least 10 times a day. She is such a sweet girl and has a heart of gold. She and Inara had a fantastic time playing together and played together very well. Also, it didn't take Inara any time to warm up to both Lisa and Kyle. I bet this is because we've chatted online with Lisa and Kylie a number of times and because I talk about them as often as possible. It was such a great visit with them, but way too short. They all seemed to love it here. I can only hope that someday they will find themselves moving out here too.