A Week in Memphis

I was blessed recently to be able to stay in Memphis for an entire week with a baby shower for William at the end of my stay.  It had been way too long since I'd seen my bff Stephanie.  We had the best time being back together again.  We both laughed AND cried somehow at the same time when seeing each other.  Getting to see so many friends from church and teachers/students from the school where I previously taught was a huge blessing.  Matthew's parents generously provided him with a plane ticket so that he could come for President's Day weekend, and my parents were also able to drive up for the shower.  The week refreshed my soul and warmed my heart.

We love Paisley.  She got cold, so she's wearing Nola's sweater.  Charlie did not approve.

I got to babysit Nola while these two lovebirds went on a Valentine's Day dinner-and-a-movie date.  Aren't they adorable?  Once N was down, my friends Heidi and Kelly came over to hang out.  It was so much fun catching up.

We decided to do some faux-applique onto onesies for William after mornings spent in our pajamas having great conversations and devotionals over coffee.  I also got to check out Steph's bible study on marriage and meet some new friends.

Tie was Steph's idea and we loved it!  Picturing this as super cute along with some corduroys for our little man.

The finished onesies.  Ready for a night of seeing my friends from church by visiting a Grace Group!

I got to push Nola on the swing.  She's so cute and cuddly, and especially in this outfit!  This was after a day visiting my old school where I taught art and seeing former students and friends who I worked with.  Didn't snap a photo, but want to remember how sweet it was seeing everyone.

We decided to leave Nola with Charlie and go to Michael's and Muddy's cupcakes.  These are the best cupcakes I have ever had!  Best part was jamming to old school R&B in the CRV while eating cupcakes.  What could be a better combo?  It's times like these when I realize again that Steph and I are like the same person...

We took some posed shots of ourselves with Nola and William.  Steph took some amazing pregnancy photos of Will and me that I will cherish forever.

Girls' lunch at the BBQ shop on Madison

Matthew takes the red-eye into Memphis for President's Day weekend.  These are his favorite chips from Las Delicias as a welcome present.  He carefully toted these back to Colorado as his carry-on personal item.

After a red-eye, Charlie thought it'd be a good idea to drink Red Bulls with Matthew who hasn't had caffeine in a looong time.  It was a little anti-climactic and tasted like sweet tarts -gross.  But these faces say it all about these two.  Two peas in a pod.

Paisley went crazy when Matthew got there.  This is the first thing he usually does when seeing her... gets down onto the carpet and rolls around with her.  Steph and I called it, too.  Paisley loves Matthew.  And somehow she "mysteriously" got into our bed at night... hmmm...

Making salsa for our boys to go with the best tortilla chips in the world.

Cooking dinner together!  Mal--always using recipe.  Steph--never using recipe.  We made a good team!

My mama holding sweet Nola.  Her and Paul were incredibly sweet to drive 8 hours into Memphis for the baby shower weekend, and we had a blast all being together crashing at the Robnetts.

My stepfather, Paul, doing what he does best... fixing things!  This man can fix anything.  Apparently we got too many salsa ingredients down the disposal... nothing a plunger and some Paul action can't fix!

The lovebirds

Family dinner at Gus' fried chicken.  If you haven't tried it, you haven't lived.  Or if you've tried it too much, you've probably stopped living due to an early heart attack...