OUR HOLIDAY WEEKEND + FIVE THINGS

I hope your holiday weekend was as lovely as ours! We enjoyed our three days together immensely, and it felt like we really did soak it up and enjoy it…versus the whole weekend speeding by without realizing it. We got things done that we needed to around the house, plus time with family and friends, plus good relaxation, plus a little out-and-about.

We kicked off the weekend with grilling burgers and watching a movie at home on Friday night…date night in, you know! Before I had a baby, I used to think those date-night-in-things didn’t count. But they do…they totally count.

Most of Saturday was spent at home working on organizing the garage, housework, yard work, and other etceteras. Ben finished up the shelves for the kitchen and got them installed and they turned out more beautifully than I even imagined. He has this uncanny ability to create exactly what I want with things like that when I don’t even know exactly what I want. Ayla and I sat out in the garage for while offering moral support and company while he stained wood and drilled shelf brackets and did his magic. I ran into town for a few things in the afternoon (i.e. target…yep) while Ayla napped and then we spent the evening at Ben’s brother’s house for dinner and conversation on their patio. It was such a gorgeous, relaxing evening with two of our favorite people…and all the kids were asleep by eight-thirty so the uninterrupted conversations were fun, hehe.

We spent Sunday morning at home, having a leisure breakfast of omelettes and toast, and giggling over our sweetie-girl once she finally decided to wake up (eight thirty!). Sometimes we literally act like smitten teenagers over our baby girl and there’s hardly a day that goes by that one of us doesn’t make the comment “I can’t believe she’s our daughter!” We just like her a lot. My parents and grandparents were on their way home from visiting family in Illinois and were coming right through Nashville, so we made lunch and they stopped in for a quick meal together. We also met some friends from New York for coffee in the afternoon before going to an evening church service.

Monday started out with Ben sending me out for a solo coffee/breakfast date while he kept Ayla, and it felt so strange to be sitting with my coffee and food alone without my little girl with me! It was super fun, but honestly, I just wanted to go rushing home to my little family, hehe. We did some things around the house once I got back and then headed out for the mall to shop for some things Ben needed…and ok, I went shopping too. I found a winter coat for Ayla at fifty-percent discount, which I was happy for! We stopped for lunch after leaving the mall and ended up having a great conversation with the older couple sitting next to us at the community-style table…who also ended up paying for our meal, the sweet dears!

We went back home for the afternoon for more house/yard work and then headed out for a state park about ten minutes away for a picnic by the lake. There was a beautiful paved walking trail through the woods so we took Ayla out in the stroller before laying out a blanket on the shore for chicken salad sandwiches, veggies + hummus, and fudge brownies. It was a gorgeous evening, and honestly, it felt good to be back “in nature” again after our two weeks in the suburbs, ha. It’s so super nice to have a park close by we can escape to when we need to walk through the trees and see the lake again.

Here are five things I love:

– this quote
– these helpful tips
– this song
– this funny
– this tasty recipe

What about you: what did you do with the holiday weekend?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!