{ Our Trip to Arkansas }...

Project Playground:

This was one of the first things that Casey and Jonathan tackled. They got up bright and early Friday morning all motivated and excited to pull their tools out and get to work. The instructions said that it would take 2 skilled men 30 hours to finish this. They finished it in 19 hours with kids playing all around them. Our workers aren't only skilled, they're smart and worked around whatever problems came there way.

After a lot of hard work this is what we got...

It passed the test: the kids LOVED it!!!

Too Much Fun:


The kids had a blast! Andrea and I had so much fun watching them play together. They had us laughing so hard one night. This picture really doesn't do justice to what they were doing. We had the High School Musical cd blasting in the family room and all of them started dancing. Not just goofing off, but seriously showing us "the moves". They had these serious faces full of concentration while we are about ready to die from laughter. They had some really good moves...I guess they watch a little too much T.V.

Of course their was always bedtime snacks. One of the nights we went to the little sno cone shack down the street. I wish I had a picture of that. They had the BEST sno cones I have ever had!!! The ice was perfect and they had a million flavors. They even offered toppings like, whipped cream, gummies, sprinkles, cream. I had wedding cake with cream and it tasted like homemade vanilla icecream. It was even creamy like that, not icey. It was just this tiny little shack, but it had a drive up too...it made me laugh!

A Wonderful Friendship:

Andrea and I met back in our newly married days. We were at one of our husbands softball games and we started chatting. We became immediate friends. We found out we had a ton of things in common, one being that we were both in beauty school (different schools). We started hanging out together, scrapbooking, decorating, lots of girl talk and we hung out together as couples every weekend. We were always there for eachother through the hard times and the good times. I always knew that I could tell her things and know that she wouldn't judge me, but understand and encourage me instead. I can't even begin to tell you how many words of wisdom she has had for me. She came at a time in my life when I really needed a friend and has ALWAYS been a blessing in my life ever since. I know that our husbands were on that softball team for a reason and I am thankful that we both recognized the friendship that we made and have nourished it ever since. Andrea is a role model for me in so many ways. I am lucky to have a friend to look up to like her. It has helped me to have a friend that has been there with me to be an example for me through the early married stages, to having kids and striving to be a good mother and to share all of our imperfections and worries with eachother. After all of the sympathy and understanding, we are there to push eachother to be better. We both are completley OCD, we raise our kids the same and run our households the same. There's just something comforting about that. Knowing that I don't have to explain the "why" I do things the way I do them becuase she's doing the same things for the same reason! :) We are also so lucky that our husbands get along and are great friends too. They never mind hanging out with us.

One of the things we love to do is decorate. So of course we did a ton of that this weekend. We got everything hung up and it looks amazing! Andrea's house is so pretty and has such a cozy feel to it. Thanks for a wonderful weekend Swenson family! It's always refreshing to spend time with you!It was a lot of fun to be in your home and I'm glad that you live so close. We might come so often that you'll get sick of us! :)