(***Note:*** Long post ahead for journaling purposes)
Earlier this month I was so excited to be able to participate in the first EVER Harrison Families GIRLS WEEKEND!!! I got the idea from my good friend Nichole who goes down with her sisters and Mom to Vegas every year and decided it was high time we did something like that in our family as well. So we set the date months ago and made it happen. Although we fiddled around with the idea of doing a girls cruise together, Dad threatened to put on a wig and dress up like a girl – bra and all- and come with us, (ha ha. Love my Dad!) Needless to say we decided to keep our weekend low budget this year and stay local. I was lucky enough to find one of our condo’s open and at a great price (since it was off season) so we jumped on that and had a great time.
For me the girls weekend started Thursday November 4th at 6:00 pm. I made Adam and the kids dinner (BBQ chicken pasta salad), kissed my wee ones goodbye, and was OFF. Since I was heading up north to my Mom’s in Alpine and didn’t have the kids with me, I made a split second decision to do some shopping at two of my favorite stores on the way; Deseret Industries in Provo, and Savers in Orem. Can I tell you how much easier it is to shop without children? It was seriously SO MUCH FUN!
At D.I. I was able to find a bunch of new cozy sweaters to brighten those dreary winter days as well as a few skirts, church clothes, and shoes for the boys (best place ever to buy shoes for little boys that lose them every other week).
Savers was just as exciting as they had their used and NEW Halloween costumes and accessories marked down to 75% off. SCORE! (Missy please forgive me for going without you. Do you want to try and go again this week?) At Savers I was able to get Adam three new costumes, a bunch of wigs, a few kid costumes, and then a bunch of hats all at amazing prices.
When I arrived at my Mom’s house that night we started the party by gorging on some German Chocolate cheesecake I had made and then set into watching a movie. It was so nice just to spend some time together with my Mommy. I sure love her.
The next morning we woke up to the smell of homemade blueberry pancakes my Dad had made YUM! and then set out on getting packed up to go for our weekend. Mom and I had plans to go shopping all day together (until 2:30 when both my brothers were supposed to get home to relieve their wives) but were pleasantly surprised when my sister called and said she had decided to play hooky from work and come with us. Yay!
Mom and I started out at Walmart where Mom needed to pick up a prescription (which didn’t end up being the right prescription – long story there) while I checked out the Halloween costumes on clearance. Once again I got some great finds. Then we headed over to Kohls. I helped Mom find and try on clothes (since I’d already spent my wad at D.I.) until Jess arrived and then I went off with Jess to help her find stuff as well. It was so fun just being able to be together and tease and talk. I loved it. Then Mom and Jess helped me find a necklace and earrings to go with a blue shirt I found.
Afterwards we went to a Thai restaurant in A.F. where Mom was nice enough to treat us to lunch (Thanks again Mom!) While eating we found out that one of my brothers wasn’t going to be able to make it home by 2:30 and so we adjusted our plans and decided to hit a movie first. We called Stacey and she met us at Thanksgiving point for the flick. From there we went and picked up Shannon at her house, had some dinner there (homemade chicken pot pie – DELICIOUS) and then drove the 1.5 hours up to Ogden canyon.
The first night we had fun eating potato soup and then had some of my homemade German chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Then we got in our PJ’s and played our own made up version of Taboo. Totally fun! And then headed to bed about midnight.
The next morning we got up, had Egg mcmuffins for breakfast (Thanks Stacey) and then showered and headed out for a day of shopping and pampering! We first went to Wal-Mart to get Shannon some hair dye, and while there found out they had all their Halloween stuff marked down to 90%. Holy Banana’s I was in heaven! And although I’d already gotten quite a bit of Halloween stuff what can a girl do when a $19.00 costume is marked down to $1.90. And Halloween makeup for .10 cents? Ummm yeah, TOTAL HAUL was made at that store. I’m now stocked up on Halloween costumes for the kids Adam and I for at least 5 years! And our dress up closet is now EXPLODING with fun new items! đ Gotta love deals like that!
Our next adventure led us to the mall where Mom had scheduled all five of us to get PEDICURES! AND what an amazing surprise when the bill came due and Mom paid for all five of us! Wowsars she is generous! THANK YOU MOMMY! What a wonderful gift! I sure do love you! The pedicures and massages while we got them (from the fancy chairs) were completely heaven sent and because we all had our pedicure money left we decided to get Manicures too! This was a first for me, and so so fun! I felt so girly afterwards! đ Too bad they didn’t last more than a day. đ
It was around 2:30 by this point in our day and we were all STARVING! So we went outside of the mall looked around and happened to see a Texas Roadhouse just across the parking lot. It was pretty much a no brainer! We were SOLD! We headed over, got seated at a booth, gorged on hot rolls and honey butter, and all got a 6oz steak with two sides for our lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever been so full in my whole life!
Our last stop of the day was down in Clearfield at the Thai Pan there. We unfortunately didn’t have a lot of time, but Stacey and Jess found what they were looking for and got some lovely items for their homes. It was a day of success! đ
That evening we went hot tubing at the condo, dyed Shannons hair purple (it actually turned out super cute), had strawberries and pineapple dipped in white chocolate for dessert, started a puzzle and watched two movies (Grease and Failure to Launch). It was such a fun day!
Stacey and I both had church stuff going on fairly early the next morning (Stacey was teaching a lesson and I had a baby blessing) so we all got up at 8:00 and then hurried to get packed up and on the road. I dropped everyone off at their respective homes and then hurried down to P.G. for baby Maxwells blessing.
It truly was such a fun weekend and I’m so glad I got to spend so much quality time with my Mom, sister, and sister-in-laws! They are all wonderful women and I so enjoy being with them. We’ve already started plans for our next years get-away! Oh and a HUGE thank you to our husbands who took our kids all weekend for us! We are so lucky to have you!
What a fun weekend to remember!