Welling "Girls" Weekend Retreat.... o.k. & the little kids too!

We had a great time this weekend, as I have been preparing for months to host our "Girls Weekend" here at my place w/my sisters, their kids, & my mom. It was nice to be able to spend time together (during hunting break/fall holiday). It was wonderful! The kids had a blast together too!! Couldn't have asked for a better time & the weather was gorgeous! So we were able to spend time being outside & in as well!! The kids played & played & played... which made them literally drop into bed (almost all of them anyway), every night which was great for US!! Thanks girls for all coming!! You are the best & I appreciate all your help & efforts in making it such a wonderful time!

Many of my friends have asked... well, what are you going to do? Or what do you have planned... so here is a re-cap of some of the cool things we did:

- Went shopping at the mall.
- Went to lunch & let the kids play at play land (oh they loved it!)
~ The first night my sisters: LesLee, Chelsea, & Tammy were able to come w/their kids!
- Had Italian Pasta Stir fry for dinner w/garlic bread, etc.! (I made one of my nephews throw-up.. but not bad!)
- The kids played & ran non-stop!! They had so much fun together. The stairs were a hit for the babies learning how to climb, & the trampoline too for all! Many went home with some nice bruises, some had black eyes... well that is what you get when some jump off beds, go motocross jumping (on Madi's Barbie bike) off Tyler's bike ramp, & others who hit heads as they dove into piles of leaves together! But NO visits to the ER!!! NO major blood... nothing that couldn't be taken care of with a simple paper towel!! Whew!
- LesLee had made up activity gift bags for all the kids... so at different times through out the weekend we/kids could gather together & anticipate our next prize/activity they got to draw out of their own personal bag & do. (THEY LOVED THIS!) Plus it was a good tool for bribing.. time to clean up & we all get to pick out another prize! YEAH!! Jeanna ended up with a clean house too! :) THANKS LES!!
- We had (Candle light... so the kids wouldn't wake up) Chocolate fondue w/lots of items to dip. Favorites being: Strawberries, bananas, pretzels, & rice crispies.
- While we ate... we pulled questions out of a jar & answered them, laughed, joked, teared up a bit, etc... that was fun & of course interesting!
- I made gift bags for all "Girls" (adults) who attending & had door prizes too! Some of the door prizes included: Passage to Zarahemla DVD by Chris Heimerdinger, My turn on Earth DVD, Rescued DVD, James Conlee CD "Sunday", Many Tab Choir CD's, BOM Scripture Stickers, a couple "Color me Busy" Recipe books for Kids playdohs, paint, snack recipes, etc.... the list goes on. SOME of the gifts included were: A personal copy of "The Parable of the Princesses"/music CD by Jenny Phillips (AWESOME!), Josh Groban "Special Mix" CD, Parable of the Sunflower, 14 day walk with Christ challenge, bath salts, herbal lip balm, and a very special charm bracelet I made for each person that had charms that represented activities we did while together for the weekend...(Picture included in the slide show!) & more... LesLee also added to our gift bags by bringing items for facials, pedicures, & manicures. Mom also brought special lotions, bath fizzers, packs of gum, & more for us (& items for the kids too!)
- We did a quick & awesome craft. Which included a special quote from Pres. Hinckley & they can be hung in our homes as a special reminder of our time together & of his encouragement to us! (Pic. Below)
- We went to a AWESOME, NEW park in GR that we all had a blast at!! (For those who live here & don't know about it... turn east at Dr. Birches office & go down a couple blocks & there is the newest, most awesome park in town!! For little kids & big kids alike!! (Pics. included.)
- The second day: LesLee, My mom, & Lorrie were able to come/stay w/ their kids.
- Lorrie brought Sour cream cookies for the kids to frost & decorate!! Man those were YUMMY!
- We had taco soup & the fixings for dinner... along with Root beer floats to follow!
- Grandma brought sweet manicure sets for the kids (joking - pics below) & coloring activities too.
- We took a walk around our neighborhoods & went to play at our purple park.
- I was able to get my spa filter special ordered in time so my mom & I took a trip over to get that & then I got it all set up & installed. (Luckily I was able to get the temp. closer to normal than BURNING for our Sweet 1st time trial of the SPA/hot Tub!! We had to run the cold hose into the spa as we had it mixing around... but it was awesome!! (NO PICTURES OF COURSE!! Except of the spa itself!! :) ) Lorrie gave us some good laughs!! While LesLee was getting light headed from all the heat!! (She has never handled heat very well!! Darn it!)
- Then after the spa we did our manicures, pedicures, & a couple facials... (some didn't want to do their facials as they didn't want to break out possibly the next day...but too funny as they ended up breaking out anyway!!)
- We got to sleep in a little bit, or as much as small children allow you to!!
- I appreciated LesLee & Lorrie's help with my humanitarian project I needed to catch up on from Girls camp!! They helped me a ton working on our Bibs for the orphanages. Now, I am another step closer to getting them done!! (THANKS SO MUCH!) While doing this we started watching the Bourne Identity/Supremacy series (Edited of course for less violence!) (WOW - I forgot how exciting these movies were! Matt Damon is wonderful in them!) NO sappy girl movies anyway!!
- The kids played & played I have never seen kids play for so long, so well together like all of ours did this weekend!! It was amazing! Yes, they got awfully tired - but that is o.k., we were making memories!! Bubble wrap was a hit!! Especially the new kind as they can't figure out how to pop it!! They worked on this for quite a long time!!

We missed Shelby & Jan this year - Hopefully they can come to the next one!... TBA :)