friendship

after turning 34 on thursday i had the opportunity to go spend the weekend in st. louis with a couple of life-long friends. two years ago i made that drive to welcome amanda's twins into the world and it was awesome to see how much the family has changed. we spent the whole weekend surrounded by 5 kids-loving the smiles and chaos (i took anneliese with me so she could join in the fun).

making the time to spend a weekend with friends is difficult-and it has been a long time since we were able to share so many hours together. i always come away wondering why we don't make it work more often-because it is such an energizing experience. amanda put up blue balloons and made blue cupcakes and they did a mini baby shower. it was very unexpected and made me feel special and loved in a way that doesn't happen very often. i was again reminded of how amazing it is to have good friends.
i knew i wanted to try and get some pictures of the twins for their birthday-and we hauled 3 cars to a nearby park to try and capture a family portrait. it was cold. anneliese was a wonderful assistant-handing out fruit snacks to try and keep everyone happy. i have very high hopes of compiling the pictures from the whole weekend-but here are a few to start.

anneliese the assistant