Mormon Girls Gone Wild

I am one of the luckiest women in the world because I have these women in my life (I could include many others, but today I'm going to feature them). We had a girls weekend November 6-9 at our friend Judy's house in Sarasota, Florida. I've known these women for at least 10-12 years--mainly through church--but they all moved away in the last five years. The weather was amazing, the food--plentiful, and I have NEVER laughed so hard (even to the point of a little pee coming out at one point). We decided to make it a yearly event. Can't wait for next year.

Some of my favorite moments include:

• Consuming AT LEAST 150 Breast Cancer M&M’s each;
• Drinking gallons of diet coke with Julie and Heather, while Laurette took three sips of hers;
• Cuddling Ryan (Heather's little boy);
• Perching my camera on every counter/car/chair to get all of us in the picture, and falling into the hot tub while getting one such picture;
• Making “Paris Hilton” faces in the camera for at least 2 hours (I didn't include any of these on the post);
• Julie, when looking at the amount of luggage that needed to fit in the Escalade, didn’t hesitate and said, “You should have seen me pack my van for California; I have five kids, I can get that in easily.” And then she did;
• Getting ready to “go out” all together like we were college roommates;
• Celebrating Heather’s birthday ALL TOGETHER;
• Hearing all of Laurette’s AMMMAZZZING responses to her kids when they openly discussed stuff with her;
• Listening to COUNTLESS conversations between Judy and her family while she was talking on her cell phone. They are so nice to let us have her while they did all the funeral arrangements for her father-in-law;
• Changing into our swimsuits in the Escalade. Heather opening most of the doors while I was changing and Judy doing it outside where Julie saw her bum;
• Face book and Blog snooping for hours—until the lap top battery died—otherwise we still might be there;
• Our matching Nike workout gear (thanks for the suggestion Judy);
• Two words: Jersey Mike's;
• Two more words: Outlet Mall;
• Saying anything (bragging about kids, expressing faults or mistakes I’ve made, etc.) and knowing that I am not being judged;
• Being uplifted and supported the entire freakin’ weekend;
• Learning how to be a better mother and wife at the feet of all four of these women. They are such great examples to me and I am so blessed to have these friends.

We all arrived at different times throughout Thursday, November 6. This was the first picture of us all together. Me (from Louisville), Heather (Budapest, Hungary), Judy, Julie (Arizona) and Laurette (Texas).

Judy was our hostess, and was amazing!

We went to the beach the first day and had a picnic lunch. It was so beautiful and relaxing with no kids (except for Heather's baby who was perfect).

A must for Heather was to eat at Jersey Mike's.

One night was hot tubing, and of course more talking. . .and more eating.

Laurette is one of the funniest people I have ever met. If you are down, let me give you her number and she will have you laughing in seconds.

Heather, Julie and me in the back of the Escalade crammed between TONS of luggage.

The "Nike" shirts. I know it's cheesy, but who cares?