phfr // joy in my heart

Storms, wind, and rain are what started our weekend with friends. Sunshine, cool breezes and all the amazing are what we were able to embrace as soon as the stir of weather blew through.

What was left after the storms was opportunity. Opportunity for community, love, memories, fellowship, laughter, beauty, and so much more.

Beauty

The weather could not have been more magical. It was beautiful.

And this beautiful home that my friend's family has nourished is stunning in all possible forms. From this beautiful grotto...

to all the other little details they have scattered throughout the grounds.

We had a little May crowning while there. This grotto is just beyond stunning and all the kids decorated this beautiful space with all of roses.

Happy

The boys were so happy to be able to make another trip Muenster, TX. My oldest looks forward to it now the moment I remind him of this beautiful home that our friend's family shares with us. All 5-8 families that come and plop for a weekend.

Lots and lots of happy.

Linus wasn't a fan of Lightning the cat and was pretty funny about it.

Bigfoot played sports all. weekend. long. with any and all persons who would acknowledge him.

Funny
Somehow I always manage a napping husband photo on our trips. The same husband who was claiming to always be up in the morning and full of all the energies. I think these photos are becoming a thing. Love you, babe ;)

When I said the kids decorated the grotto, what I was also getting at is that they pretty much plucked every possible rose up to little kiddo eye level in sight. Literally.

As beautiful and filled with love this little grotto was, those poor poor rose bushes.

I'll tell you what, all these little kiddos became quite the hard workers when it came to loving the Holy Family.

Last funny was Linus. The boys loves horses. He found a few that were perfect for his little hands and dragged one in particular all throughout the weekend.

The sweet little horse was everywhere both days we were there.

I will say it did keep this little one quite content.

Real

Time together. All the time together allowed for us to just embrace our little families. Spend quality time being present and away from all things related to the daily grind. Time filled with eye contact, hugs, fun, and play. 

I'm so grateful to our friends and their family for opening their home that is just an hour away from where we live. They have no idea how much of a gift they give our family. We all came home filled with renewal and ready to embrace our week.

All the space these grounds offer allow for so much magic and fun.

My boys are still talking about all they did there and asking to go back tomorrow, pweese!

As much as we try to create this type of place in our own home there's a degree of adventure that happens when we leave our abode and travel elsewhere.

And the fact that the adventure happens together as a family helps build us in ways only our future selves will fully grasp and appreciate.

Playing together.

Discovering together.

Dancing in the sun together.

Walking alongside each other on grounds that feel familiar but still are able to contain a degree of newness that is exciting.

Finding new bugs.

Working on a greater good.

All the while being surrounded by the sweetest and most beautiful of reminders of what it's really about. What it is always about. 

Our little family had an amazing time a few weekends ago. We're so grateful and filled to the brim with love for our friends who bless us so beautifully.

God knew what He was doing when He brought us to where we are. He knew being away from our immediate family would be hard so He sent us quite the gift in the wonderful people that we are blessed to call friends.

"Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious."

-St. Thomas Aquinas

Linking-up for PHFR

Gifts that Sustain: Part 2

Continuing with some photo-fun of our weekend away.

To recap, every year we take a small trip with our friends from bible study. It's a great time, every time, for the kids and the adults. It's like a big family sleepover that I will say yes to again and again. Seeing the boys get to play with their friends and make new memories with each other is wonderful. And, getting the chance to parent alongside friends who are in the thick of parenthood is affirming, encouraging, supportive, and nourishing for our young parenting hearts.

Onto our fun. There was a loft above the gameroom that was perfect for the elementary aged kids, equipped with chalkboard, dolls, building blocks, bean bags, and a television for movie time.

 Meanwhile in the game room, these boys loved all of it: the pool table because of the Big sticks, the drum set (Oh, the drum set! So awesome!), piano, fuzzball, air hockey, and a stand-alone arcade with all the old goodies!

Every time I lost my husband, I just had to come here to find him sitting in front of this bad boy. The boys seemed to enjoy it too.

Air-hockey. I didn't get to challenge my husband on this one. Wish I would have made time for that because playing games like this with him is fun. But, I'm glad the little ones got to enjoy it!

Oh, and remember that kiddie-playhouse that was outside fully equipped with electricity and a functioning AC? This is that little loft it had inside. How cute is this??

Amazing little dream world filled with friends, your sibling, and little-sized everything!

Haha, okay, this next shot had me cracking up so much! My husband was playing with a little toy propeller. The kids were loving how high he was twirling it! Meanwhile, out of no-where, a little butterfly landed on his butt! 

ot only did it land on his bum, it lingered! And lingered. And lingered!

Then he shewed it off only for it to come back to the same spot! The exact same spot! I went to grab a shot but in between landings one of our friends called out,

What are you?? A flower??!

And, I could not. stop. laughing! My husband. The walking flower. And, the location of where this beautiful little butterfly is just what killed me. This is far from flower land if you ask me. Love you, babe!

Check out this next shot. It's one of my favorites. All the kids scattering. The big trees. The sun. So much toy-propeller-fun!

The boys were loving the fun with the toy propeller. They would just run around crouching over, laughing hysterically, wondering if the propeller would land on them. It was hilarious.

I can't say enough how much I love these little trips and how grateful I am that we get to share these awesome times with our boys. 

So many good memories are made. The boys are still talking about all the fun. Or, at least my talking Bigfoot is. Linus is still mostly grunting, but I think if he weren't, he'd also be talking about it.

Thanks for enjoying this little trip with us through these photos! I love that I can share them here and pray that any and all families with littles gather some family friends and get yourself a little trip nearby booked! Cost of places and food spread among many families really can be worked out if you find the right place and plan ahead enough!

This time together is nourishing and I promise you won't regret a second of it!

Have you ever taken a trip with a number of friends who also have littles? What was your favorite part?

Linking-up with Jen for Quick-Takes and with Aimee for Beauty Find Friday.

Gifts that Sustain: Part 1

Like I mentioned earlier this week, we went away this past weekend with our Family Bible Study group and had such a wonderful time. This place was perfect for families and just loads of fun!

I'll let the pictures do the talking with a few little tidbits of commentary from me throughout:

To start, the entry way was beautiful! Lined with beautiful trees and light. And, it was only the start.

The beautiful road led to this incredible lodge home on acres of goodness. The lodge was filled with everything under the sun that a group of families could ever want to enjoy!

The owners were so particular to not only the beauty on the outside but the beauty on the inside too! They wete was so attentive to details filling the lodge with Fall leaves and colors, pumpkins, and so many awesome antiques.

The play room was amazing! My boys immediately went to the drum set. Prior to this trip, my boys would grab anything drum-stick like and would drum their little boy hearts away. 

The drums were one of the biggest hits for our kiddos. They were there every chance they could steal, drumming and pounding away.

 Outside there was so. much. space. for all the kids to run free. Run, explore, play, and so much more!

 Tetherball!!! Be still my games of childhood heart!

 And a see-saw!!! A see-saw! Can you believe it! Heaven I tell you. The boys were in Heaven.

 Of course the cattle were fun for the kids. All the toddlers were moo-ing away.

 Oh! And, this pond! Filled with fish, a paddle-boat, two kayaks, and a boat. This was amazing and so kid friendly!

 Tire swings!! There were three but we really only needed one! This one red tire swing was the biggest hit.

 A play set.

 This photo below is one of my favorites. I love the light, trees, and angle.

 And, this one. Photos of Linus not throwing a fit on this trip are gold.

 These brothers loved the tire-swing and I loved seeing them on it together. Enjoying and making memories that build their sibling relationship. It was all kinds of wonderful.

 Do you see this fun??

 Oh and the inside of the lodge! Like I said, gorgeous!

 Drumming. Drumming. And, drumming some more.

 I love this other photo too. I was trying to use my camera as much as possible to practice capturing what my heart sees. This one was a heart-capture.

 As was the one below.

 Oh and this beautiful, precious girl. Friends, this sweet girl is the sweetest! She is incredibly adorable, filled with so much awesomeness and loved by some amazing parents, siblings, and their friends. Nothing compares to the beauty of this little sweet one.

 Haha, and to contrast, this was our little Linus a good majority of the morning on Saturday. Poor little guy is cutting some molars and just having such a hard time. Being able to distract him with all the goodness was helpful, but he gave us a run for our money a few times. See that look in Dada's face? Haha, I do. And, I felt it with him.

 Yay, heart capture! The boys had so much fun having their daddy all to themselves.

 Ohmagoodness! This place had a mini-play house for all the littles. It had an AC as well as electricity! What??! Kids were all in Heaven. There was a pretty neat little loft in it too.

Daddy grabbed a photo of me and the boys. Their faces are pretty accurate to the weekend (Poor little Linus!). 

But, this last photo captures how much fun these two truly had! So much fun, so much love, so much goodness!

I can't even begin to tell you how blessed we are with the friends that brought us to this place. So many smiles and laughs were had. Solidarity among the women and guy time for all the dads. The kids had a blast with each other and I just love seeing them together. Growing and laughing, exploring and enjoying each other.

As much as this time at the ranch was such a gift for us that shared so much beauty and family fun, the friends we went there with are the gifts that make any trip so worth it! We could go anywhere with this little group and feel the same gift of nourishment and love. Their friendships are the gifts that are so good and sustaining during the ups and downs of parenthood (Because, let's be honest, there are major ups and downs with this gig called parenting!).

Love y'all so much and the ones who couldn't make it, you were missed!!!

I'll be sharing photos from our second day tomorrow. I tried to capture as much as I could! So, be excited!

Have you ever taken a trip with family friends? As a group? With all the kiddos?

The cost divided between us all made this trip so affordable! Especially once you divide food responsibilities and if you are able to pick a fairly local location!

Excited to share more photos tomorrow!

Linking-up with Cari for Theme Thursday because I really tried to do a good jerb with these photos; with Like Mother Like Daughter, because there was so much pretty, happy, funny, and real all weekend long!