labor day weekend.

my holiday weekend went by too quickly. did it for you guys too?

friday ashlan & aj stopped by & we took a walk to cafe intermezzo for some coffee. cory had some pasta and the skidmore's shared an oreo cheesecake. i got my usual caramel cappuccino. i am going to miss that little place when we move.

saturday we stopped by my mom and  step-dads house to hang for a bit- she made me one of the best iced coffees i have had in a while. we then went to the crawford's house to hang out and head to dinner to celebrate russ getting his masters! i got to see all of their kids who are such a joy & then we headed to gumbeauxs. i know you guys have heard me mention them before, but seriously so good.

cory & russ usually get their guitars out and play.

i brought the girls come coloring books & crafty things & we played for a while.

lyla took my picture

their new addition is little will & i cannot get enough. cannot wait to have my own little ones so they can play together. can you tell he was flirting?

& then of course there is "abomb" & she is one of the most amazing women i know. she has been there for me through so much & knows the deep stuff. i look up to her in so many ways & cannot wait to live close to them. i am looking forward to many more memories to come.

she is a total babe.

sunday was church & lunch at cory's parents. i am so blessed to have such an amazing church family. 

monday we slept in and then headed to my moms house for lunch. she showed out with ribs, homemade biscuits, sweet potato fries, & pinto  beans. she also made some amazing cookies for desert & we all watched a  movie together. 

so blessed.

what exciting things did you do for labor day?

cheers,

mrs. estes

saturday night with the crawfords.

one thing you will learn about me is i am a little picky when it comes to who i spend my time with. time is special & something you can never get back so i like to choose wisely when it comes to friends. the crawfords are very special to us & i feel so blessed to call them friends, but i also consider them family. they were there for cory when he really needed someone. russ married cory & i. they did our pre-marital counseling. alison has been on the other end of some really serious phone calls from me frantic & a little lost. needless to say they have been a godsend to us.

i met "abomb" when she was pregnant with her first little girl lily rain. then lyla came along & now little will. i love watching her be a mother, i love all my conversations with her kids, taking their pictures, playing with a card board box, pushing them on the swing, reading them stories or taking all the pictures they colored for me and putting them all over my fridge. it makes me excited to have these wonderful women in my life to look up too as wives & mothers.

we feel so blessed to have such special people in my life. i know if there is something i really need or someone to really talk to that will be honest with me, pray with me & for me i would call abomb. so abomb if you are reading these i hope you know how special you are to cory & i.

this past saturday we went with the ivey's to take them some dinner since they just had a  little one. we ordered chinese in case you were wondering. we blew bubbles, ronda played chase, we colored some pictures for their new cardboard box house & sat on the porch telling stories. one of them was lyla picking all these tomatoes at her grandparents house. she picked 19 ahahhaha. they were not ready yet so now they are sunbathing on the porch.

here are some pictures i took of the day. 

abomb wouldn't smile for the camera. 

the many faces of russ.

will.

lyla.

lily.

i have learned that lyla loves the camera. she loves for me to take a ton of pictures which i love. lily is a little camera shy, but every once and a while she will say, "hey look at me", & i snap the button. 

like this one.

she is the sweetest & so motherly. she was leading zeke around & showing him where the bubbles were so he could pop them. she was trying to pick him up & it was the sweetest.

we made a little window out of their cardboard box. 

it is amazing how much fun you can have with a box, scissors & sweet kiddos.

sweet lyla & her bubbles.

ronda played chase with them.

lily had some sweet time with zeke in the eno.

one in black-n-white for good measure.

that sweet little hand around him. makes me giggle.

playing hide-n-seek.

lyla and her lightening bug.

zeke & nick 

some more for good measure.

to me this past weekend is what summer is all about. being with friends & the ones you love. the weather was incredible, so much laughter, good food, relaxing & enjoying life. i am so richly blessed with friends & family & i  never want to take any of these moments for granted. i want to cherish them all. these kiddos make me excited to be a mother. 

one day i will be posting pictures of my own children & the thought of that makes my heart leap. until that moment i will have my camera ready to capture all these sweet moments.

cheers,

mrs. estes