Oh, to be young again.

This past weekend, I headed to Austin for our annual girls weekend. The five of us were neighbors at our tiny apartment complex called Casa Rosa (which, ironically was blue). To this day, these girls are my best friends and part of my family. We had so much fun reliving our glory days in college. We had to stop by Casa Rosa for a photo-op and to see if our stray cats were still begging for food (they weren't). Sitting in the courtyard, we couldn't help but remember all the nicknames we had for the "other" neighbors (Stay-Wag Lady, Mrs. Claus, TV Girl, Foreign Boys, and Ricky/Kenny- a nice guy that we never could remember which was his real name and which was his fake name). Our landlord drove a Harley that was adorned with a "Show me your Bodacious Tatas" bumper sticker, he was a real class act. Anyway, I digress... we had a great time, ate awesome Austin food and had a lot of laughs.

I brought Josh with me to Austin so he could stay at Camp Granee and Pa for the weekend. We had to stop by Aunt Pickles house to get some Chocolate Milk, see her new house, and meet her cat, Thumpy (or Pumpy as Josh called him). Josh loved running around Pickle's awesome new house asking her about everything he saw.

A little taste of Pickles decorating style. This is why I love this girl; a sweetly crocheted inappropriate phrase, framed for all to enjoy.

After a Sunday morning breakfast at Kerbey Lane with the girls (yes, we ordered a bowl of queso to go with our coffee) I met Granee and Pa to pick up my little man. It was pouring rain and cold, but I didn't care as soon as he jumped in my arms and gave me a big hug. I held him long enough out in the rain to get us both soaked, which he found very fun. He had a great time over the weekend. They went to a birthday party, had pancakes, made s'mores and hot dogs, visited a pumpkin patch and decorated a pretty pumpkin. He particularly liked the glitter he added to his pumpkin art. I agree, Josh! Everything is better with glitter. Look at this sweet smile! This boy can make even the gloomiest of days a bit brighter for me.

"Don't you eat my pumpkin, Jackson!"

Seriously, Jackson tried to eat the glittery pumpkin.

What is wrong with that dog???

(Have you seen Marley and Me?

That is my life times TWO. )

Josh and I came home to a well-rested Daddy who enjoyed countless hours of football watching and an attempted bike ride cut short by a broken spoke over the weekend. He also found time to clean the garage, house, and surprise me with my favorite Irish cookies and flowers when I arrived home. So sweet.

Chris and I went to the U2 concert this week at the new Cowboys Stadium (which really does look like the Death Star, by the way). It was an amazing concert and we had so much fun. We had great seats that included access to a fancy bar/lounge. We wanted the complete experience, so we utilized the bar and all its offerings, including the gourmet mac and cheese bar and lots of good drinks. I got well acquainted with my Irish roots, to say the least. It was a rough Tuesday morning. Josh's squeals seemed to quite amplified all day. Ugh. I am so, so not young and hip anymore.

Bono and friends put on a great show. They played most of my favorite songs and only one or two that I didn't like, but I was able to tune those out quite nicely. He gave a shout out to the Irish, which I enjoyed and even threw in a "y'all having a good time?" which sounded darn cute in an Irish accent.

I will leave you with a cute picture of Josh, because, who are we kidding, y'all don't care about what the adults in this family do- we aren't the cute ones.

I would like to hug the person at the apple orchard that decided to put apples in a cardboard school bus. Josh has easily met the "apple a day" quota. I plan on keeping that school bus and filling it with carrots and broccoli next.