that's the story of... that's the glory of love.

Silly title, I know. But I had to quote the song from "our movie" (Beaches), even though we didn't get to watch it together this time around. Leslie came last week to visit and it was wonderful! Our friendship has been through the wringer - including living across the country from each other for the last 15 years. This visit, she finally got to meet the daughters that we've spent so many hours talking about across the miles. Having three darling daughters of her own, I think spending so much time with mine helped her not miss hers quite so bad. Allie especially loved having a house guest for several days who was willing to spend every available moment holding and playing with her.

Leslie wouldn't say no to any requests for attention, so they put together quite a few puzzles!

We went out for desert with some of my girlfriends and snagged a picture together.


Ok, I happen to believe we live in a really great area of the country. The coast is close enough for a day trip and it's gorgeous, when it's not raining... Seattle is a major US city and a cultural icon and it's only a 4-hr drive... Even San Fransisco is only a 9-hr drive and you can see it in a long weekend. However, I had trouble deciding what we should do, since the weather at the coast sounded pretty dreary and we didn't have enough time to do a longer road trip. So I decided we should go to the tulip festival in nearby Woodburn. I happen to think it's awesome! Rich disagreed and said it was lame that we were taking Leslie there. However, I couldn't handle the pressure (brought on only by myself and a bit from Rich), and we went to the tulip farms. And I am NOT sorry! It was gorgeous and we had a great time together. And Leslie got to see me in my "relaxed mode", not caring that Allie got totally muddy in her rain boots. What's the fun in being a kid if you can't walk in the mud in your rain boots?? :)

And then my camera battery died. And I forgot to charge it the rest of the time she was here. LAME. The next day we left the kids with Gramma and Rich and Leslie and I had a great day in Portland. If you live nearby and haven't been to Mother's Bistro, you have to go! Our late breakfast was amazing and it's very Portland-esque. Then we wandered around Pioneer Square, which is one of our favorite Portland spots. We stopped in and got cupcakes at Cupcake Jones (I got my fav - peanut butter and jelly!!!) and then ended up shopping the Woodburn outlets. We closed the day watching on of my favorite movies, "13 Going On 30", since Leslie had never seen it.

What a great time! I woke up and took Leslie back to the airport on Sunday morning and we had a great conversation in the car, the last we'd have face to face for a while. I am beyond-words-thankful for the friendship God has allowed us to keep even though I moved away so long ago. It is very different than we had pictured years ago, and very, very different than it was when we were 15, but it's still so sweet! So then I decided to watch Beaches alone the next night and totally cried my eyes out. Why do I do that to myself??? I miss you already, Leslie!