perFECtion!

this weekend was PERFECT.
the perfect weekend "away" for us.

we stayed at home (saved $ - so perfect for pat :-) and i was totally good with it, too!)

i had some time on friday to myself.
which, i think, is key to me really enjoying the time with pat the rest of the weekend...i am just a person that needs "alone" time.

remember, i grocery shopped.

then, i did my own little triathlon!
i rode my bike to the pool and swam 17 laps (1/2 mile - half of what i will have to do in my triathlon!)
then i biked for 20 miles (it was 100 degrees...)
then i ran for 1.5 miles (i had run 5 miles that morning and i didn't want to over-do my hip) TO a smoothie place.
got a smoothie and walked home!
that walk home was the BEST feeling!
{and that was my lunch...after all that, that was the only thing that sounded good!}
it was SO fun!

i took a quick shower and then read on my bed for 2 hours!
my room is really the only place in my house that feels "restful" to me - everywhere else has "stuff" to do...
i pretended like i was somewhere else and just enjoyed the time to think/read/pray/write...

when pat got home we mowed/edged the yard together. :-)
romantic, i know!

friday night we went out with friends.
it was so nice to not have to worry about what time it was!

saturday morning we woke up at 7:10 am (not on purpose - we just can't sleep in - UGH!)
and headed out to the mountains (1 1/2 hour drive - LOVE car time to talk!)
i had researched a little and found a trail for us to hike.
when i planned it, i didn't know it was going to be 102 degrees out.

i also didn't plan on us hiking for 3 miles on the WRONG trail before we finally got on the RIGHT trail.

here's us before we started...

there were a bunch of waterfalls along the way.
it was labeled a "strenuous" hike.
and they were RIGHT!
it was HARD...we hiked from 10 am - 3 pm
almost 12 miles total

gorgeous scenery.
it's a loop...you climb UP...then back down.
both ways are VERY steep...so even the downhill wasn't easy.

we stopped and ate a little before reaching the top.
there might have been some moments of frustration at points.
pat might have thrown some rocks in anger. :-)

but we did it.
and we can both say we are glad we did.
it was quite an accomplishment!

i have 2 regrets:
1) that we didn't bring enough water (we stopped at the first convenience store we came to on the way home and we EACH got a water and a gatorade and drank them BOTH right away!)
2) that we didn't get IN one of the water holes. we just never knew how close we were to the top or to being done and we were really struggling and literally didn't want to use any extra energy to climb down to the water.

we made it home.
{even had good, productive conversation on the way home!}
cleaned up.
and went birthday shopping for the girls - DONE!
FINISHED their birthday gift shopping!

then we went out to dinner.
home to watch a movie.
and crashed!

this morning we went to church and now we are waiting for our sweet kids to come home!

it was the PERFECT weekend.
absolutely perfect.
good combination of doing something fun...seeing friends...good quality conversation together...accomplishing something...

did i say it was perfect?? :-)