To Boise and Back

This weekend was a whirlwind marked by some long travel days that were well worth it for quality time with some of my longest and closest friends.

Soon after my friend Carrie and her husband Aaron welcomed their first baby into the world earlier this year, my friends Michaela, Leah and I were determined to get to Boise to meet sweet little Eloise and give Carrie any postpartum support we could.

Once we got the okay from Carrie and Aaron (and after triple checking that they did, in fact, want visitors) we booked our weekend flights to Idaho and arranged childcare for our kids for Friday.

Annmarie arrived bright and early to watch Rhett and Ryder and I made my way to the airport after I dropped Chase off at school on Friday morning.

Although it was a long day of travel (12+ hours thanks to two flights, delays and a long layover), it was pretty seamless and I was the first to arrive in Boise in the late afternoon. Carrie picked me up at the airport and we made our way back to her house. I absolutely loved driving through Carrie’s neighborhood and seeing her new hometown.

Carrie and her husband are both surgeons (Carrie general surgery and Aaron orthopedics) and have moved all over the country so it was especially wonderful to see them settled in their new house in a place they hope to call home for a long, long time. Having been Carrie’s friend through college, medical school and residency, words do not suffice to how much respect I have for Carrie and Aaron because the time, effort, dedication, selflessness and determination it took for them to become surgeons was no small feat.

The major highlight of the trip came for me when we walked through the door of Carrie’s house and I saw Aaron feeding Eloise a bottle. I realize it’s only been 18 months since I’ve held a teeny newborn but watching Eloise and listening to all of her sweet little baby coos and grunts and watching her do all of the little newborn things that disappear so quickly — the startle reflex and chin-quiver cry — just made me so happy for Carrie and Aaron.

Also, during a FaceTime call with Ryan over the weekend, I told him all about Eloise and mentioned how she was just such a sweet, content little baby. Ryan and I laughed because we certainly didn’t make our babies that way! We had some wild little dudes who preferred to be bounced at all times and laugh in the face of sleep so being around a peaceful little newborn who was happy to snuggle up in your arms and look around or drift off to sleep blew me away. They have a little angel baby, I’m telling you!

Our friend Leah arrived later on Friday evening and Carrie and I picked her up from the airport before changing into comfy clothes at home and digging into pizza and wings while we caught up and Eloise snoozed. (We all obviously understood but were still naturally sad when Michaela ended up canceling her trip on Thursday when her daughter got sick. We made sure to FaceTime Michaela and really hope we can plan another trip with all of us together soon.)

Saturday

On Saturday, we eased into the day which was amazing. Eloise is thankfully giving Carrie and Aaron 4-5 hour stretches of sleep in the night already (See? Angel baby!) so even though Leah and I encouraged them to sleep while we hung out with Ellie, they seemed content to lounge with us. Leah and I then made some breakfasts Carrie and Aaron can easily reheat through the week (baked oatmeal and egg bites) and dug into eggs, cereal and sausage for breakfast.

Once Eloise was settled down for what Carrie figured would be a decent nap, we said goodbye to Aaron and headed out for some afternoon shopping! It’s been a hot second since any of us have had the chance to browse and enjoy meandering in and out of stores so it was lovely! I don’t think I’ve stepped foot in Anthropologie in years and couldn’t resist walking away with a new pair of Pilcro overalls.

This is crazy-random but years ago I saw former Bachelorette Emily Maynard share a pair of Pilcro overalls on Instagram that looked similar to this pair but they were sold out. I’ve been trying to find a similar pair for years and was so excited when I saw these hanging on the rack. I love the unique pockets on the front and the back pockets are flattering on the booty.

Also, is all Pilcro denim as amazing as these overalls!? I intentionally didn’t try on any other jeans made by this brand in the store because I didn’t want to be too tempted but I was so impressed by the feel of these overalls, the fit and the quality.

And no, I did not buy the ruffle smocked top I’m wearing in the above photo but that one was a hard one to resist, too!

My two other shopping finds from the day: A pair of checkerboard slip-on Vans…

And this rainbow bath clay/Play-Doh my friend Leah said would be a sure-fire hit with the boys.

Have you guys heard of this stuff? Apparently it’s soapy moldable clay that dissolves in the bath and a little bit goes a long way. I’ll report back if it’s a bath time win with our boys.

We eventually took a little break from shopping to grab some drinks at a local bistro (Prosecco for me!) and sipped our drinks as we dug into some garlic and parmesan fries.

Once we made it back to Carrie’s place, we FaceTimed with Michaela and checked in on a sleeping Eloise before it was eventually time for us to change and head into downtown Boise for dinner.

We ate at Asiago’s, a little Italian restaurant in Boise, and each ordered one of their homemade pasta dishes to enjoy with our wine. It was so nice to have uninterrupted conversation and quality time with Leah and Carrie and I tried not to think about the fact that I’d be leaving first thing the following morning.

The rest of our evening was low key and we eventually called it a night since we wanted to make sure Carrie took advantage of Eloise’s longest sleep stretches and I had an early flight on Sunday morning.

I don’t have too much to report on my Sunday since it was consumed by travel (I had a four-hour layover in Denver — ooph!) but it was wonderful to arrive home to Ryan and the boys. I know I’m going to sound like a crazy mom but I swear they all got bigger in 48 hours.

As for the week ahead, it should be a relatively normal one over here. The boys all have school and we’ll be filling our days with kid stuff, house stuff and all of the usual shenanigans. I hope you all have a great Monday!