5.24.2015

A Quad Mom Needs Her BFFs!

I stood in line at the airport Starbucks closest to my terminal and anxiously checked the time on my iPhone again, ensuring I still had a few minutes to grab my trenta-sized green iced tea before boarding. It was way earlier than my normal rising hour, much less an hour to be presentable and awake and boarding a plane. (And apparently I'd managed to color coordinate everything I was wearing and carrying to a black-and-white scheme.) But it was time for my second annual quad mom BFF trip and I was ready!


Ever since last year, when the five of us met up in Gruene, Texas—some of us meeting for the very first time—my friendships with these amazing women have flourished and blossomed beyond measure. They are my survival tools for every single day of my life now, we all message each other frequently and check in on each other when we know someone is facing a tough day or a challenging obstacle in life. We celebrate our successful moments with each other, both big and small, and the five of us are an unflinchingly strong and constant support group that I simply could not live without!

Between the five of us, we have 25 kids—amazing, right!? Obviously some of us have more than quadruplets, but the quads are certainly what brought us together in life and remains our common bond. That bond now also includes our efforts to be the best mothers and wives that we can while also continuing to nurture each other through friendship and reminding each other to take care of ourselves amid all the chaos of the crazy lives we lead!


The trip was everything I'd hoped for and been looking forward to since we parted ways a year before. I was all too happy to start this particular trip a bit sooner than last year as well. Instead of arriving Friday, three of us flew into California on Wednesday where Krista picked us up and we got to meet her seven beautiful kiddos, her wonderful husband and see where she lived! I have to add that Krista has the most kids out of any of us, with a set of gorgeous twin girls, the cutest singleton boy (a total ringer for his dad!) and their sweet quadruplets. I knew she drives a big ol' van and we got a kick out of riding around in the "bus" for a day or two!


Not ones to waste any time, the four of us made sure to fit in drinks and dinner together, which Krista's husband sweetly took us to and listened to our non-stop chatter!



We spent the night at their house then retrieved our final QMBFF (quad mom BFF) member at the airport before making our way to Tahoe for the weekend. But not before halting in the parking lot to aid a set of new parents in folding up their baby stroller post-flight. What's a van full of quad mommas to do but help!?


Our first meal together in a year, while on the way to Tahoe...


One of Krista's friends had graciously offered up her cabin for our retreat and it was the perfect location for our group to enjoy some R&R and relaxed bonding time. The cabin boasted beautiful views of the tree-lined mountains and lake views were around every other bend in the road. We spent plenty of time on the couch chatting and flipping through magazines, we napped, cooked, played games, watched movies, drank wine and enjoyed a few outings.




As soon as we'd plopped down our bags at the cabin, we busted out the equivalent of "Christmas morning" thanks to all the small gifts we'd each brought for each other! It was quite the sight! I made some hand stamped necklaces that said "QMBFF" with little heart charms on them; Amber hand embellished photo frames for each of us that had our respective states we live in with hearts over our cities; Becky gifted us some of her sister's homemade body cream (love my lemon lavender!) and healing salve as well as a copy of the book, No More Perfect Moms; Krista stocked us up on some of her favorite products, like Eos lip gloss and the best smelling Island Coconut candle from Target as well as a Norwex wash cloth and Sally Hansen insta-dry nail polish; and Ashley, talent that she is with her Sweet Dumpling Boutique, embroidered us special shirts that say "Raising Quads...  #neveradullmoment #qmbffsgetit." Last but certainly not least, in keeping to tradition, one of my longtime friends Mary (who is a triplet momma herself) of Sugar Coma Cookies made us the most gorgeous and delicious sugar cookies. Like I said, Christmas!

It was so touching that we each wanted to do something special for everyone, and since we only see each other once a year in our group setting it certainly makes it all the more memorable.






At first it was odd that we didn't have kids to chase after, bedtimes to reinforce or endless dishes to clean. But it didn't take long to settle into a relaxing state of just "being," in which we enjoyed each other's company and conversation amid a serene nature-filled setting. We even managed two trips to the hot tub over the weekend!



And to throw in a little adventure, Krista booked us for a zip line course that I'll hurriedly clarify turned out to be a ropes course! Which posed quite the challenge for a few of us that are bit scurred of heights. Something about walking across a tight rope hundreds of feet in the air, despite having a bulky harness attached to your waist....yeah. But the good news is that it turned out to be a wonderful team building experience and we all encouraged each other through various challenges and courses, tight ropes and all, and cheered on Krista and Becky who seemed to enjoy every second. With her gymnastics background and continued athletic abilities and flexibility, Becky had a renewed appreciation for her own kid's monkey-like antics at home!









Too soon, it came time to part ways and I think we all got a little misty-eyed at some point on our journey home. We were back at it once we'd returned to our families though, messaging back and forth to each other about what a wonderful trip it'd been and how much we'd enjoyed our time together! We'd created yet another memorable getaway, there near the shores of Lake Tahoe, and have already set plans in motion for 2016.



 I thank God every day for my QMBFFs!!
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P.S. Wanna read some of my QMBFF's recaps of our weekend getaway? Check out Becky's blog here, Amber's blog here and Krista's blog here. Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. Looks like fun. Glad y'all got away. Dang your friend Krista has her hands full. Kudos to her and her organization skills and parenting.

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