The only picture I have...

On the first day of my vacation, my camera ran out of batteries, and I packed the wrong charger for it, so the only picture I have to commemorate my first annual girls weekend, was this picture of "Izzie."

and yes, that's a dog, not a horse (a Borzoi to be exact). And she currently makes up one half of my sister's room-mates. The other room-mate is Marco (also a Borzoi), who is immature, rebellious, and naughty. He ate half my chocolate upon arrival, unzipping my backpack and making himself at home with 3 or 4 gourmet chocolate bars that I had been saving to share with my sisters. He is even bigger than Izzie.

When I say my sister shares her home with them, she literally shares her home with them. They sleep on her bed, drink from her toilet, and help themselves to whatever food you may have unwittingly left out on the counter. In fact, my second night there, Izzie was occupying the entirety of the bed I planned to sleep in and was growling just enough to make me move to the couch.

But in their defense, they sure love my sister and she loves them. And they have been faithful and true to her through everything. And they may be a handful, but I sure felt safe when I was sleeping in the same house with them.

Girls weekend was really good. I got to see my mom and sisters, some of my best friends in the world from our time in Provo, and the ladies of the law-- the 4 women with whom I went through police academy and clerking at the court.

Richard, on the other hand, had his first full 24 hours of being solely responsible for Anna. He loved the first 18 of them...

Hopefully, girls weekend will become a yearly thing. It is always worth it to get together with women who inspire you. LIke Jane Austen. I have been getting together with her almost every night. I have seen 4 adaptations of her novels and I have 4 left to go!