Pumpkin Patch and Soup Swap

We had a lovely, rainy weekend filled with friends. I had such a good time, which I needed 'cause I was seriously down in the dumps on Friday. Saturday started out well with a nice run for me. Then I cleaned the house and went to get my hair done. This was so overdue and I had a lot of grey hair showing! Corey put my hair up into a super cute up-do when we were done.
I drove home and picked up Michael and the boys and the picnic basket and we headed to the pumpkin patch to meet up with our friends. The threat of rain had loomed over this outing all week and I was worried we would have to cancel, but despite the overcast skies, no rain had fallen and everyone agreed to brave the weather and attempt the pumpkin patch outing. We got there and it was hot and muggy, but the pumpkin patch itself was beautiful and not too crowded and all our friends were there and so I was happy. The kids all played together and had a great time and Cheris took a cute family pic of us in front of the corn maze. All the photos above are hers as we forgot the memory card in our camera.
And then the clouds opened and huge sheets of sideways rain fell on us. Half of our group was in the corn maze when it happened and almost all of us were soaked through our clothes down to the skin. The rain poured down on us for about 5-10 minutes and then quit. But everything was soaked. It was hilarious. Many people left the patch during the deluge, but we all stayed and partied on. A beautiful rainbow appeared and a cool breeze appeared and the sun came out. The kids went back to playing and we all spread out our wet blankets and belongings and continued our good time. The only problem was that my phone had gotten wet and fritzed out. (an apple genius bar appointment has been made). It was an extremely memorable excursion and so full of laughter and joy. I know I go on and on about our friends, but they really are awesome and so much fun.
The kids were covered in mud when we left after dark. We stripped them down to their underwear in the back of the subaru and let them ride home that way. They proclaimed it an excellent day.
That night more rain poured down. It poured and poured. It kept raining all Sunday morning. Michael and I took the boys to church and where I was lay leading and singing. My parents came and we had a really nice service.
After church, I made a quick lunch and then Michael took the boys over to my parents house and I held my annual fall soup swap. We had thirteen RSVP's but only seven people showed. It didn't really matter. We had some delicious soup options and we all got lots of yummy choices. I got lots of time to really chat and hang out with my ladies. I love them so. I meant to take pictures of our soup pile, but I forgot to take a single one! Let me assure you that the soups were gorgeous and so were the ladies. And then when it was over I didn't have to cook! We could have soup for dinner!
Michael brought the boys home and I gave a quick hug to Martha and Clark who had spent the afternoon with the guys playing monopoly at my dad's house. Then we all got in our pajamas and curled up on the couch in the rain darkened lounge and watched Back To The Future for family movie night. It was so good and the kids loved it.
It was just the weekend I needed.