on mom & friends

on saturday, we celebrated my mom's birthday {i won't tell which one because even though she has aged beautifully, i'm pretty sure she'll get mad....silly!}.  ours has not been a relationship without its struggles.  the tumultuous mood of a teenage me made for some pretty heated arguments. as i tried to exert my independence she tried to exert her expertise and it usually made for some pretty colorful conversations in the bauer house.  while we certainly express our emotions in different ways, i've always known that my mom loves me...and becoming a mother myself has only served to strengthen that which i've known deep down forever.  there is nothing like a mothers love.  now that i'm older and have a life and family all my own, my relationship with my mom has changed dramatically. while we still express emotion in different ways and are very different people.....we are able to meet in the middle and love and appreciate one another so much more.  i call her for advice and venting on a regular basis!! watching her be a grandmama to emma is one of the highlights of my life.  emma swells with joy when grandma is here and vice versa.  mom, happy birthday....i love you, have so much respect for you, and have you to thank for teaching me how to be a strong independent woman :) oh and pretty much the best grandma ever...

emma was pretty tickled over the paddle ball set :)  she spent the day playing with all her fun toys at grandma and grandpas, giving hugs, chasing bubbles, reading books and just generally tuckering herself out.

she even got a few special bites of birthday cake ~ how can i possibly deny that sweet face?
she played and played and played until she couldn't play anymore.....she started to say "bye bye" to everyone about 20 minutes before we were headed out the door....her way of telling us "i'm tired mom and dad, let's go!!!".  she lasted about 5 minutes in the car before she passed out.  she completely slept through her diaper change and i didn't have the heart to wake her to change her into pajamas.....she slept in style in her sweet sundress.  to me, this is a sign of a day done well :)

vacation has me reflecting, in a good way, on how blessed i feel in my life. working the crazy schedule i do, it's easy to not have time to think about all the wonderfulness around and it is sometimes easy to get overwhelmed with stress {thankfully, this hectic schedule will change soon!}.  don't get me wrong, wonderful does NOT equal perfect.  but in this downtime i've been given, i can't help but get all sentimental and feel good about where our life is and where our life is going.

one thing in particular that i've been really touched by lately is my girlfriends. my AMAZING girlfriends.  my two best friends have been my friends for longer than i can remember.....one of them literally since i was born.  they are the kinds of girlfriends that we all deserve and that we should all be to those we care for deeply.  they let me be me in the truest of forms which isn't always pretty and i always feel like i can be completely honest with them no matter what. i laugh with them, i cry with them, i share life moments with them.  they remind me where i've been and help me be the best version of myself.  they teach me, daily, about being a good friend and i hope i'm half as good to them as they are to me. and i hope they know how much i love them.

one of the hardest things to learn as a young woman has been that some friendships aren't forever. even ones you thought would be. friendships do devolve as life changes and this is OK.  this doesn't mean that those friendships weren't real or valuable in their moment just that they weren't meant to see you through. this has been a bittersweet lesson for me to learn.  

the bright spot is that while friendships devolve.....others EVOLVE.  over the past year, i've been blessed to make some dear new friends who just make me smile from the inside out.  these women are strong and know who they are.  they love their lives, their work, and their friends just like me. we laugh, we cry, we learn from each other, but most importantly we have FUN.  they've helped me with my journey of realization that when you close out any negativity around you, you make room for SO MUCH GOOD to come your way and i love them for that :)

ok....enough philosophizing {yea i made it up} for today. it's a beautiful sunday!!!!!!!!! major changes are abound at the murphy house and i can't wait to share pictures!!! {i promised ryan i'd wait til its all done though}.  emma and i are headed to play with friends a little later at a party for the company Thirty One hosted by our friend Heidi.  hope you all have a fabulous day!!!