Augusta. Friends. Wine.

Here are our wonderful, crazy friends that we had a blast with a couple weekends ago.  We stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast in Augusta Mo.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed walking to the winerys, sitting outside and each other's company.  We'd like to make this an annual weekend, let's hope we can make that happen.

Here is Paul and Stephanie, Paul and Jarrod went to high school together and Paul met Stephanie in college. They live in Kansas City and have a pretty little one year old named Brynlee. 

Here is Scott and Lindsey, Jarrod went to high school with Scott and college with both Scott and Lindsey.  They got married one day in college so they could be stationed in the Peace Corp together.  Lucky for us they did because we went to see them in Africa in 2007.   

After our amazing day in the vineyards we headed to the local brewery to watch the Missouri game.  They didn't win but they played a good game against a ranked Georgia team.

One of my favorite gals!

Weekend Run Down: November 4-6

The Murdaughs had a super fun weekend, I never remember to blog about the weekends so hopefully I can start an occausional run down...
November 4-6
Friday night started with a family photo session I took of this sweet family.  We had fun.  The girls were spunky and baby Zach was awesome.

Then I met back up with Jarrod and Z at the Cherry's house for our monthly Mexican Train night with the Whites and Gartons.  Lyndsey made some mean Chicken Tortilla Soup from the Pioneer Woman's website.  Earlier that day when I took Z to the Library she picked out a "movie" for her and Owen to watch while the adults played our game.  The two of them playing is pretty stinkin' cute these days. 

Saturday morning started off with Jarrod and Z making pancakes for breakfast while I did laundry and packed us all for the rest of the weekend.

After breakfast, Jarrod went outside and raked/mowed the leaves for a couple of hours.  When Z and I were ready and all packed up we went to my sister's church for their Fall Festival.  Once Jarrod got there we ate lunch together, let Z play a little longer then parted ways again.  He took Zeda to his parents house to lay her down for a nap and I went to a friend from high school, Ashley's baby shower.  The shower was decorated so cute and it was really good to see some old friends.  Ashley looks great pregnant especially since she is having not one but TWO girls!  Most of the shower, I held my friend, Anna's baby, Case.  He's 13 weeks and such a big boy but that makes him extra adorable.
After the shower, I met Jarrod back at home so we could hit the road to St. Louis.  We were heading up for Scott and Lindsey's wine and cheese party but left a little early so we could have a quiet dinner together, just the two of us.  After many recommendations from friends, we landed on Ernesto's Wine Bar.  Yes, I realize it's silly of us to choose a wine bar when I'm pregnant but the food was really good and I just sniffed Jarrod's glass of Syrah to make myself feel better about not being able to drink. :)
After dinner we arrived at Scott and Lindsey's about 8:30 and ready to relax and have a good time.  The wonderful hostess bought me some sparkling cider which I sipped on the whole night.  We met a lot of their new friends from work and school and still got to see Linsey's Farmington friends that we love so much.  It never fails, the Farmington crowd always has a dance party with some good ol' Girl Talk.  The night ended with Lindsey, Louie (their dog) and myself falling asleep on their couches while Scott and Jarrod had their science, God and religion conversation that comes up every time they've had a few drinks. :)  It's entertaining but COMPLETELY over my head.  I think it was about 3 they woke us up and we all went upstairs to our rooms.  Thank goodness it was daylight saving and we gained an extra hour.

Once we all finally got out of bed we played with Louie then walked to Benton Park Cafe for a late breakfast.  

Then Jarrod and I headed for Springtown after a stop at Trader Joe's and World Market for a little Christmas shopping.  We arrived at his parents house for dinner and to see Z about 5:30.  She had big stories for us about her new "parkly" shoes and the big mouse at Chuck E Cheese.

It was a great weekend and I can't wait until the next.

Benton Park Cafe

The Murdaughs had quite the busy weekend like always.  I think tomorrow I will give you the run down so you can see a normal weekend for us but tonight I want to talk about Jarrod and my favorite place to eat when we visit Scott and Lindsey.  We drove up Saturday afternoon to attend Scott and Lindsey's wine and cheese party and I told Jarrod I didn't mind driving home late after the party was over, since we all know now that I can't have wine.  Then I told him, "If we stay the night, we can have breakfast at the Cafe."  And that my friends, sealed the deal.
Benton Park Cafe is just down the road from their house and it is delicious.  This morning or should I say afternoon was beautiful which made the walk to our favorite spot delightful!  Of course the wait was long so I snuck over to Gus' to have a pretzel stick to tie this pregnant lady over.

 The three of them feeling pretty rough...it was a fun night.