sunday at the symphony with friends & some girl-time

On Sunday afternoon/evening, we packed picnic snacks and a blanket and went over to Foothills Park in LO to meet up with the Ty & Steph and the Shelbys. Stu and Crissy Shelby and their sweet kids, Lucy & Samuel, are visiting from Arkansas and it was so fun to see them. Crissy and I knew eachother from back when I was on student staff with Young Life in college. Steph and Crissy have also been close friends and Crissy was one of Steph's bridesmaids. Anyway, we haven't seen the Shelby's since before we all had kids so it was really fun to meet their little ones and hang out together while listening to the Portland Symphony! It is part of a summer concert series and we really enjoyed it (even though, apparently one of the speakers was faulty so it was quieter on our side). We could still hear it though and besides, it made it nice background music for us to chat to.
Jack and Cade spent the majority of the time playing ball and running around laughing together. After awhile, the dads took the kids over to the water feature to get cooled off. Then we striped the boys down to their unders and shirts (since their pants were soaked anyway) and they thought it was hilarious to run around like that.
Steph & Julia with the symphony in the background.
Cade.
Julia ~ just loungin'.
Lucy was so cute waving at the symphony.
Hey Callum.
Crissy and sweet baby Samuel.
Afterward, Stephanie and I took one of their cars and grabbed dinner @ Bellagios, before heading over to have some girl time with Crissy after she got her kids to bed. Crissy and Stu have been staying at her aunt and uncle's house in LO - very cool place. A log house on the Tualatin River with a huge back deck. It was dusk by the time we got situated on the porch in the comfy chairs with a glass of wine. Stu came out after a bit and lit some candles for us and we had a great time just laughing and girl-talking. It was much needed time for sure. It is so nice to have friends that you can just skip the small-talk and get straight to the important stuff. I'm thankful for those times. Really good for my soul.