I GOT TO SPEND AN ENTIRE WEEKEND AWAY WITH MY MR!!!

Justin and I just got back from our FIRST weekend getaway as a married couple and had SUCH a wonderful time with some of our dearest friends!  On May 27th, we celebrated 8 months of blissful marriage and decided it was time to have a little adventure!

Justin was able to get off work early, so I picked him up at 6pm!
(I know to most of you this is NORMAL or even late for a Friday, but it was anywhere from 2-4 hours early for us!!!)

As we drove to Charlotte North Carolina we stopped at a {surprisingly} BEAUTIFUL Rest Stop!
It had a gorgeous lake and woods and I made him do a spontaneous photo shoot!
***I LOVE THE SOUTH***
Did I mention how EXCITED I was to have a weekend getaway with my darling husband!!!?  My heart overflowed with love!

But lo and behold, even the shortest of road trips (ours being 4 hours!) causes one to be hungry!
SO LETS GET CHIPOTLE!!!
Its our FAVORITE cheap eats/semi fast food place to go and we were so stoked to have found one at the half way point!
Buuuuuuuut… It was No Bueno 🙁
Poor Boy. So sad.  Our favorite eatery had an OFF night to say the least {and we are NOT picky eaters!}
Rice-bland.  Meat-Forgot the seasoning.  Salsa-uhhh… wheres the kick!?
Half way through picking around my beautiful burrito bowl, I looked at him and asked
Me-“Is yours bland!?”  Him-“I was about to ask you the same thing!”

But we ate it, had full tummies and moved on with our weekend adventure!  Only a few more hours till we reached Charlotte! We pulled in just a bit past 10pm and were greated with joyful hellos from our dear friends Gavin, Colleen and their 3 year old princess Alyona!  We stayed up till almost 3am talking about life, the Lord and Colleens soon arriving baby boy Ethan and collapsed into bed.  What a gift it is to have friends so near and dear to our hearts close enough to still feel like we were on a mini vacation!

WE SLEPT IN!  Praise the Lord!!!
Gavin made us these decadent Paleo Pumpkin Raisin Breakfast muffins and we literally stayed in our PJ’s all day till we got ready for church that night!  My hair was CRAY and I had no makeup on and LOVED IT!!!

We were so excited to go to their new home church called Freedom House, and heard an amazing message on unforgivness!
We love the local church, and were honored to hear what the Lord is doing in NC!
After church, as we were on our way to dinner, we passed by a LEGIT snow cone stand and U-turned around so the 9month preggo lady could have a blue raspberry treat!
True love stands in a LONG line for snow cones 😉Dinner was at this delicious Tavern and we all got Burgers, some delicious fruity drinks and DESSERT 🙂

My baby LOVES his sweets ;)))

On our last day there, we decided it was the PERFECT day for a dip in the pool!
THIS IS THE WAY TO DO A WEEKEND VACAY!!!
I might have forgotten to put on sun block (ooooops!!) But it was SO worth it!
Justin and Gavin tossed the football for 2 hours in the pool while Colleen and I soaked up the sun!
To treat us before we hit the road, we dined on buffalo steaks (I die!) and coconut ice cream!
MY FAVE!!!
What a gift our dear friends are to our hearts!  We so enjoyed our time, and didn’t want to leave, but had to hit the road!
Till next time NC!

Cheers! Rachael & Justin xox