great friends, great food, great times.

this past weekend, mr. lesley and i went up to the mountains for a little church small group retreat. 

we all agreed the time was too short, but we managed to fit in some pretty good times between friday night and saturday afternoon.

on friday night, we ate some amazing chili and corn bread.

seriously, nancy and krista are two of the best cooks on the planet! 

(side note: the colorful plates made our meals very happy.)

after dinner the ladies settled around the fire, while the men played some intense games of foosball and ping pong.

then we came back together for catchphrase and taboo.
both friendly yet competitive.
all i have to say is "ear flaps."

now i already don't do well on friday nights, so i totally passed out on the floor.

in my defense, they started talking about movies, and we all know i have nothing to contribute in that area.

saturday morning started off with some out of this world waffles and a beautiful view of the mountains.

i definitely went overboard with the toppings, and my stomach was not too happy with me, but i think it was totally worth it. 

i think waffles are my love language.

after breakfast we had some time for prayer and sharing.
it was refreshing for me to just spend some time talking to God and looking at the mountains.
the beauty of the mountains is so good for my soul.

after our group time, i was feeling a little guilty about breakfast, so when nancy asked if i wanted to do some julian michael's shred action, i was all about it.

we bounced, and punched, and lunged, and squatted like crazy while everyone else played more ping and foos. 

i was proud of us.

in the afternoon, we got on all our snow gear (including an AMAZING extreme fleece/carpet jacket from the rental house closet that i scored. gosh, i loved that jacket.)
it was perfectly ridiculous.
we trudged through the mounds of snow to a great view of the mountains.
it was so beautiful.
and would have been peaceful if mr. lesley had chosen not to pelt me with snowballs.
men...
(sidenote: his puffy jacket and ear warmer, also picked from the closet, were pretty awesome.)

before we knew it, it was time to clean up and head home.

but not before taking a group photo.

i didn't really give anyone a chance to say no:)

i love these people, and i am excited to see how God uses us as a group.

the best is yet to come for us.

i just know it.