Thankful for Our Justin and Mary

It's Monday...and I'm drinking my beloved caramel macchiato. As sad as it sounds, it can sometimes be the reason I force myself to get out of bed on Monday mornings. Just being honest. :) Today is a new day, a new opportunity to love and experience the blessings and treasures in my life. I have learned that if I don't recognize that everyday, I take them for granted and miss them completely. How sad, right?!

This weekend we had the absolute honor and privilege of having our dear friends; Mary and Justin visit us from Colorado. Tim and Justin have been the best of friends since high school and although we don’t get to see them often, it is certainly the kind of relationship that picks up right were it ended. Don’t you just love those?! They are an incredible couple who have faced so many obstacles in their life, but handled them with such beauty and grace. Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer as a young 30 year old woman, with 2 very young children at home. Over the next 2 years of her life, her whole world would be rocked and she would be faced with unspeakable fears…am I going to die? Will I be able to raise my kids? And so much more. Her battle with cancer and road to recovery was intense, body consuming and life altering, yet she remained strong and clung to God as her source. She is now a cancer free survivor who lives and breathes relationships. Her kids and family is the MOST IMPORTANT thing to her. She is patient, kind, generous, wise and knows how to properly align her priorities. This is much to be admired. Even more admirable is her incredible strength and confidence that is the foundation of who she is. I learned so much from just watching her and her husband interact; they are tremendous examples of how truly loving someone looks.

Now for the fun.

We started off the weekend by attending the charity event that Tim and I had been helping with for the past 10 months…The American Cancer Society’s Cattle Baron’s Ball. We raised a ton of money at the event and had an absolute blast too!

Saturday was an entire day of fun. We enjoyed the beautiful afternoon at the pool and then headed to dinner at one of our fave places, Red Rock Canyon Grill.

Then, we headed to a nearby casino to play and enjoy some gaming for a few hours and ended up at a local pizza place to have drinks and play shuffle board.

It was hard to say goodbye to dear friends that we know we won’t see for a while, but at the same time, elated to have had such a wonderful weekend with them.

Today I am thankful for great friends in my life that I also can learn from.  We love you, Justin and Mary!