There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters...

This weekend was our annual Merrill sister's getway and it did not disappoint! We had a splendid time shopping, eating (what Merrill's do best, even if half of them are on weight watchers), and chatting away until all hours of the night. Since there are Five original Merrill sisters, Two adopted by law, and one sweet mother we didn't have everyone there for everything, but we all came to what our schedules would allow and it was awesome! Here is theplay-by-play:

After picking up Mandy from the airport, some shopping, and severe damage to our credit cards (these days any damage is server, am I right?) we went to The Cheese Cake Factory for dinner and gorged ourselves on yummy food and even yummier cheese cake....Ahhh, I am still dreaming about the white chocolate caramel macadamia nut. The only bummer of the night: the chipotle "fire in the hole" something or other that Toni ordered. She took one bite and couldn't eat any more it was so hot!

The cheese cake

Even when nursing, the Merrill girls never miss out on some good cheese cake.

The one good picture of Toni...I didn't put the other one on, it was too graphic.

Madre and TeraWith the cheese cake filling our bellies and much more shopping to do we headed to the mall and went on a shopping spree to find new clothes for my super skinny mother. All we can say is that we love Christopher Banks! She found so many cute clothes and I am pretty sure my dad won't allow mom to do anymore "window" shopping with her beloved daughters! When we got to the hotel we were all beat but that didn't stop us from staying up way to late chatting, chatting, chatting...what are sisters for?

The next day we headed to Toni's house to meet for lunch and some Morgan snuggles!Cute Ladies

We ate lunch at the Macaroni Grill (which my mother can't stop calling the "noodle factory" it cracks me up!) The Penne Rustica has never tasted so good! And the bread, ahhh, the bread. Weight Watchers, whatever! Plus, the educational bathroom experience is priceless.

On Sunday we thought we would include the rest of the family just a little. We had a family dinner and then concluded with a little Oprah inspired activity and a book swap. We did "our favorite things" where we each brought our favorite thing to share with the group. So by the end of the night we all had a sack full of each other's favorite things. It ranged from Toni's raspberry filled donuts, earrings, Jane Austen movies, and gum, to picture frames, screw drivers, hymn books and a CD of Mandy's favorite tunes. Seriously fun! And to top it off Great Grammy was there to share it all with us. She is so beautiful, is she not?Shopping spree twinners!

Since we had the opportunity we decided to take a four generation picture! Pretty awesome.I just have to say that I have the most awesome sisters in the world.
They are inspiring beautiful ladies that I absolutely love to death. I can't wait until next year!