Sunnyside friends and another great birthday!

I am the luckiest woman on the earth to have such good friends. Last year on my 30th birthday, my friends suprised me with a gathering at a nice Sunnyside restaurant (planned mostly by Brooke and Natalie- two amazing women!!), including fun party favors, balloons and even a party hat! This was the first of many fun birthday parties over the next year. So- now we have come full circle and now it is my birthday again- I have even moved up to Yakima - - and they still suprised me! I was set to go out to lunch with Natalie, and when I opened my door several more of my friends were there too! I feel so loved that everyone was willing to drive all the way up to Yakima to suprise me. I am so glad that I don't live very far away, and I get to see my Sunnyside friends here and there. I am glad Bev also moved here in the last year. My Sunnyside friends are such amazing people that I will be friends with for life. We all went out (including our little non-school age munchkins) to Red Robin for lunch. MMMMM so good and so fun. What a great way to spend my birthday! I also got to talk to both of my sisters on the phone- - again, I feel so loved!! Tonight I am skipping a cub scout pack meeting and Jon will take me out on a date. What a great day.



They brought me a gift - - the quote in the picture says "Friendship isn't a big thing, it's a million little things". I love it!


This is from my birthday last year:

Happy Birthday Lillian, sorry about your cake . . .

Happy 2nd birthday Lillian! She had fun opening a few gifts and we had our friends Robin and Jeremy Day and their little girls Cadence and Kennedy over for cake and ice cream. It was great, exept for my complete flop of a cake!! I was trying to make this really cute cake, which shoudn't have been that complicated to make (click here for the recipe):





Then ta da - this is how it turned out!! I must have used the wrong kind of cake (don't use super moist!) because is just crumbled. Jon was helping me and he just kept cutting off the corners that were falling, making the cake smaller and smaller, then we tried to take the cake pieces to make the tub edge because cutting down into the cake was making it even more unstable. As I was trying to glue it all back together with frosting, the side got so heavy that it completely broke apart.



Sorry Lillian! We just took the cake pieces, added ice cream and made them into Sundaes.

Blowing out the candles:



I love you Lillian! You are amazingly adorable and so smart. I love your hugs and your laugh. I am so glad you are my daughter.

Tagged- "6 unspectacular quirks"

I am TERRIBLE about doing tags - - but besides going to Sunnyside for a really fun Enrichment Night (I crashed Sunnyside 1st ward . . . ), and learning to can pears for the first time in my life (thanks June for having me over!!!) I don't have that much else to write about. So- I am tagging anyone who wants to do this (even though I am supposed to name 6 specifically - - being the stinker that I am, I am not going to). Each person is supposed to write 6 "unspectacular quirks" of theirs. Here goes mine:

1. I LOVE to watch the show Psych (USA- you can also watch them online at usanetwork.com). It is a hilarious show about a really smart and observant guy who figures out crimes with his best friend. He is such a goof-off that he has to pretend to be psychic for people to believe him (namely the police department). Anyway, it is a very clean show, with lots of 80's childhood refrences (he is supposed to be about my age) and SUPER funny. Some of my other favorite shows are Smallville, LOST, Heroes, Chuck, Eli Stone and Monk.

2. I LOVE to listen to books on tape- so housework isn't so boring. When I don't have a book to listen to, the cleanliness of my house goes way down! Jon will also read to me when he is around- it's my favorite way to spend time with him (besides just talking (see next quirk)- though he gets bored of that really fast!

3. My number one favorite thing to do is to talk. I am extremely talkative and open, and can't go a day without talking to a friend or family emember. My energy level is directly related to my interaction with friends, or at least other adults. I was one of those girls at slumber parties who stayed up into the wee hours just talking. I can't survive without friends, and they mean so much to me!!

4. I love anything and everything Disney. I worked at Disney World in Florida for a semester of college, Jon proposed to me there, and we have been back 3 times after marriage (2 in the first couple of years, and the third just last May!! Look on the side bar of this blog to read more about that). We had a Mickey and Minnie wedding cake topper, Jon dressed as the prince out of Sleeping Beauty to propose to me . . . Even Lillian can spot Mickey Mouse, or even Mickey Ears. I think it is the romantic side of me that LOVES the magic of it all. Even though Disney as a company is out to make $$$ like every other company- they are just SUPER good at what they do- (entertaining) and they bring families together.

5. I love math and paperwork. Not to say that I am good at higher math anymore (I used to be in high school), but the simple every day math such as simple accounting, is fun. In my Pampered Chef business, I love doing the shows because of my interactions with people, but I also get a thrill just doing the paperwork, business side of it. I enjoy doing our finances and our own taxes (though I might have to take a class or something when our taxes get more complicated). I am also obessive about keeping track of our budget, which has made survival of living on medical school loans in past years possible. The ONLY time we have ever been late on a payment of some kind was right after I miscarried my first pregnancy, and I was a few days late on our credit card bill (though the bank was nice because it was a one time thing and didn't charge the huge fee). Sometimes it pays to be a nerd!

6. Along the same lines, I am really wierd about ages and dates - I seem to relate popular songs and events to how old I was and what year it was when they happened. This also goes for characters in books, movies and TV shows and their ages. It's like I can't relate to them unless I know how old they are in comparison to me. I seem to pick out the clues given in dialog on a show to figure out how old the character is supposed to be. I even look up ages of actors and actresses on IMDB.com to see how old they really are! Sometimes I can't sleep because my mind starts calculating dates and ages off a show I just watched - - so wierd.

Arbor Trellis

Just to boast a little about my husband - -
He has been working really hard on making our yard look nice on his few hours he isn't working or sleeping. I am so proud of the trellis he designed and built himself (not from a kit!). I think it looks great with the bench. It really dresses up the front yard.

These pictures were taken Friday night after he finished, and we were packing up for our little weekend trip to Spokane.

Another quick trip to Spokane

Jon actually had two days off in a row - - so I convinced him to come on a quick trip to Spokane, so I could be at my sister-in-law's bridal shower. He had wanted to go camping because this is probably the last chance we would get for this year. I bought him a really cool tent for Christmas last year, and we had yet to use it because of our crazy summer! So- we compromised and we went camping in Spokane. We left early Saturday morning so I could make it to the late morning shower, then spent the afternoon and overnight at Liberty Lake County Park (only about 10 minutes from his parent's house). It is a BEAUTIFUL park- with a nice hiking trail and beach on the lake. Needless to say, we didn't swim - - but the weather was perfect for hiking. Although it did get pretty cold in the middle of the night, it was good camping weather. We had fun roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, and the kids had a great time running around and making friends with the other campers. Besides our air mattress going mostly flat and Lillian not sleeping well during the night, things went well. Then off to church on Sunday and a quick visit with our parents- then back to Yakima!


Jenna's shower- it was a BLAST!!


Camping - - I love our new multi room tent!

Pampered Chef

I am getting back on with my Pampered Chef business . . .
If anyone is interested in hosting a show or ordering something, let me know! I will provide the food for the recipe I am demonstrating at your show, as my own little incentive! I can also do catalog shows (even long distance).

Host benefits include:
generous free products
half price products
discounted products
monthly host special
free shipping
10% off for a year

current host specials - 60% off:
Sept- cookware
Oct- Simple Additions
Nov- Stoneware
Dec- beaded serving set and spreader or trifle bowl

Go to online to Pamperedchef.com or click here to see a catalog online. Sadly, my Pampered Chef personal website is currently out of order (until I start getting more business)- so just contact me directly to order instead of completing your order online.

Send me an email, call or post a comment on my blog to set up a show or order! Thanks!

Labor day and "Independence Day"

Someone in my new ward called the first day of school "Independence Day". I thought that was fitting. The more kids I have in school, the more it feels like that. It was so quiet the first day of school, just having Lillian at home. I got so much done around the house that day. There is a part of me that misses the kids- but truly I feel like a better mom having some time without them. When they came home from school, I was so happy to see them and I was a MUCH nicer mom!

To backtrack a little- we had a fun day Labor Day (the day before school started). Jon was off from work, amazingly (even though he worked all through the night- he didn't get home until 9:30 am on Labor Day). After Jon rested a bit, we took the kids to the Meadowbrook Family Fun Center and had a great time!

First we did bumber boats:




Then miniature golf:




Then go-carts followed by the arcade. They have inexpensive passes- so we were able to do a lot!




We finished the evening by having a little "back to school" family home evening, where we talked about being in school, safety, etc. We pretended to sit at desks and played "teacher may I"- where I would ask them questions about what to do or not do at school. We topped it off with a school bus cake - - super fun!



The first Day of school is finally here!



Cynthia in her new kindergarten classroom:



Marcus in his new 2nd grade classroom:



What a joy to have some sort of routine back. It helps that the kids are also super happy to be back in school!!