Meeting Bakerella!

Let's just get the good stuff out of the way first, shall we?

HERE WE ARE WITH BAKERELLA!!! (And I wish I wasn't looking so drizzled on and wilted.)

And can I just say, she is so nice? She was very down to earth, and gracious about posing for photos with everyone and just the sort of person that you feel so happy for their success.

It was really fun to get to see her and watch her little Cake Pop demo.  Those are our darling little favor bags...

I have to admit though, Cupcake camp itself was a little disappointing. It wasn't quite what we were anticipating nor as well organized as what we were hoping...but I'd rather focus on the positive part. It was such fun having "girl time" away. We had time to eat leisurely meals, uninterrupted conversation, and I just enjoyed being with my dear friend. That was the best part. That, and of course, meeting Bakerella. :)

Here are a few fun photos from our trip....

Our lunch stop...

And I have to say a great big thank you to Dan and my Mother in Law, Winnie who stepped in for me so that I could go have some fun away. It definitely was such a treat to have this night away and I'm so grateful that the help to make it happen was so cheerfully given.

We're Here!!

After encountering lots of traffic, construction, a wonderful calzone dinner and hours of nonstop talking...we made it!!!
But first I'll back up.
Okay, so maybe I didn't pack one bag....


Shannon and I have been laughing at this picture because the shadows on our face make us look really funny. But we need to post it to remember our trip.

Fortunately, Shannon brought the Bed Bug Check List. We're good to go. :)

Yes, we checked. And No, we don't have them, but Shannon is making sure we are in compliance with all avoidance procedures.

We don't have bed bugs but our room (which is an ocean view and quite nice) has an interesting fishy odor. We're choosing to think it just adds to the authenticity of being at the beach. :)

No Bakerella sighting...yet. We'll keep you posted.

Soooooo Excited!

(This photo doesn't have anything to do with the post. I just caught these two snuggled up while watching a movie and had to take a picture).

Last week my friend Shannon (and fellow cake decorating enthusiast) sent me an email with the subject "This is tempting..."

I opened the email, made a few phone calls and within a couple of hours after getting the message we had tickets to go here.  And what exactly are we going to do there?
Oh, just take a class from HER.  We are going to learn how to make Cake Pops from the Cake Pop Queen, herself.  And I am SOOOOOOOO excited.

Here's another great part. We get to spend the night! Shannon and I get to go to the Oregon Coast BY OURSELVES and LOOK AT CUPCAKES, AND MAKE CAKE POPS! AND SEE BAKERELLA! I've tried to be calm and mature about it, but really I want to jump up and down like a teenage girl.

I get to pack one, count with me friends, ONE bag. And Shannon and I will get to talk. Uninterrupted. For hours.

We leave Thursday.  And yes, of course, pictures to come!

Baby Shower

I had the treat of attending a baby shower yesterday. Something I don't often do anymore. It was for my dear friend, Julie who is expecting her SIXTH Baby. Can I just say that again? SIXTH baby. Did I mention she Home Schools and her children are sweet and very well behaved?

My hat is off.

We've been friends since we were 13 and don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. But it was a wonderful afternoon celebrating a new little life.

I can't wait to get my hands on that little baby.

Scrapfest III

The email is sent out usually by Diane (my most organized of friends) inquiring if we're on for this year. Dates start flying, and miraculously we find a date that works for me and my friends Shannon and Diane to gather for a weekend of scapbooking. (Is that a word?) We gather in Richland (or once here) for a weekend of scrapbooking, cookie eating, and visiting. We stay up until the wee hours of the morning (this year it was 3am on Friday night, 1 am on Saturday night) and work on the kids' scrapbooks, talk about life, share tips and ideas, laugh and have a great time.

The time with friends is so much fun, and honestly I can't even remember the last time I've had a break that long from the kids! I haven't ever been away from Kaitlin over night (this was my first time) and so I was a little sad when leaving her. But I was so excited when I arrived and had a full weekend of girl time. Shannon had family obligations so we missed her for the second half, but were glad she could be there with us as long as she was.

The boys stayed at Grammie and Grandpa's house and had a fantastic time (as usual). They got to see Jupiter (am I remembering right?) and its 3 moons on Grandpa's telescope. They swam at the park, built Legos and had a really fun time. I was so happy to see them on Sunday and start our trip back home where we got to see our newly painted house (photo to come this week!) and be reunited with Dan and Kaitlin. I had my camera in the front seat of the car and caught this sweet reunion between Kaitlin and the boys.

She gave both of them nice hugs and check out that dirty little thing! Do you think she had fun or what?! Dan spent the weekend working in the yard and Kaitlin had a BALL playing in every little muddy area she could find! (Thankfully, I did lay out "outside clothes" before I left and Dan dutifully followed through with dresssing her in them. Thank you, honey). The heat and the adventure wore her out and each day she took a 3 hour nap for Dan!! He got a lot of work done and the 2 of them had a great time. A great weekend was had by all.

(Diane and Shannon if you're wondering where the photo is of the 3 of us...it's on my hard drive. I'm ashamed to admit I'm too vain to post it on the WWW. It was that bad. Not that the one on the top is much better...will my hair EVER grow out? :) Ugh. However, Diane my dear, you are gorgeous.)

Thanks friends, for taking the time to get together. Thanks Mom, for letting us crash your house! And thanks to Dan and Grammie/Grandpa for happily having time with the kids. I so appreciate it!!!

Girls Day Out!

I love being a Mom, but I really enjoy having a break from my duties and having uniterrupted time with friends. Being able to complete a whole thought from start to finish is such a luxury. I've come to really love my birthday (and my friends' birthdays too!) because it means an excuse for girl time! Shannon and I always take a day to go out and "celebrate" (shop) for each of our birthdays. We are grateful to have husbands that happily expand their Daddy duties to include Mommy duties as well for the day.

Last year I was still recovering from surgery but was determined to go out. We planned 2 very short stops at 2 small stores. I made it to one and Shannon ended up pushing both of our strollers...okay, so it wasn't the best idea. But not this year! We were back in full swing and had a great day.

The important ingredients for a successful girls day out are:

Starting the day with a stop at Starbucks to pick up our espresso.

Shopping at places we normally can't go with the children.

Eating lunch at a non kid-friendly location (not because we don't want to be around children, but because these are places we rarely get to frequent during our day to day life. We chose PF Cha*ngs this year).

A mid afternoon snack involving chocolate of some kind.

And of course, if we find some treasures along the way, that's the cherry on our sundae.

We went to Home Go*ods which is such a fun discount store full of things for the house. We recently had one go up in the area and it's great fun. (Dan's ultimate nightmare, for sure).

This was my favorite find....

These little guys reminded me of my boys and will find a special place in the yard this year. (Where it will be continually knocked over by balls, golf clubs, trucks....But that's okay).

Thanks for the fun day, friend!