Happy 20th Brandon!

Last Sunday we celebrated Brandon's 20th birthday!  Cannot believe we have 2 kids in their 20's and only one teenager left - wow - somebody's gettin' old!!

Randy made barbecue ribs for Brandon and his friends and they wiped out 3 racks, along with a whole lot of other food!  Gotta love me some 20 year old men!!

Brandon is our "steady as he goes" boy.  He is neither excitable or depressable (is that a word?).  He is a loyal friend, trustworthy, hard worker.......yes I'm basically describing his dad too!  This apple didn't fall far from the tree - which is a GOOD thing!

Brandon is going to be a Junior at Whitworth this fall.  He is a nuclear engineering major.  He says he will either work in cancer research/radiology, or make bombs...............this blows my mind!! (pun intended!)  He is one smart man!  Love you bud - you make your mom proud!

I love my king.......

............king size bed that is!

Yesterday I was walking by Max's bed and saw this........................

It reminded me of how much I love our King size bed.  We bought it when we moved into this house 3 years ago (can you believe it!).  It has been .A. MARRIAGE.SAVER!!  (one of us sleeps a little rambunctiously!!)

Thank goodness...............

Yesterday, I looked outside and thought (please don't miss the sarcasm here!) "Thank goodness we have a sprinkler system or I would have to go out in this weather to water the grass!"

You can't see how hard it's raining, but you know!  I. AM. TIRED. OF. THIS. LACK. OF. SUMMER!  It's hard not to be bitter.  Yesterday I actually thought about lighting a candle, turning on the fireplace, and embracing Fall.  Maybe if I just decided to enjoy Fall I wouldn't be so bitter about there being no summer?!?!

A Play Date

Last Saturday I got to spend the day with my BFF Judy's daughter - Hailey!  Hailey was born 5 months before they moved to Idaho, so I got lots of baby holding time in but then they left.  I go to Idaho about twice a year and I love being "Aunt" to Hailey and Spencer (her older brother).  After Brian and Judy left to go back to Idaho Hailey stayed with her G'pa and G'ma for a week and I got to "steal" her for 24 hours!  We had planned to make cookies and do finger and toe nails!

Spencer is here working for the summer and he had spent the night.  So we had strawberries and waffles to begin our fun day!

A quick 4-wheeler ride with Uncle Randy before the cookie session

I think she looks like she's having a good time ;)

Lots of rollin' and cuttin' (& tastin' for quality control!)

Em handled the blue fingernails w/white polka dots!

We did all star cookies and decorated with red, white and blue of course!

Pretty proud of our finished product!

Em also handled the french braiding!

And of course, a fire complete with smores to end the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to get Hailey to bed at a decent time, but it's so hard to leave a fire!  The next morning we were packing up the boat to head out for a few days.  Randy sat in his chair to take a break and Hailey just crawled right up there on his lap with Max and I turned around and all 3 were sleeping!

She slept for 2 hours, so I'm guessing I didn't get her to bed early enough :-o

An evening with Simon

Last week I got a call that Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul were in town and they wanted me to come hang out with them Wednesday evening!!  (OK the call was from my friend Beth and she's the one who wanted to hang out, but Simon and Paula were there!!)

We went to a live taping of the X-Factor which will be airing this fall.

Waiting with the crowds to get in Me, Marla, Rick & Beth

The Stage

The Judges Chairs

 

Nicole ? - she was a Pussycat Doll

Paula Abdul - talk about tiny!!  WOW

Mr. Simon Cowell - enough said

 It was a long but fun night.  After every contestant, hair and makeup would come out and touch up the judges.  I told Marla I could look that good if someone touched me up every 5 minutes!! ;)

Fun night with great friends!

Photo Challenge Days 25-27

Day 25 ..................Citrus
As I was making dinner with friends on Saturday evening I declared that I had no citrus in the house to take a picture of for this assignment.  Then BFF Kathi said..."yes you do - right there"..............

Gotta love me a fresh made from scratch margarita!

............Oh ya, a lime IS a citrus !! ;)

Day 26...........favorite color......................easy smeasy!!
RED, RED, RED!!

My new summer purse!!

The plate my daughter made for me for Mother's Day!

Day 27...........my weakness........................

Hello............should I have my weakness in my house, available to tempt me?!?!

Yep, that's sugar!!  I pretty much love anything sweet! I know a lot of ladies love chocolate, and I do enjoy chocolate, but my biggest weakness is anything CARAMEL!!!  There aren't any in my house right now as I am trying to reduce the spare tire around my waist! 

A fabulous weekend we had! McKays were here from Idaho and the girls spent Saturday in Fairhaven.  We had lunch at the Creperie - a new favorite!  AWESOME food!  You really MUST try it!

 Then we browsed and browsed, and ended up at a cool place called Drizzle. They sell Balsamic Vinegars and Oils!  So many to choose from!  A fun place to visit!

 You know me (remember the aforementioned sugar?), we went to Katie's Cupcakes and picked up dessert for dinner that night.  And of course,  I had to sample one!!

 On Sunday we visited Eliza Island..............

Now alas, tomorrow - back to reality.  Actually, since I'm heading off to do laundry and I just got done doing dinner dishes - reality is already back!

Day 23

........black & white.

Remember that camera I almost left on the beach?  Well today I learned something new with it (which I'm pretty sure was the idea of this 30 day Photo Fun Challenge - you think?).

The animals in this household are black & white................

Sidenote: you can tell Max was really thrilled about the photo session.


My 40th birthday present is black and white................

(yes, I know this present is a few years old - thanks for not mentioning that!)

But I did figure out that not only does my camera shoot black and white,

it also shoots black and white AND keeps one color - THIS WAS NEW!!

Yes , this was the point!  I am so thrilled to have learn this, so expect to see lots of pictures taken in this mode on the blog in days to come!!  Yeah!!