Weekend in Review

This last weekend was the Father/Son's camp out in which Blake has been counting down the days for over a month now. Despite the rain and cold, both Clint and Blake had a wonderful time. Clint even tried his hand at dutch oven cooking for the first time and made a yummy ham and potato dish. While the boys were out playing, myself and the girls had a nice evening as well. We rented "The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" (Macy's choice), ate pizza and painted our toenails. After the movie we sat around talking and the girls asked questions about when they were babies. They love to hear stories of when they were little. It was a relaxing evening and I loved having a night in with my girls.
Saturday, Abby had her first dance recital. She loved performing and getting all dressed up in her costume. Her good friends, Lincoln and Avery, came to cheer her on and Abby loved that! Watching her dance reminded me of when I would perform in the Nutcracker every year. We love you Abby!

16 Candles x Two

It's my birthday today and I am one year older and hopefully one year wiser too. I have always felt that birthdays kind of lose their magic as you get older. You know as kids, there is this special feeling associated with your birthday and the whole day just feels like Christmas morning, but as you get older the magic fades a bit with each passing year. Well, this year has been different. I have been so blessed with wonderful friends who have really made this birthday one to remember.

Makeovers at Nordstroms, dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, treats and cards dropped off at my house, birthday dinner brought 'over and one on the way for tomorrow night, a yummy birthday cake, and just very kind thoughts extended towards me. This really has been a special day, and I have truly felt loved. Thank you!

Mother's Day

I hope all of the wonderful ladies out there had a fabulous Mother's Day. Mine started out with Clint filling his quota on cooking once a year, breakfast on Mother's Day. It was yummy and even better that I didn't have to make it.

The kids all had handmade gifts for me, which they were all really proud of. Especially Blake. He made a sunhat complete with flowers, and he was just thrilled to hand it over to me. I had told Clint earlier that all I wanted for Mother's Day was for him to clean my van. It was in need of some desperate help. At times I feel I live in that van and it looked like it too. I think Clint told me he found 15 socks hidden around the seats. I told you it needed a good cleaning!

I am so lucky to be surrounded my a loving mother and wonderful mother-in-law. I love you both and am so grateful for the examples you are to me.

I love being a mother. I love the hugs and sweet kisses my kids give me. I love their excitement in life and their pure joy in the little things. I had to add the picture at the top. It is of Blake as a baby and it reminds me of the greatest things in life!

Check

I can check one more thing off my list of "Things I Have Never Done." Try sushi. Yes, that is correct. I did it, I tried sushi and can I just say it is not something I would ever purposely order from a menu, but it also wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Some friends of ours invited us to to dinner and the restaurant of choice was a Japanese Sushi Bar, Koi. So glad they introduced us to such unique food, in my opinion. And lucky for me, tucked in the very corner of the menu I saw they offered rice bowls. My dinner was delicious!

Thanks Russ and Dulcie for some Japanese culture. We had a great time.