Lauren turns 4!

Lauren turned 4 on the 2nd and to celebrate we had a party in the North Gym at the YMCA.

Lots of her (and mine) friends were able to make it. At first I thought that only my Mom would be able to attend out of my family, but due to many changes of circumstance, they were all there, Mom, Dad, Marleen, Noah, Aria and Jennifer. Even Jen's bo Cameron made a cameo at the end. BTW-thanks to all that helped (including Angel our host) set up and clean up in a whirl-wind of organized chaos, you made this party a success!

During the party, Lauren hoped around until she was red in the face.

The kids were having a ball allowing parents to have some great social time.

All the kids (and adults too, common, admit it!) love this big trampoline built into the floor.

This is the castle cake I made her.
She asked for it while in the store (saw the kit while shopping) and I thought 'why not, can't be too hard right'. Wow. What a learning experience I tell you. The whole thing was uncharted territory for me. Never made a lemon pound cake with jam&jello filling, made/used fondant, decorated plastic, put glitter on anything edible, decorated sprinkles or made a 2-tier cake. Lots of fun, everyone loved the taste and look and if that wasn't enough, the 8 hours of making was totally worth it when Lauren said on the way home..."Mommy, I loved my cake, thank you, you're the best mommy" Awww!!!

During present time, Lauren gave some of her friends hugs and others thanks. It was funny how near the end only the girls remained to watch her open presents while the boys went to play legos and more manly toys!

A great birthday and Lauren was thrilled!

Fabulous Photo Shoot

A few moms in my group were doing a fundraiser for Relay for Life. As part of it, Lauren participated in a photoshoot at Point Defiance park with photographer Susanne. It took a while for Lauren to warm up, but she started to have fun after I took some pics with her. Below are some of my favorite shots from this shoot. Thanks a million Susanne!

Tea Time

In May my sister's Marleen, Jennifer and our Mom Mary went to tea in celebration of Marleen's 39th birthday on the 20th and Jennifer's 30th on the 27th.

The place we went to was called the Secret Garden Tea and Gift Shop located in Sumner.

I still had to get them their own bouquet of balloons though! Marleen loved her original Harry Potter one.

Jen got the same card from Mom and I. Oh well, it was so funny and true, all about the changes that happen when you turn 30. So until next May, the three sister's will all be 30-somethings.

Not only very quaint but most excellent tea and food! We had a great time chatting it up girl style and finished off with these wonderful desert assortments.

Here is Marleen with a chocolate moose in a chocolate cup!

And here is Jen who got the LAST apple dumpling, the put in the sparkler and we all sang. Got to get a bit embarrassed when you turn the big 3-0!

Wished my other May sister was there, but what a fun celebration, we just might make this an annual thing.

Stylish Sleeper

Yes, Lauren was actually fast asleep in this position.

Half Blood Prince Opening Night

So being the HP nerd I am I wanted to go the the midnight premier on July 14-15th.

Riley wore his Hufflepuff costume that I got together for him last Halloween. It definitely was the best costume there, people were stopping to take pictures with him! He really loved seeing the movie and of course the adults were much more tired than him.

The two of us waiting in line. Yep, that's a Hogwarts jacket!

My friend Betsy was able to join us and the 3 hours in line seemed short and were well worth the front row, almost center seats! We were about the 20th or so and even got theatre #1, my favorite!

7 months from Boy Scouts

Riley's Den, Webelos Den Ravens bridged from Webelos 1 to Webelos 2. Though no change in
uniform, this means they are only 7 months away from saying bye-bye to Cub Scouts and crossing
over to Boy Scouts!

Our Den conducted the flag ceremony.


I ADORE their Den Leader, Mike McGee, he is so creative and a great example for the boys. He even thought ahead about bringing an activity for the Den, this croquet set along with instructions on how NOT to get injured.


Here the boys are receiving their segments for the outings they attended as well as any activity pins. Most of them also got their compass point emblem. Thanks Den Leader Mike and Assistant Den Leader Tracey for all your hard work!


Riley showing his awards with pride. That's quite a lot at once!

Those Crazy Curtis 95ers

I recently had a night out (call it a mini-reunion) with some of my old pals that graduated with me at Curtis in 1995.

We started out at Brewery City Pizza in Olympia. In University Place, Brewery City was a hangout mecca, and though we were at a different locale, that yummy pizza flavor brought back memories, it's been about 10 years.


Next we went bowling. It was great to hang out with some of the old gang. From L to R, Dave, Amy, K.C., Kim and Angie. It was especially great to see Dave and Amy, whom I haven't seen at least for 4 years. I got back to at the 7th grade with these guys and Angie/Amy and I were in Girl Scouts together.




K.C. is the admittedly crazy one (but so sweet), he's now a Principle in Alaska if you can believe that! It's so funny to look back, he was my first crush and the first boy I've ever danced with at one of those dramatic 7th grade dances.




You would think we were pros at the picture taking thing! Though Angie is a professional photographer living the closet to me in Lakewood with husband Steve.




My poor Brian was quite a trooper to go along with us, but he really did enjoy this night out! So here is the guy picture. Was Dave licking K.C.s ear? Okay, this was after a few beers. Dave moved to Roy, is married with a 2-year old son. He's come out of his shell so much!




Now it's the gals turn! It was great to talk to Amy who lives in Olympia with her hubby of like 13 years, Ross and two kids Alexis and Gunnar.




I missed this lady! Here is Kim with her traditional boozin' it posse. This is an inside joke as she has never had a drop of alcohol in her life. Really she doesn't need any, the girl oozes sunshine! She is still in Utah with hubby Matt and three kids but really misses WA and wants to move back.




Thank you CHS 95 gang for a great night, I hope it's not too long until the next one!!!

Cubs @ the Capitol

Cub Scout Pack 42 visited the Washington State Capitol and Museum a few weeks ago.I was surprised when this Saturday turned out to be the BEST day to visit, EVER!


It started with all the kids at the Museum, which is actually located a few blocks away from the Capitol Building. Here the boys are listening to the speech about PNW native Americans in a replicated, but authentic, native house.They learned the different ways to cook fish, how they slept in one room, and the differences between plain and forest indians.

Here Riley is playing the drum, we got to play with some fun artifacts including baskets, food tools and oars.

Give Riley a question and he's fixated until he knows the correct answer. Are those dried salmon real or artificial? Answer: both!

Love this saying, so true.

Riley with the statue that is supposed to have powers, don't get too close!

After the Pack toured the museum, they were kind enough to let up use nice spare room to each our sack lunches. After this some decided to go home, but a couple of us wanted to stick around a tour the actual Capitol building.

There are 4 reasons why Saturdays in late April ROCK for visiting.

#1. FREE parking, like close!

We parked 50 feet from this statue, it's a World War memorial.

Side track, this tree across the street is wicked awesome.

#2. No tourist crowds! Had to wait 10 seconds before it was clear enough to take Riley's picture on the front steps, he was amazed with all these steps.

Another detour, the chandelier is gorgeous, the gold accents on white marble is amazing.

#3. You actually see laws being made! Both the Senate and the House were in session, and we saw everything! I always thought that all the action happens during the weekdays, but wrong.

The Senate was discussing measure 1782, concerning parent participation in dependency matters. and 1619 concerning the use of capital projects funds by school districts. How cool is that?!

This other picture is of the House, I was explaining the difference to Riley but he already knew most of it.

Nick Reese and his son Andrew are another parent/scout pair from our group who sat with us during the Senate and were surprised to see later across from us in the House. After this, we met up, went back down stairs, and chatted a bit with the State Troopers before browsing the governor's office. Which leads me to...

#4. We met the Governor! Riley, I and the Reese's we went to the Governor's office just to have a peek, and there behind the desks was her and her aids. She smiled, welcomed us, ask the kids their names and what they saw. She was so nice and now the two of them have total bragging rights. Wish I took a pic, but thought it would be weird as she was 15 feet away.