A-May-Zing

We have been planning on having an Amazing Race birthday party since the uber-creative Ms. Ranelle first executed this party for her daughter 4 years ago. But I knew I only wanted to do it once so I had to wait 'til Addie was old enough to combine the girls parties. Two birds...

Thanks to Jenny Stott for coming up with the logo in less than 5 minutes, she is amazing!
Since I couldn't be in more than one place at a time, I didn't get pictures from all the tasks. So a thousand words will have to do, more or less. The first challenge was sucking jello through a straw, the girls were so sick of jello by the end. The hair extension head bands were how we told the teams apart, totally unrelated to the show but that is what Dollartree had.
After jello they ran across the street to play play-doh charades, then off to my friends house to play jelly bean-boozled. They spun a wheel, landed on a color and had to eat that color jelly bean, the twist being that each color had one normal and one gross flavor that looked exactly alike: green could either be booger or pear, brown - chocolate pudding or dog food.

Next they were off to the park for Hoop Dreams where they either had to hula hoop for 30 seconds or make 3 baskets - a task that proved easy for 3 out of 4 teams.
They stayed at the park and had to find a buried puzzle and put it together with the help of their drivers who were a big help - big thanks to Uncle Bryce!

Their last challenge was to go to Target, find our babysitter Brianna, get the clue that said to find a certain color nail polish, return it to Bri, and then run to the yogurt shop. Uncle Bryce's team didn't read their clue and were the first to show up at the finish line. When they went back to Target they got the brunt of the first 3 teams running through the store and were escorted out by the manager. Oops.
Elli's team came in first, Addie came in third, and everyone had a great time! They got to serve themselves yogurt and open presents. Everything was perfect until we realized 2 days later we forgot to sing to them.


This party involved as many adults as kids so a big thanks to all who helped, so glad Grammi and Grandma could be here for this big day!

12 Years Baby!

Jason and I got away last weekend to celebrate 12 years of bliss!?! We went all the way to...L.A. We stayed at The Standard which is an ultra cool modern boutique hotel. The only problem was Jason and I are no longer ultra cool and modern, not really sure if we ever were. So it left us staring a lot. Every night they have a lounge crowd in the lobby and then after a few drinks everyone makes their way up to the rooftop where there is music, a pool, and a movie projected on the building next door. We went up to the rooftop for a total of 90 seconds before I was ready to call it a night. Every party has a pooper - I know. Here is our room, notice the shower in the middle of the room with the mirror straight in front with shower curtains that don't cover the mirror view from the shower - won't be staying here for a girls weekend away!

We checked off many "things to do in L.A." boxes the first day with walking around the flower mart, the fashion district, eating at The Pantry, taking a tour of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and visiting the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels. (They really need to work on their P.R./marketing - no one with tags and long skirts or ties came up to welcome us or offer us a free bible???)


Jason is on a very important phone call with 1992 - they say they want their phone back.

(Really those are the self-guided tour instruments.)
Then we were off to the Bradbury Building, an architectural landmark used in many movies, tv shows, and music videos.

Here am I at the World International Market.

The next day we visited The Getty museum and realized we aren't really museum people. What did make an impact on me was when I gave up my seat on the tram for a 3 year old named Gabe whose mom prompted him to tell me all the artists whose works he wanted to see, then when the man standing next to me started taking pictures of his girlfriend sitting next to Gabe, Gabe piped up and told him to take his picture and didn't let up until he took it - and then kept making new faces and insisting the guy keep taking his picture and Gabe's mom thought he was so funny even though the rest of us couldn't wait to got off the tram. But I did learn from her that saying cheese is not the right way to pose for a picture, and she knows because she is a professional photographer. Sorry lady, we don't find Gabe's pretentiousness and sense of entitlement as enduring as you do.
We had a great time exploring L.A. Live and all that is around it and celebrating us!

Hey Soul Sister

First dinner out was at a mexican restaurant where Andra and Cami got ID'd at the bar ordering virgin drinks. It made Andra's night! While feasting on fresh guacamole waiting for our entrees we were treating to a musical feast of sorts about a man and a woman making guacamole all night long. The lyrics that stood out in my mind for far too long were "she reached for my pepper, I grabbed her tomatoes". I thought it was so clever, a song and a recipe in one!

Getting ready to get our tan on. Don't worry, I wore sunscreen. But even with SPF 4 applied liberally to my legs I still burned.

Girls ready for a night on the town, we needed to unwind from a day of shopping.

I am not really trying to pose, I just wanted to make sure my rad ring showed in the picture.

We had to stop and pose since we are almost official. (Except Andra, she really is of age, I looked it up on urban dictionary.) Who are the women who go to a bar named Cougars? And who are the guys? What the what?!?
I love sisters weekend, I highly recommend it to all. Next year we are looking forward to Katie joining out mix.

Hey Sister, Go Sister, Soul Sister - Part 1

It's that time of year again when we tearfully say goodbye to our children and husbands, or in Cami's case - her Tivo?? and celebrate our sisterly love. This year we ventured to my back yard and started our getaway at Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa.

Allison wasn't comfortable totally leaving behind her baby and stroller so she insisted on rolling her suitcase hearing the "clink clink" sound to calm her nerves.

Don't pay attention to the big mound of mud that we rubbed all over to keep from getting frostbite, notice the floating man's head in the back - what the what?!?

My mom always told me my room was a pigsty growing up, so rolling around in mud felt like home.