I love my girl friends!

Last night my friend Kathi took me out to get a pedicure with another friend Merrilee. Then we grabbed one more friend, Marianne, and headed to Joe's Farm Grill for dinner. I had been told that these sweet ladies whom I serve with in church just wanted to take me out for a little celebration. Originally I had told Kathi that I would like my other girlfriends to join us for dinner, so we could all celebrate dinner together. Strangely enough though, none of my friends seemed to be available that night. Earlier in the day I had told Kathi that I wasn't sure about the restaurant choice, and maybe we should go somewhere else. She seemed pretty cool with it. But I decided to take a look at their menu online and spotted several things that sounded really good, so I let her know, that would be fine. As we walked up to the restaurant there was a large party seated outside off to the right that was getting really loud. I looked over to see what all the fuss was about to see a bunch of my wonderful girlfriends sitting there shouting to surprise me. it was such a great surprise and completely unexpected. Being the big baby that I am I teared up immediately. I had such a great night spending time with some of my favorite people and I even received my first pair of TOMS. It was definitely a fabulous way to end my twenties!

My point and shoot camera sucks and the misters at the restaurant didn't help, so please excuse the terrible photos. and I don't really have an excuse for my face, but please excuse that too.

GNO April 2011

Had our monthly girl's night on Thursday. Sushi and a movie. It was so great. Better turnout than usual (12 people at dinner, 6 stayed for a movie). We took our time at dinner and had some really tasty stuff. I tried baked mussels. I didn't hate them but the texture was weird. Four Seasons had an Ace Roll as a special and it was probably the tastiest sushi I have tried thus far. All the rolls were good and the fried rice looked great too.

 Lauren, Abbie, Mel, Karen

 Me, Karen (my sister), Amber (will be my SIL next month), Lauren (my SIL)

 Abbie, Mel, Katie, Kim, Me, Cassi, Kristen, Janay, Stephanie

After dinner we ran to QT to grab some soda and snacks, then we went to see The Source Code, which was good entertainment. I'm no movie critic, but I enjoyed it. And after that, 5 of us hung out in Cassi's car chatting for another hour or so. I loved the whole night!

March 2011 Girls Night

Last night 5 of us met up at Tia Rosa's for dinner. My shrimp quesadilla was quite tasty as was my mango lemonade. Afterward we grabbed some Coldstone ice cream and went back to my house. I spent most of the evening laughing with my girls. I don't know what I would do without girls night. At one point we were all laughing so hard (courtesy of Kristen) I could barely breathe and Abbie was laugh-crying so hard! I am always looking forward to my next girl's night :)

Hummus baby

 BFF's. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have survived this long without Kathi living just around the corner!

 Thoughtful Abbie, Sassy Mel, Animated Pregnant Jill

 Hey look Janay came too.

 The always beautiful Kim, Abbie sporting her newly darkened hair, Mel wearing that shirt again :)

Last night was a lovely girl's night at Pita Jungle. My portabello pita pizza was delightful. and the company wasn't bad either! I always look forward to a night with my girlfriends, eating, talking, laughing. It's cheap therapy for me. We finished up and then grabbed some frozen yogurt to extend the night out a bit. Then Abbie hooked me up with some new earrings from the Goodie Jar shop and we sat in my car and talked until midnight. See you girls in another month, can't wait!

More girl time!

Sisters! Emily, Sarah, Karen

My big sister Emily got to come down from Utah for the weekend. She was mainly here to spend quality time with my sister Sarah. Sarah is currently undergoing radiation treatments for her brain tumor. Friday night we were able to all get together (sisters Sarah, Emily, Robin, and Karen) along with Sarah's friend Melissa and her daughter Morgan and my two little girls. Charlotte was so excited to go on a "girl's night" with me :)
This is Sarah in her "Hannibal Lector" radiation mask. I have yet to see it in person.

Then Saturday evening we were able to have Emily and Sarah and her boys over for a tasty grilled dinner and the kids all swam.

Sunday we spent more time with the family at my parents house. It was lovely. I stole some pictures from Emily's blog. I'm sure she won't mind. :)

Fun Fun Fun

Wednesday my niece Moqui spent the day with us. She is just 2 weeks older than Charlotte and they were adorable together. They were playing house most of the day and found singing several times. They even braved the pool, though the water wasn't warm enough for me to venture in.

Thursday morning Charlotte was screened for a preschool that works with kids that have certain developmental delays. We (I) was worried that Charlotte wasn't where she needed to be. She can be hard for strangers to understand at times and has trouble with certain letters (F mainly). They told me that she was quite articulate for a four year old and doesn't need speech therapy. I was happy to hear it. We ran to the grocery store on our way home where she took this photo of herself. Then she spent most of the afternoon with Grandma and her cousin Ashlyn for a "princess party". She was so exhausted she was out cold before dinner!

Then when Trent walkied in the door it was time for my girl's night for this month! Boy was I ready. Henry and Paisley haven't been feeling 100% well and there had been a fair amount of crying, and fits and not sleeping well. I had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with Abbie, Mel, Kristen, Diane and Marie. I had such a great time. All fun girls who are so easy to talk too and funny and beautiful! After dinner we walked over to AJ's fine foods where we picked up desserts. We headed back to my house where we met up with two more friends, Kim and Janae. And then we did what women do best. Talked and talked and laughed and talked. I didn't get to bed til almost 2 am! Now I could use a nap.

Hallelujah!

I found my camera. Yes! It was in the back seat of the car sorta hidden. Anyway, now you can see pics of all the going-ons.
Charlotte, Abbie, Mel, Kim, moi, and CassiGirl's night at Liberty Market. Fun girls and delicious food! Not all the girls knew eachother, but it was still a blast. Only 4 of us hung out after dinner, but it was so fun talking we ended up standing around gabbing until 11pm in the parking lot of Barnes and Noble! You probably won't be surprised when I tell you that I lost my headband that night. It was the first time I wore it, so I was pretty bummed. I think my brain is malfunctioning lately!

Our church had a breakfast and Easter egg hunt the week before Easter which was great! Candy!Friends.Rainbow face.Angel face.Last Sunday we hung out with the B* family. Nana making Charlotte laugh. Charlotte has to be within arms reach of Nana the whole time we are there.Sarah and Henry are always so cute together.

Brother Mark and sister Karen looking foxy.

I'll have to post this weekends adventures tomorrow.

Girls!

I love my girlfriends. And I am always looking for new ones to collect. A couple Fridays ago when Trent was on one of his many scout campouts, my little brother Mark was kind enough to come watch the kiddos so I could go on a "date" with Mel. I am so glad that Mel bought a house close to ours. I usually get to see her once a week. Yay. We went to The Cheesecake Factory, ran in the mall for a few minutes, grabbed Star Trek from Red Box, came home to relieve Marky and snuggled in my bed with our movie and take out cheescake. Glorious.We thought a view up our nostrils would be nice.

Can't wait for more girl time tonight. Girl's night hopefully every month and tonight we eat! We always eat!

Pics and recaps

These are the pavers I was telling you about. Trent did a lot of prep work for these babies. Making sure they would drain water away from the house, taking out tons of dirt and layering back up with ABC and sand. Then he did all the cutting and laying. He is a jack of all trades and I love all he does for our home! Now for grass!! Can't wait.

Yesterday Charlotte's preschool went to "tour" Krispy Kreme. The tour was lame, but the doughnuts were tasty.
The cutest kids ever.

They did not want to wear the hats, but a good mother always makes kids do stuff they don't want to if it makes a cute picture, right?

Bunko girls.

I am not an official member of the group anymore, but I went to the hair accessory making "Bunko" night last week and had a blast. This is Kristen. I love her. And my face is fat.

Donna busy crafting and Katie growling in background!

Charlotte, Kristen, and Desiree. Super cuties.