The Big Three-Oh

Nathan turned 30 last week. He didn't want me to throw him a party, so I didn't. We did have some nice dinners though and he got gifts of course. It was funny but he was kind of depressed about getting older. Poor guy :)
Jaidyn made him this really cute card too that I just had to share. Isn't it sweet?
I'm so thankful for him and everything he does for our family. Love you hubby!

Addison Road

This is one of those songs that will never get old to me, its kind of out of control really, that's how good it is. Wow, have I built it up too much yet? Anyway, its called "What do I know of holy" by Addison Road. I just love this girl's voice. But the lyrics really get me. They put things in perspective about how big and amazing our God really is. Like who are we in comparison with Him? Yet He still loves us, He still allows us to have a relationship with Him. He owes us nothing, yet He gives us everything. Oh its good stuff.
Romans 11:33 says "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!"
And verse 36, "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."

Amen!

Home Away from Home

We just got back from a week at "grandma's house" as my daughter now calls it. Basically our time was spent running around outside, enjoying the perfect weather and scenery, playing with the dogs, checking out the pony, swimming at the lake, and eating lots of food of course. And Nathan was also in his friend Eric's wedding. My in-laws are awesome and we have a handful of wonderful friends to see.

Every time I go to visit, I really do feel more at home there, it's so refreshing, and Nathan and I wonder why we are still living in California? Of course there are just a few reasons we are still here, like family, friends, our church family and Nathan's work to sum it up. SoCal will always be home to me, but I often think with how short life is, why just live in the same place the whole time? Lots to think and pray about for sure... but you never know, anything can happen!

It's so hard to get a good family pic of us these days, this is as close as we came. This was at Lake Pend O'reille...the picture doesn't do it justice, its so beautiful...bluest blue sky, bright green trees and really cold water!

here was the scene at the wedding, not too shabby right?

here is Carys with Grandpa and Grandma Barbie

Riding Lily the pony, is she huge or what? (the girl, not the pony) Actually the pony was a midget.

this is what happens when I'm not looking apparently

contemplating life....

....now this is what I call a vacation!

Tee Time

I am feeling like I hit the jackpot with these new tees.

This slouchy one is from the Gap, it has cuffed sleeves with button tabs, plus this cool exposed zipper on the back. I think it's pretty much the perfect "I'm a stay at home mom, so I have no time, but I'm still putting in effort and not wearing sweats"effortlessly cool look. Plus Gap is having a sale right now, 2 for 1. I got a black and a tan. Sweeeet!

I love you J Crew, I really do. Let's be friends forever. This one looks so comfy but its got some sass.

I Bake, I'm Baking!

Lately I am trying my hand at baking and I'm kind of excited about it. I was thinking of that scene in 'What About Bob?' (haven't seen it? you need to) where they go on a boat and Bill Murray is strapped to the mast and he's excited and yelling, "I sail! I'm sailing!!" That's how I feel about me baking. Now if I could just get my hands on one of those awesome Kitchen Aid stand mixers....

And look! I have a recipe and pictures to share.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips (1 package)

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and both sugars together. Then add the eggs and vanilla, beat well.
3. In smaller bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add this mixture to the butter mixture and stir until blended.
4. Stop for a moment and dream about Kitchen Aid stand mixer. (optional)
5. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips. On this step I thought 3 cups seemed like too many, so I added about 2 or 2.5.
6. Drop by teaspoonfulls on parchment paper covered cookie sheets.
7. Bake 8-10 minutes.

by the way, parchment paper kind of rules. I like to roast potatoes on it also

the final product, yay for butterscotch!

Ode to Cheeto

Celebrating

We were only able to have a smaller party for Carys' birthday, which I actually realized may be the best way to do it anyway! I was still able to decorate the way I wanted and try to bring out my inner Martha Stewart...or something like that. I decided to do a Ni-hao Kai-lan theme since I liked her colors better than Dora's :).

I'm also incredibly blessed to have close family friends that are also brilliant photographers. Thanks Andi and Ana, you guys are so very talented!

(the collage above and the next two pics are Andi's and the rest are by Ana)

this water hose was probably the kids' favorite part of the day

Fresh and Easy has peonies on sale...how serendipitous!

yeah, yeah, sing the birthday song...just gimme my cupcake already!

Grandma Sue gave her this vintage style chair with her name on it, it was a big hit.

I love how the homemade banners turned out....

I had to include a shot with the cupcakes and chocolate-dipped fortune cookies, I was especially proud of those!
I wasn't particularly proud of how the cake looked. I was going to try and do an icing version of Kai-lan's face, but who was I kidding? But I was proud of how it tasted...delicious! Thanks to Amanda's birthday cake and frosting recipe you can check out here.