Day 1- The Spring Break Chronicles

Phoebe turns nine!

 

 

How blessed am I to live in Arizona where November affords such amazing race weather?! This month held 'firsts' for all of us; Casey's first 'Platinum' recognitions in 2 cycling events, the Tour de Safford and the Tour de Tucson, Cade and Phoebe's first 5k, and my first half-marathon.

 

Our Halloween

Since Halloween was on a Sunday, this year, our family decided that keeping the Sabbath day holy meant staying at home and handing out candy. So, Trunk or Treat became our big dress-up day. As always, Alice, the red and white queens, and our resident zombie had a blast cake-walking, cornbread and chili-eating, and trunk-or-treating.

*On a side note, Casey got platinum at the Tour de Safford that morning:)

Treats for a 'Fall" bridal shower

My sister's wedding was beautiful.
Strung lights, burlap table runners, antique vases, jars that glowed with candle lights, and...
fall flowers.
So there was the inspiration for her fun bridal shower/bachelorette party that I hosted at Kona Grill.
But rather than go pretty, like the wedding,
I decided to go completely literal...Halloween and all.
So I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, (Kristi and Lindsey made the cutest toppers for them) and carameled apples with toffee chips, M&M's and chocolate drizzles.
And, just for fun, all of the girls wore masquerade masks.

Lucky me for being able to share these moments with my PERFECT sister. Love ya, Sar.

Goodness, gracious! Where do I start??
Here, I guess...
With my most prized possessions.

Nothing makes me happier than the fruits of the work that goes in to preparing for and sitting for family pictures.

 

Before and After

DON"T TELL HIM I DID THIS!!!

But I just had to say...

Biking- it does a body good. (And makes a wife happy;)

Blueberry Crumb Cake!

Ok...I know that i seem to always be tooting Martha's horn, but this recipe really takes the 'cake'.

I made it for a luncheon with friends a couple of weeks ago and we all loved it, especially the kids.

And it is sooo much better than plain ole' blueberry muffins.(Just ignore how much butter you put in;))

Or better yet, eat all you want and then sign up for my bootcamp!

Summertime in Carlsbad

75 degrees +7 cousins +3 live snails (2 dead) +16 shiny balls on a table +3 hand held game systems +

162 stairs to the sand +5 minutes to Legoland +3 sexy men with biking tans +3 empty bottles of sunscreen +

1 of the biggest pizzas I've ever seen +1 'dirty' board game +12 magazines +10 lbs of sand in swimsuits =

 

See ya next year, Carlsbad.

My Little Fishy

This speedy little girl just swam her last swim meet of the summer and she was awesome.
Last night, Phoebe was chosen to swim in both the freestyle and medley relays in the city-wide rely meet. Her freestyle and backstroke relays had previously taken first place, so we had high hopes for this meet. Her first event was the freestyle relay and she was swimming third. Her teammates started off in high gear and had a big lead when it was Phoebe's turn. And she held the lead. They came in first by a big margin. Yay, Phoebe!!
Next, she was starting off the medley relay with the backstroke and wouldn't you know it, she hit the wall first! It all came down to their last swimmer who just lost the lead by a fraction of a second. They got second place...not too shabby. Again, YAY Phoebe!!
I love watching this sweet girl succeed.