Happy Birthday, Birthday Boy...

What a fun Birthday!!! Jim's Dad (I call him Sr.) turned the big 6-0 on Saturday and we had such a great time. For his birthday dinner I planned a dinner menu with Santa Fe tri tip, homemade twice baked potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, and a cesar salad. It was the first time I made the twice baked potatoes and to my surprise, they were a hit. Everyone loved them. After dinner we played Mexican Train Dominos and had birthday cake. Jim's Mom makes a very yummy Chocolate Peanut Butter cake and the grandkids decorated it. The guys played poker, the kids continued to play Mexican train while I watched Dirty Dancing... Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner. {{wink}} ;)

Pirate Adventure...

Jim and I went out with our friends, Rick & Monica and their son Richard, to see the Pirate Adventure Show. It is in Buena Park and from what people say, its like Mideval Times but with Priates. I was not so sure that this was going to be fun since I have never been to Mideval Times. But let me tell you... It was a BLAST!!!

We had the Orange Pirate. After the show our Pirate hung around so we took pictures with him. If you have never been, when you purchase your tickets they divide you into groups and you will have a color. You then will sit in that colored area and cheer for your pirate who is wearing your color. As a side note: the Blue Pirate was hotter so I did have to cheer for him a few times. hehehe.... that's ok. Jim didnt mind.

The Show was very entertaining and there was a lot of acrobatic and a lot of audience participation. At one point they had brought up a couple onto the ship and the Captain was interacting with them. The Captain asked the audience what we should do with the "intruders" and decided the couple should walk the plank. The Capatin asked the gentlemen if he had any last words and he shook his head yes. The Captain gave him a microphone then the gentleman got down on one knee and asked his girlfriend to marry him. In front of all of us. It was so cute! Monica and I got teary eyed and Jim and Rick looked at each other, tipped their glasses and drank their beers. Oh those boys... lol. Oh and by the way, She said Yes.

For Dinner, we had the options of Chicken and Steak or Chicken and Shrimp Scampi. I, of course, chose the Chicken and Shrimp. We also were able to choose unlimited non-alcoholic drinks or 2 glasses of beer. We chose the beer. Our server was awesome and kept refilling the our glasses because "he didnt want the pitchers of beer to go to waste." I was driving so Jim was drinking mine and his. We had a great time.

Girl's Day Out

Sunday was a fun "Girl's Day Out" for Stephanie and me. The most important thing on our list was to go see Stephanie's wedding dress. Before we did that, Ryan took Stephanie and I out to eat then we dropped him off before we went to see the dress. Stephanie's right, it is a beautiful wedding dress and the pictures do not do the dress justice. Stephanie glows when she puts it on. I watched her as she stare in the mirror at herself in a white dress. It's crazy to think my little cousin is getting married. Of course, I cant post any picture of her in her dress because Ryan is very noisy and will probably check on here to see what picture I put up. {{wink}} caught ya Ryan!

While Steph and I were waiting, we went through the bridemaid's dresses. The pink dress is the style that we like so far and the green is the color Stephanie thinks she wants to go with. We will get the Bridesmaids together soon to go look at styles together.

After dress shopping, we went back to the house to look at ceremony sites, reception site, invitations, colors, photographers, wedding ideas, florists, cakes... and so on and so on. Ryan was with us while we were looking at everything and to my surprise, he is very interested in all the idea and would like to be a part of all the decisions. I know, that's not like most Grooms but it was very cute to see how excited he is as well.

Justin & Jenny's Wedding

As many of you know, Jim and I went to Vegas this past weekend for my friends wedding. Justin's and I have know each other since my Sophmore year in high school so needless to say we have seen each others good sides and bad sides. This weekend I saw one of Justin's best side... Justin, in love. Now Jenny (the Bride) and I have never met but both of us had heard so much about the other and we couldnt wait to meet each other. After meeting her, I see why he feel in love with her. She is beautiful, smart, confident, outgoing and most of all she loves Justin. It was great to see how in love they were. I love going to weddings because it reminds you of why you got married. How in love you were and how much you have gone through together to get where you are today. While Jim and I were waiting for the ceremony to start, there was music playing in the back ground and Jim and my wedding song came on. It was a very sweet reminder of our wedding day.
I am so happy for Justin and Jenny and I cant wait to watch their marriage grow.

The After Party...

After the Wedding and wedding lunch we all met at the Golden Nugget for the After Party. We went to a club on the second floor of the Golden Nugget called the Gold Digger. We had a blast and it was so much fun. Enjoy the pics!!!

Disneyland

It was another happy day at the Happiest Place on Earth... Disneyland. Since Jim and I have annual passes we had planned to go to Disneyland with Danny and Holly. We also decided it would be fun to take Gwen and Chris. Katie, Jarrod and Madison were there too so we spent the day together.

Chris and Gwen wanted to go to Brother Bear which is an area that has slides, tire swings, bridges, and netting that you can run accross. Chris some how convinced Danny to run up and down the nets and bridges with him and Danny accepted the challenge. Little did Danny know, this net and bridge course goes up about 4 stories high. So... here is how it went...

Danny and Chris...

Ready, Set, Go!!!

and Chris is off...

Danny is right behind him...

Chris zooms through the moving logs while Danny struggles through...

And Chris is the WINNER!!! wooo hoo!!!

and Danny lays there dying... lol.

Mean while, Jim, Holly, Gwen and I had a good laugh when Chris wanted to do it all over again. Good try Danny!

Meteor Shower

If you didn't know, there is currently a meteor shower going on and this past Tuesday and Wednesday were the best days to see it according to my weather man, Jim. I was told that the best time to see the shower was from 10pm to 5am. So, Danny, Jim and I sat out in the backyard on Wednesday evening and hung out. At about 9:45, I saw the first meteor (I say shooting star) fly across the sky. Danny had already gone inside and Jim missed it. Jim then saw the second one but I missed it. The second "shooting star" that I saw was later in the evening, right before I went to bed. Jim had already gone to bed and Danny was going to wait until midnight to go look at them. It was so cool to see.

The reason I thought I would write a blog about the meteor shower is actually because of my 6 yr old nephew, Chris. We went over to visit them earlier in the evening and Chris was so excited to stay up to watch the meteor shower. He had his flash light ready and he waited...and waited.. and waited. About 9:30pm Jim got a call from Chris and he asked his Uncle Meme (jim) the cutest question that still makes me laugh. "Uncle Meme?", "Do meteors make noise?" I thought is was so adorable and with a smile on Jim's face he told Chris that "No, you will not hear the meteors make noise." Then about 9:55 he called again to let us know that him and Gwen saw "IT!" He was soooo excited! A little while later we got another call from Chris. Chris had just seen a scorpian in the back yard and he was not going to stay out there any more to watch the meteor shower. hahahaha.. Chris is so funny but I dont blame.

Dressing Cinderella...

All she needed was her glass slippers....


Yesterday, Aunt Deb, Monica, Michelle and Brittany (Ryan's Sister) and I went with Stephanie to look at wedding dresses. It was a lot of fun and Stephanie looked beautiful in all the dresses she tried on. There was one moment were I did get a little teary eyed but shhhh, we'll keep that a secret. There is definitely a 3 way tie for which dress Stephanie liked the most so I thought I would post the pictures so you can decide which dress you like the best for Stephanie.

Also, look in the background when you are looking at Dress #4. The little girl sitting in the chair Stephanie's future niece. She was so adorable and loved watching her Aunt Stephanie try on dresses. Sooo, sweet!


Dress #1:




Dress #2:




Dress #3:




Dress # 4:



Dress 5:


Dress #6:

Dinner with the Long's

On Sunday, we invited Jarrod, Katie and Madison over for dinner. I made chicken alfredo with salad and garlic bread. The garlic bread was from Costco and it was a hit. It had cooked whole garlic cloves inside the bread.
After dinner we went out in the backyard and Madison played with the dogs while we hung out. Hannah is doing a lot better with kids. She let Madison pet her and would fetch every once in a while when a toy was thrown. Lucy loved madison and kept licking her. Then Madison would go up to Lucy and give her a kiss. So cute. I also got out the bubbles and both Lucy and Madison would chase the bubbles. It was a great time, as always.

Stephanie's SURPRISE PARTY

It was a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY that Stephanie will never ever forget...

Stephanie's boyfriend Ryan and I got an idea to throw Stephanie a SURPRISE 25th Birthday Party and with the help of Aunt Deb and lots of planning, we pulled it off... You know how much I LOVE party planning.

On Saturday I picked Stephanie up from her house at about 12:00 and we went to lunch at Don Marcos which is a Mexican restaurant around the corner. We had Margaritas, chip and salsa and lunch. It was yummy,especially the Margaritas!! :) After lunch, I took Stephanie to go get manicures and pedicures at Stephanie's favorite salon. Then the Surprise began... I blind folded Stephanie when she got in the car and drove. I drove until she could not tell me which direction we were in. All she could do was laugh. She kept thinking I was driving super fast and I kept assuring her that I was only going 70 on the freeway. So, we arrived at the party and I got her out of the car. Ryan was standing in front of her and told her to remove the blindfold. She did and 60 people yelled "SURPRISE!!!" It was awesome. She was so shocked. The evening went on and once the sunset was behind the tree line, Ryan played a video that he had made Stephanie. It had it all planned out. He had the screen and projector all set up. It was the sweetest thing ever. The video started from when she was born, growing up and then when they met. The video paused for a second and then these words came up on the screen, "Stephanie, I have one more question. Please stand up and turn around." Stephanie did and Ryan dropped to one knee and proposed to her. It was perfect! Not a dry eye in the place. I hope you enjoy the pictures....

So no more party planning, its now time for wedding planning.