These streets will make you feel brand new.

It's that time of the year again, time for the Toyota All Star Showdown! It also means it's road trip time. Ashley flys in tonight and we are leaving in the morning.

I am so excited for this year since Jay will be racing in the Super Late Model class on Friday night, live on Speed. My friend Jeff will be racing the West race on Saturday night, also live on Speed.

Can't wait for the open road, loud music, lots of laughs, taking pictures, forgetting about everything else except for having the time of my life..again :)

Monday Funday.

On Monday, I took the kids, along with my Sister and Ava to meet up in Seattle with Shae, Cadence, her mom Pam, Her cousin Heidi and her 3 kids for a fun day. We started at the Children's Museum and the kids loved it. There were so many exhibits for them to do. I think their favorite was the painting. I loved the Grocery store and Ava loved the discovery area where she could crawl around :)

Afterwards we went out to the Fountain at the Seattle Center. The kids thought that was about the coolest thing ever and I can't wait to take them back there in the summer when they can actually run through the fountain.

We ended our day with a trip to the top of the Space Needle. Not my favorite thing as I am afraid of heights, but the kids both loved that too. When we first got to Seattle, Cooper kept talking about the "Space Noodle" and I told him after we went to the Museum, we were going to go to the top of the Space Needle..his response: Why?

Haha :) I was worried he would be scared but he wasn't at all. He thought it was so cool that we could see the helicopter on top of the Komo 4 news building. Campbell thought it was cool that she could see our car :) And she loved to keep asking me how scared I was. I did just fine except when they got too close to the railings!

All in all it was a great way to spend the day and I can't wait until our next outing :)

Taco Salad.

A famous tradition at the races, the one and only, Taco Salad recipe.

1 packet Taco Seasoning

1lb. Hamburger

1 can drained Kidney Beans

1 can sliced Olives

1 (smaller) bag Mexican Cheese

1 bag of Shreds Lettuce

1 bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, crunched up

Sauce:

1 cup Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Ketchup

1 tsp. taco Seasoning

Simply, cook hamburger.

Drain and add seasoning.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, add sauce mixture and mix completely. And there you have it! I have yet to meet a person that doesn't love this, or atleast like it :)

Making me smile.

For winter break homework, Campbell had to keep a journal of the things that she did each day. I looked through her journal one morning and found this. This is in her own words and I thought it was just too cute.

Ava's 1st Christmas.

I can honestly say this was the best Christmas I've ever had. It wasn't because of presents, or the activities or the baking or the music, even though all of that was enjoyed too. But it was the best yet because sweet little Ava was here to enjoy it with. She is the greatest blessing.

Holiday Baking: Round 2.

My Sister and I had another day of baking last week and bake we did...for over 12 hours! We made several different things including: Jam thumbprints, Reindeer Chow, Pecan tassies, Peanut butter kisses, Ritz dipped crackers, No bake's and Roly Poly's.
We packaged up several tins and gave them away to family and friends. Ava mostly played around all day but she wanted to be in on the action too so she observed a lot. Next year she will be able to "help" much more :)

Christmas Party.

Friday night was the 4th Annual Barkshire Christmas Party and this year I got to bring Ava along. There are always several children with Jeff's Sister Carrie's 2 girls, Shelby's Sister Rachel's 2 girls and Shelby's friend Sarah's little boy. It was fun to watch all the kids, especially Ashley and Ava crawling around. The big joke was that the entertainment would be baby races :) It was a fun night as usual!

Holiday Baking: Round 1.

Every year my friends Jeff & Shelby have a Christmas party for their families and friends. I always go down and help Shelby do some baking for the party and yesterday was our big day. She started molasses cookies before I got there and then together we made the spritzers, peanut butter balls, peanut butter kisses and Ritz peanut butter sandwiches dipped in chocolate. We had our aprons on, Christmas earrings, and Josh Groban's Christmas CD blaring in the background...Jeff was not impressed :)

Barbie.

Barbie Pink World 3-Story Dream Townhouse

It is amazing to me how many Barbie's are available these days, and new ones are always coming out. Campbell is a huge Barbie fan. She has so many that I don't even know how she keeps track of them! For Christmas, Melinda wanted to get Campbell & her cousin Cassie the new Barbie 3 story townhouse but as we went to Target to get one, we realized that they were a hot item and weren't so easy to get. We ended up calling all of the Toys R Us's in our area and tracked down a delivery truck and made the trip there at 7am this morning to get 2 of these. They are 3 ft tall and come with 55 pieces! The girls will be soo excited to get these, I can't wait to see their reactions.

I have already gotten Campbell the 3 following 'Barbie I can be' sets for Christmas...

Barbie I can be: Pet Vet Doctor

Barbie I can be: Gymnastics Coach Barbie

Barbie I can be: Newborn Baby Doctor

But today, I see this..Race car driver Barbie and since Campbell is my travelling racing sidekick, I just had to get it for her :)

Barbie I can be: Race car Driver

This little girl will be having a very good Christmas :)

We ♥ Santa.

I was so excited to tag along for Ava's first trip to see Santa and I thought Campbell & Cooper would love to be there too, so I brought them along. Ava was at the perfect age for Santa..she loves everyone right now so she wasn't afraid of him. She tried to give him a kiss right away and then just stared at him. He kept moving around trying to get her to look at the camera and she was just trying to follow him around. Everyone in line was laughing at her, she was being so funny!

Cooper walked right up and wasted no time telling Santa that he wanted a BIG dump truck as he showed him with his hands exactly how big he meant. It was too cute!
Campbell was shy and quiet but I think she was requesting more Barbie's..how many Barbie's can 1 girl have??

Needless to say, it was a successful trip to see the big guy and the kids can't wait until Christmas and I am just as excited for them :)

Thanksgiving Weekend.

After looking through my camera, I realized that I didn't take very many pictures on Thanksgiving weekend. That is probably because I was too busy enjoying it as it happened! Here are some of the things we did...

Cooked Thanksgiving Breakfast for the Bennett side of the family. Looked through Black Friday ads. Had Mimosa's at breakfast...and pretty much all afternoon long. Cooked a complete Thanksgiving dinner. Laughed..literally until we cried..many times. Enjoyed Dailey & Skylee. Got up at 3:45 am to go shopping on Black Friday. Between Becca, Rachel & I, we saved $400 just at Target. Took Travis & Zach to the airport. Shopped at Bellevue Square and had dinner with the Bennett/Rehaume family. Had so much fun. Went to Tri-Cities and spent the day with Karen. Lounged around and just enjoyed each others company.

I am thankful for many things in my life and my family and friends that are like family are at the top of my list!

Music.

If I could pick one talent, it would be to have the ability to sing. I've always loved music, all kinds of music. But let's face it, I was not meant to be a singer. So, I just turn up the radio real loud and just pretend that I can belt it out like Carrie Underwood can.

After watching the CMA's Wednesday night, I was reminded of how much I love country music and some of the amazing artists today.

I am currently loving these:

Lady Antebellum - Need you now

Darius Rucker - History in the making

Miranda Lambert - Makin plans

Daughtry - Tennessee line

Carrie Underwood - Cowboy Casanova

10 days, 6 states, 3,300 miles.

Ellensburg. Dailey's 3rd Birthday party. Driving. Holly & Billy. Driving. Taking pictures. Friends. Tilted Kilt. Bakersfield. Laughing. Shopping. Baby Rylee & Lyndsay. Fun. Drinks. Laughing. Outlet Mall. Loud music. Starbucks. Driving. Singing. Wind farms. In N Out. Good year, AZ. Grandpa. Tony & Helen. Driving. Laughing. Jay-Z. Carving Pumpkins. Relaxing. Scottsdale. Texting. Dinners. Taking pictures. Driving. Stevie. Hoover Dam. VEGAS. Laughing. Drinks. The Bullring. Racing. Halloween. Up until 7 am. Dancing. Laughing. Driving. Having the time of our lives.

Owl love.

Owl's are everywhere right now and much like the bird trend and the apples trend I have fallen in love with the Owl's. They are just so cute!

For my birthday, Shelby got me the book Hello, Cupcake and I saw this cute little idea and I figured Halloween would be the perfect time to make them. I think they turned out so cute!

I only used Oreo's, M&M's for the eye's and I just cut the yellow ones in half for the beak. I am not the best with the fancy frosting so instead of using different tips to create the hair, I just used a toothpick and drug it through the frosting.

Seahawks vs. Cardinals

For Jay's birthday I got him tickets for the Seahawks vs. Cardinals game yesterday afternoon. It was a big game that I knew he really wanted to go to and I found some awesome tickets in the "Hawk's nest" which is in the end zone. We were only 4 rows up from the field and had a great view..unfortunately the Hawks played terribly. They didn't even score once! We still had a great time though. We rode the Sounder train to Seattle which dropped us off right at Qwest Field and then we headed over to a bar to get pumped up with all the other Hawk fans. We had so much fun and I hope to get to another game soon..and hopefully they will play better!