The Nutcracker!

For Christmas, I decided to get my Grandma Bold tickets to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker at the McCaw Hall in Seattle. I haven't been for years and neither had she so I thought it would be fun for us to go together. We had tickets for the 7:30 showing on Thursday night and I picked her up early for a dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. We had a nice low key dinner and just talked, it was nice to do that since I don't spend as much time with my Grandma as I did when I was little. We headed down to Seattle in the nasty rain/snow mix weather and got there early enough to walk around the gift shop and buy an ornament. We had really good seats for the show and we were excited for it to start. It was a great production and the dancers are so well trained, everything just goes so smoothly. I was surprised at how much of it I remembered. My favorite scene is right before intermission when they have the blue lights on and the ballerinas in the white Tu Tu's come out and it "snows" on stage. It is so pretty! We had a really great time and I think it's a tradition we will continue :)

Shopping!

Well anyone that knows me knows that I'm a shopper! Of course I would be shopping on the day after Christmas, after all, it is the 2nd biggest shopping day of the year :) Shelby and I met up at the South Center mall and went to a few stores before heading to the Olive Garden for a nice lunch and then to Ikea! I was in search of a dresser and nightstand and got both of them with a few extra things too! After shopping we headed back to Shelby's and exchanged gifts with each other and then just watched TV and chatted. It was a nice relaxing day and I got some much needed sleep. Tomorrow evening I am taking my Grandma to see the Nutcracker, my Christmas present to her. We used to go every year when I was little so I thought it would be a fun thing for us to do. Snow is on the way, or so the forecasters say, I hope I wake up to some white!

Merry Christmas!

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." ~Burton Hillis


I cant believe Christmas has came and gone already! The past month has just flown by to me and yet another year has nearly passed. My Christmas started last night at my uncle Mark's house where we do Christmas every year with my mom's side of the family. We had a nice ham dinner and opened a lot of presents! My brother Michael got a flying helicopter and thought it was funny to try to land it on us!
I spent the night at my parents like I do every Christmas eve and we woke up this morning and opened all of our gifts. My brother really wanted this little scooter that has a motor on it. His best friend Hunter got one and he just had to have one too. Well all the presents had been opened but no scooter and he was totally content trying to figure out his general lee car. Lo and behold we dragged him to the back yard, and there was his scooter! He couldn't believe it, his mouth dropped open and he just stood there staring at it and then gave my dad a big hug! It was so cute :) It was nice to see that he wasn't being a brat when he thought he wasn't getting the scooter but then when he did get it, he was so excited!
After that my dad made "Joe's special" and then Ashley and I headed to my house so I could give Campbell my presents. She had gotten tons of presents from Santa and her parents and grandparents and then mine of top of that! The theme this year was her babies so I got her the crib, highchair, stroller, pack & play, and car seat for her baby alive. I also got her a couple pairs of jeans and some new shirts, a Dora tent, a stuffed animal dog that came with a travel carrier and clothes and a book and some candy! She was very excited and loved everything she got. I got Cooper a Thomas the train tunnel that he can crawl through, some clothes, and little people town center and a book and movie as well.



The kids are my favorite to buy for, they just love everything!
After opening presents at the house, we headed over to Uncle Dave and Aunt Cheryl's. Every year we go to North Bend to my grandparents house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family, but this year Dave and Cheryl bought a new house so they wanted to have everyone over. Their home is beautiful! It was snowing all the way there so we did get a white Christmas here! There was tons of food, tons of people and lots of laughs. We took some family pictures, opened presents and just chatted with each other. It was really good to see everyone.
Well it's been a long few weeks and Ive enjoyed it all (for the most part) and now it's time to relax. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Seahawks game!!

2 Seahawks games in 2 weeks! That's pretty crazy for me considering the last week was my first football game! The game in North Carolina was fun but I dont think anything can beat the home turf. Lacey asked me to go with her and we sat in her dad's club seats. Jay and his dad Mike had won tickets from work so they rode down with us. It was so cold and it rained pretty much the whole game, thankfully there was an area for us to go in side where we could still watch the game but stay warm. The Seahawks played a great game and beat the Ravens 27-6. I have heard that Qwest field gets really loud and that wasnt a joke! The "12th man" really is impressive.
After the game Lacey drove us home and Jay's mom Susi had cooked a steak dinner for us. So nice of her :) We spent the evening looking through her cookbooks and just chatting.



It's almost Christmas time!! Here is a few pics from the game. This was afterwards when we were getting ready to drive home and Jay had his "mean face" on, even though the Seahawks won..I dont get him :)

Well that was fun!

Well Jay and I made it back from Charlotte on Monday night. We were supposed to fly into Newark and then to Seattle but that was delayed so they re routed us to San Francisco and then to Seattle. We got home at the same time so that wasnt bad.
We had the best time! It was a short trip but we were busy from the time we got off the plane. Before I talk about the trip I want to say that on our flight from Atlanta to Charlotte, there were several service men on our plane and the stewardess had everyone give them a round of applause and let them get off the plane first. I had heard a man sitting behind me talking about how he was so happy to be home and he would get to meet his baby girl who was a few months old. He said he only was going to be home for 15 days and I just couldnt imagine being in his shoes! When we got to baggage claim we came down the escalators and I seen these 3 women with a baby and a video camera and when they seen him they started jumping up and down and crying. It was the sweetest thing to see these people so happy to see him and he so happy to see his family. I'll never forget that and I realize now more than before just what a service these men and women do for our country and how much they sacrifice!

That being said, Jenn picked us up from the airport and we went to her parents house and met them, very nice people. We borrowed their Pacifica for the weekend so we could go tailgating on Sunday. After that we met Jenn's friend Carrie at their favorite resturaunt, On the Border. It was such a nice day probably 70 degrees so we sat on the patio to have lunch. That was weird with it being December 14th and all, definitely wouldnt be doing that at home! We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around an area called Birkdale and then we went back to Jenn's to shower and get ready for the night.


We had dinner with Sam, Heather, Blake and Emily at Firebirds and once again sat outside. It was so good to see all of them. Jay really enjoyed talking with Sam and we all had a few drinks and a good meal. The kids were entertaining everyone with quotes from Talladega nights, too funny! Emily brough her baby McKenna with her, she is such a good little mommy :)

After dinner, we headed to a place called "The Hooker" to meet up with Jenn's friend Brandis who had rented the Ragin Uptown Party Bus for her birthday. That was pretty cool, there was this huge school bus with benches in it and you could bring what you wanted to drink and then they played loud music, everyone danced and it drove us around and dropped us off at bars all night. It was a good time!
Saturday morning Kevin picked Jay up and they got to go to the Seahawks team hotel and get on their team bus to go with them to practice. They hung out with them all day, met most of them, got autographs and just had a great time! Jenn, Carrie and I met Kevin at Ganassi and he was giving Josh Brown and Craig Terril of the Seahawks, a tour of the shop which was filmed for Josh's tv show. The rest of us just stayed behind the camera but it was fun to be there and meet them. Josh was super nice and he made Carrie a Seahawks fan :)

After that, we headed back to Jenn's, Carrie & I finished making cookies for the Christmas party that night and Jenn & Jay went shopping. Jenn's friend Shannen had a Christmas party so we all went to that and it was a good time. They even had some real moonshine there, Jay took one sniff of that and put it right down! We had some drinks there and then headed uptown to Buckhead where we drank and danced the night away. We had a room at the Hilton uptown and stayed there Saturday night. We didnt get to bed until about 5 am and Kevin was already calling at 7:30 to tell us to get ready for tailgating. That was a long day!

We tailgated and then went to the game. It was 46 degrees outside, but with the wind it felt about 26! I was freezing and the game was boring so that made it even worse. The Seahawks lost which sucked but Jay, Kevin, and Budah all had a great time down on the field so that was good.

After the game, we headed back to Jenn's to get ready for the Daughtry concert in Greensville, SC. It was about an hour and a half away so we pretty much left right away. The concert was awesome! Jay and I seen him at the Puyallup fair a couple months ago, but this one was even better. It was in an auditorium and it was a more intimate feeling. He sang some new songs too and I cant wait for his cd to come out.
After all that, we had to drive home still and finally got there around 1:15. I went right to bed and got up Monday morning to go to the Hamlin's to meet baby Grace!

She is just precious and she has so much hair I couldnt even believe it. I held her for awhile and she just looked at me for awhile and then eventually fell asleep. Kevin and Mandi are both great parents and you can tell they both really enjoy it. It was so good to see them and they will be coming home in January!
Our trip ended with a stop at the Cracker barrell so Jay could have some grits. I did a little shopping at the store there, they have some of the cutest stuff!
Jenn took us to the airport and our journey home was on it's way.
When we arrived in San Francisco I turned on my phone to listen to a message that I had from Campbell, it was the sweetest thing, she was asking when I would be home, telling me that she missed me and loved me. I called her back and she was like when are you going to be home? I told her not until late and she asked her Dad if she could stay up late to wait for me! Although I love all of my adventures, nothing beats coming home to a little one that is so excited to see you.
Mike and Susi picked us up at the airport and when we got back to their house, Susi gave me a card and told me I had to read it. It said Merry Christmas, We hope you like your new car! So I go look at my car to find that they had 4 new tires put on it, along with they had it detailed and washed for me! I cant even believe that they did that. It is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me and I am so greatful for all of their friendships. The Sauls family is truly the best people anyone could ask to know and I am so glad I can call them my friends!

We had such a great time there, so many great laughs and memories. Thanks to Jenn for letting us stay with her and making us feel so welcome! We have had the best time both times we've been there and I cant wait until our next visit!

Heading back to the Queen city...

Well Jay and I are heading back to North Carolina once again. Our flight leaves tonight at midnight and we will arrive in Charlotte at 11:30 tomorrow morning. We are going to the Seahawks game on Sunday with some friends (Jenn) and we are also going to the Daughtry concert Sunday night. We will only be there for a few days but our days are packed with fun stuff. We get to meet baby Grace Hamlin who is now a month old and im so excited for that. Friday night we get to have dinner with the Roebucks which is always a treat. Saturday Kevin gets to take some of the Seahawks on a tour of the Ganassi race shop and we get to go with them and that will be so fun. Well I better get going, Jay's parents are taking us to the airport and we will be stopping at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

Baking & Basketball..

I just love the holidays!! I think I have baked more in the last 2 weeks than I have in my whole life :) Last night I baked from 5-11 pm and I have more stuff than I know what to do with. I decided that I wanted to make some treats for my friends and family, so thats what I did. I made peanut butter kiss cookies, 7 layer bars, haystacks, peppermint brownies, butter jam cookies, and chex mix. It was a lot of work but it was fun :) Today I went down to Shelbys for a day of baking. We made peanut butter cups and sugar cookies and had lots of fun doing it.

After we were done, I headed over to Casa Mia's in Puyallup to meet Jay's parents Mike & Susi for dinner. Tonight was Jay's 1st basketball game of the season for the Rec league. I try to go to every game, they are fun to watch since it's pretty competitive. Jay's team is called the Woodland Eagles because he grew up with a lot of guys on the team and their elementary school team was the Woodland Eagles. All the guys have names on their jerseys and Jay's is Iceman. The game didnt go over so well, the ref's did a horrible job and called every call possible on Jay's team. Not to mention the other team were the 3 ball kings! Every time they shot a 3 pointer, they made it. Jay was frustrated but thats the way it goes, Susi kept joking to the guys afterwards that next week they need to take the refs out for pizza and beer so they will be buddies with them too :)


Well Jay and I leave for North Carolina tomorrow night! We take the red eye out of Seattle at midnight and we will arrive in the Queen city at 11:30am Friday. I shipped my luggage via Fedex (Go Denny!) and it's already at Jennifers waiting for me :) No worrying about my luggage getting lost like last time! I better get to bed, tomorrow will come quick!

Little Dove's Christmas Performance

Yesterday Campbell and her Little Dove's preschool class had their Christmas performance and it was the cutest thing! She got to wear her pretty dress and Ashley came over and Curled her hair all cute. My sisters and brother all came and then it was Chris & Melinda, Jenny, and Kevin, Breanne and Cooper, so she had quite the cheering section. Her teachers even joked with us about how we brought the crowd :)
What can we say, we love her!
She got nervous standing up there but afterawhile she was just fine. She kept turning around and waving and it was so cute :) They sang a few songs and then everyone went to the other room for cookies and drinks. Campbell and Cooper had some oranges, Cooper was so funny, he had about 3 of them and when it was time to leave he got pretty mad because he wanted more :)
We had a fun weekend of going to basketball games, making cookies and the performance. Campbell also got to go to the neighbor Kyan's 3rd birthday party. It was Polar Express themed and all the kids got to wear their pajamas. During the party there was a knock on the door and it was Santa! Campbell didnt know what to think of that and it scared her a bit but she is definitely excited for Santa to come to her house :)
Here are some more pics from the weekend:

"I hope everybody likes pink!"

That was Jenny's quote last night as we were placing all of our finished cookies onto the sheets. It seems that no matter how many drops of red dye that you add to the frosting, it never turns all the way red. So my brother Michael, and Campbell were happy to settle for pink :)
Campbell and I spent out Saturday afternoon going to Michael and and my sister Chelsea's basketball games. They both lost, although Chelsea's team only lost by 1 point. That was a pretty intense game. Campbell loves watching them play, she sits still the whole time and just watches and she tells me when she gets older, shes going to play too. I dont doubt that she will :)
After the games, Campbell got her hair cut by my other sister Ashley who just graduated from Gene Juarez Academy. She cut her bangs and added some layers to her hair and it looks so good!
Every year in Brier (by Bothell where my parents live) there are 2 neighborhoods that go all out and decorate their houses for Christmas. They are on the news every year and they seem to just get better and better. We drove through both neighborhoods last night and Michael and Campbell loved it. Santa was even there to give them candy canes so that was pretty neat!
We went to Costco and then to the grocery store, and then finally home to make our cookies and gingerbread houses. That didnt go over quite as planned but we decided to let them sit overnight to dry.
I baked a lot of sugar cookies and also made some snickerdoodles and some thumb print cookies with the jelly in the middle. It got hectic fo a bit but it was still fun and the kids had a lot of fun decorating them. I think I've about had my fill of Christmas cookies :)
Here are some photos of the kids decorating cookies, my big mess, and the final product :)

Christmas cards galore!

Every year I make my Christmas cards. I love to do it since I love the whole scrapbooking part to it, but it does take forever! Last year I did a photo card of Denny Hamlin & I, so I figured this year I had to keep up with that and do one of Kyle Busch and I from Vegas a few weeks ago. After 3 long nights, my cards are finally done and on their way!

Tax free & Christmas cookies!

Well we were trying to get the big Christmas tree in the background but that didnt work too well :) I had a fun weekend going to Portland. Brandon was on a quad trip so I went down to hang out with Lynsie. We made dinner and watched the Cup banquet Friday night and then Saturday we had our big day of shopping. We started down at the Woodburn Outlet malls. It was FREEZING! It was supposed to snow but never did, but the wind was blowing like crazy so it felt like it was about 20 degrees, notice the squinty eyes :) We shopped for awhile there but we were so cold and not having much luck so we headed back to town. We had lunch at the Olive Garden and then headed over to Old Navy and Target before going to the Clackamas Town Center. I havent been there for awhile and they have completely redone it. After hitting up a few stores there we headed home. I cooked dinner and then Lynsie's friend Randi joined us and after dinner we made Christmas Cookies.
This was our first pan of them..
Okay, so we didnt roll them flat enough or give them enough room on the pan, so we basically had 1 big cookie :) We laughed about it for quite awhile. I bought a Santa apron and we all took turns wearing it :)
We had tons of cookies and decorated them all.




We had so much fun all weekend but we were so tired Saturday night. We shopped all day and cooked all night but we had a great time doing it.
Sunday I got up early to go home for Campbell's Christmas performance at her school, I got to Chehalis and got the call that it had been cancelled due to all the snow in Monroe. I was bummed, but what can ya do? So I called up Shelby and Susi and we all went to the Victorian Country Christmas at the Puyallup Fair grounds. It was a lot of fun and we bought a ton of stuff :) We went to dinner at Famous Dave's in Puyallup and Jay & Mike met us so that was fun. I had a busy weekend but it was so much fun! Hope everyone is doing well :)

Thanksgiving

"Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants". ~Kevin James

Ahh King of Queens, love that show!
Well our Thanksgiving was spent over in Wenatchee at the Cabin. It has been that way for the past 5 years or so. Sometimes it snows over there during Thanksgiving and everyone always enjoys that, although this year it didnt snow. It was cold enough though and it tried to snow the day after Thanksgiving but just a few flakes fell. My sister Ashley and I drove over on Thanksgiving morning and the rest of the family was already there. My dad and Uncle Dave cooked the meal this year, they are pretty funny together so thats always some entertainment. All the girls spent the day searching the ads for all the hot deals for our annual tradition of Black Friday shopping. We all make lists with what were going to get at each place and the list goes in order of what time each store starts. I started at Shopko because they had the best deals on the toys which is my favorite thing to buy.
We had our Thanksgiving dinner at about 7:00, we laughed and my Dad and Uncle dave shared memories from when they were little. After dinner we looked at the ads some more and eventually had some pumpkin pie. I finally found my way to bed around 11!
Friday morning we all woke up at 3:30 to get ready to go shopping!! I was so tired at first but once I reminded myself I was going shopping, I woke right up. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a shopper! My brother Michael and sister Ashley drove with me to town and I made them listen to Christmas music from my Ipod, they werent too impressed at 4 am :)
We went to Shopko, Target, Starbucks, Old Navy, Famous Footwear, Macys, Hallmark, a scrapbook store, Bath&bodyworks, Costco, Red Robin, and our last stop was Walmart. That was at about 4:00 pm! We were there for awhile and then my sister and brother were both ready to fall asleep so we headed back to the cabin. After over 12 hours of shopping, my car was stuffed full and we were all super tired.

Sunday roast

I have been wanting to make a roast for awhile and finally found a Sunday that I would be home to do it. I had my little helper, Campbell, over and she loves to cook. We started getting the roast ready at about 1:15 and had it in the oven at about 1:45. We used Emeril's recipe with a few modifications. We put the roast in the oven and then headed to Target to get more decorations for the tree since I didnt get enough of them the day before. We also stopped at Costco and got Campbell her Christmas dress, which is just so cute! I cant wait until she wears it for her school's Christmas concert this year, she will look darling :) Our last stop was Fred Meyers where we picked up some eggnog and some black shoes for Campbell.
When we got home and she seen the roast she gave me a big hug and said, our dinner is done! It was so cute to see how excited she was to see something that she helped make. Our roast turned out soo good with just enough seasonings.
Campbell was so proud!

After dinner, we put up the Christmas tree. I bought a new one this year and it had to be put together piece by piece. It is 7.5 feet and really thick, so it took quite awhile to do. We had fun though and had a little assembly line going, Melinda was spreading the branches, Campbell handed them to me and then I put the tree together. Campbell just couldnt wait to put the star on after we were all done, the tree looked great. I cant wait to start filling it up with presents :)

Viva Las Vegas!

I have been bad about keeping up with this so that means now it's catch up time :) I went to Vegas a couple weekends ago for a late model race at the Bullring. Kyle Busch was racing his late model there which is what made me want to go. I've been there a few times with Brandon when he raced there and it's a fun little track, not to mention the nightlife. Jay and a couple of his buddies went too but they drove and we just met them there. Lacey and I flew in on Saturday morning and it was a beautiful day. We stayed at the Excalibur which was a really cool place. It was right next to NY NY which is where I want to stay next time, that was definitely my favorite hotel for the atmosphere, very fun. We headed to the track around 3 with Ron & Donny, it was the perfect day for racing. The track is also right next to Nellis Air Force Base, and there was some jet shows going on right over the track so that was fun to watch.
Our friend Eric was racing the late model race and he was in a car that Travis built down in Bakersfield. It was a really nice car and Eric did well. He qualified 5th and passed for the lead where he stayed for awhile. With 6 to go and Eric still in the lead, there was a caution and on the restart, Eric got taken out by the 2nd place car. It was a bad deal and I felt so bad for Eric. He did a great job all night and should have gotten the win. His car looked great!



Kyle had a busy weekend since the "big 3" were in Phoenix. He raced the truck race on Friday night and won that, then he raced the Busch race on Saturday afternoon and won that as well. By the time he got to the bullring, he was pretty tired but excited to race at his home track. He had to start at the back since he wasnt able to qualify but it was a 140 lap race. Kyle worked his way up to 2nd, and with 50 laps to go, was taken out by another driver. They wanted Kyle and the other driver to both go to the back but they both refused and ultimately Kyle ended up leaving to head back to Phoenix. I was glad that I got my pic with him before the Super lates race started :)





Saturday night we hung out at NY NY and visited the Piano bar and then headed over to MGM to have some drinks. After that we started walking the strip and stopped at practically every place along the way. It was a fun night and we watched the sun rise so that should tell ya how long we were awake :)



Sunday we started our day at Margaritaville for lunch and margaritas. I just love that place, so fun. We went through the flamingo and ballys and some of the hotels down that way and then we headed back to our hotel to get ready to go out. We met Jay & his friends at the Golden Nugget in old town Vegas and that was a lot of fun. We had some drinks, walked freemont street, watched the light show and just had fun. We met some people from Florida at the Golden Nugget and ended up going to a bar with them and having drinks. Jay & his friends had to leave at 4 am Monday morning to head back to Washington, and I think thats when we were having our last drink :)

Monday we started with lunch at "Dicks" which was inside our hotel..very interesting place. Anytime you are greeted by your waiter with "whats up hookers", you know it's going to be an interesting time. It was a rowdy place with napkins all over the floor and loud music. After that, we visited M&M world where we spent a few hours. I found lots of things to get for Cami & Cooper :) We also went to Coca Cola world and walked on down to the Paris and Bellagio where we watched the water show atleast 4 times..my favorite thing in Vegas :) We flew out of Vegas at 11:55 pm and we were both completely worn out. It was a fun trip and I cant wait to go to Vegas again!

Rowdy!

Well I am back from Vegas, there will be a post coming soon on that complete with pics and all.
Tonight is the Championship Craftsman Truck Series race and in honor of that, I am proudly wearing my Kyle Busch Motorsports shirt today. Rowdy will be in the #51 tonight and I will be watching! Tomorrow is the Busch race and then Sunday will be the Cup race, the last of the season. Kind of a bummer, definitely makes for a long winter for the race fans. But, Thanksgiving is now less than a week away and that means that Christmas shopping is just around the corner..my favorite time of the year :)
Kyle has won 2 of the last 3 races including last weekend at Phoenix where he also won the Busch race on Saturday. He is currently 9th in Truck practice at Homestead! Cant wait till race time :)

The Pumpkin Patch!

Monday we did our yearly trip to Craven Farms to pick out our pumpkins. Campbell, Michael, Ashley, Chelsea and myself went and had lots of fun.
Michael and Campbell both got pumpkins, pretty big ones at that. Michael had fun trying to load them in the wagon :)

We took lots of pictures, laughed a lot and looked at the animals. We had a fun day :)

Dailey's 1st Birthday!

Well I dont think she could possibly be any cuter! Dailey turned 1 on October 27th and her party was at Justin's parents house in Ellensburg. Lots of family turned out along with a few friends and Dailey was so excited to see everyone. She is such a people person!
Justin BBQ'ed hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone and then Dailey started opening her presents. She got so many toys, I think she will definitely be busy for awhile! After that she had her butterfly cake that Pam spent so much time on! It turned our really good. It was so cute because at first she would just poke the cake, not too sure if she could just dig in, but with a little encouragement she was taking handfuls of it. She ate some herself but spent lots of time trying to feed everyone :)


After cake, Dailey crawled around and checked out her new toys and her new chair from Auntie. She is such a little sweetie and I cant believe she is already a year old. I cant wait to watch her grown even more, she is definitely a special little girl to me :)