Slacker!

Well I have been home since Monday morning but have yet to update my blog! How dare I.
Truthfully, I have just been enjoying being home :)



My trip to Sonoma was wonderful! I flew to Sacramento last Friday evening and my fried Holly picked me up. We pretty much went right to bed since we knew Saturday would be a long day! We woke up early on Saturday and it was beautiful out but already 80 degrees at 8:00 am. I knew I was in trouble :) I love nice weather, but I am not a fan of the heat, I like it about 75-80.

Holly's friend Jenny met up with us and we headed to the Sonoma Valley. What a beautiful area! I loved the hills and hills of wineries. I was so excited when we got to the track and got our credentials. We headed straight to the pits and I hung out with Shelby. We walked through the Cup garages for a bit and just hung out. So cool to be there with all the guys we always see on tv just walking around.

The West race started at about 12:30 and took over 3 hours to complete! There were a ton of cautions and lots of damaged cars. I hung out in Jeff's pit and Shelby gave me a radio so I was able to hear all their action. Jeff did a great job, especially with it being his first time on a road course. He finished 10th but he has a lot of work to do before the next race!

After the race we chatted with some friends and then headed up to our car. I rode with Jenny to an outlet mall in Napa and we shopped for a few hours. We found some great deals! We were all so tired and warn out from the hot sun all day, so we ended our day with a nice dinner at a Mexican cantina outside our hotel and then called it a night.




Sunday morning I was up early and ready to go! We had breakfast at Ihop and then headed to the track. We were pretty late getting there so we didn't get to hang out on pit road for very long before the race started. But, I did end up with my picture of Kyle & I, and although he wasn't very nice to me, it was still exciting. We pretty much seen all the drivers up close and that was neat. The race got going and we walked through the souvenir trailers, got some drinks and watched the race. I was so surprised to see Kyle take the lead since he hadn't practiced or qualified well, but like I always say, he is just that good!



Towards the end of the race, we headed up to turn 2 where the cars come up off of the front stretch, which was a cool view. I told Holly and her boyfriend Billy, that if Kyle was still leading at lap 103, I was going to head to Victory lane and sure enough he was. We were so lucky to have garage passes that allowed us access to these places. It was so exciting to have Kyle win! To go to a NASCAR race and have your favorite driver win is one thing, but to be able to be that close to Victory Lane, that was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. I took tons of pictures but also just enjoyed the moment. I see that on tv and it looks a certain way, but it's totally different in person.






We hung around the garage for a bit after the race and then hit up some more souvenir trailers before heading back to our car. We got lucky and one of the employees of Infineon picked us up in a golf cart and took us all the way to our car. I was so happy for that as it is such a big track and my feet hurt so bad from walking for 2 straight days.

I had a great time being there and hanging out with Holly, Billy and Jenny. I've wanted to go to that track for so long and I'm happy that I can finally say I've been there!

Destination: Sonoma, California

This weekend is the Nascar Sprint Cup race at Sonoma, and I finally get to go down there. Ever since I started following the Cup series on a regular basis, this is a track I've always wanted to visit. It is always beautiful there! Now that I'm older and also enjoy wine, I will get to visit some of the best wineries in the world, as that is what this area of California is known for.

I am flying to Sacramento tonight and staying with my friend Holly and then we will get up tomorrow morning and head to the track, about an hour and a half away. We also get to go to the West race, and see some friends.

The temperature today there is over 100 degrees, so it looks like Im in for some hot weather this weekend, and I just hope there is somewhat of a breeze!

Have a wonderful weekend!

And he's here!

Zachary Daniel Riehl
June 18th 2008
10 lbs. 1 ounce
22 inches long

I am so lucky to have so many new babies around me! Next up is Baby Seth, due mid September!

Oh Canada!

Friday morning I headed up to Shane & Shae's and from there we went to Vernon, BC. It was about a 4 hour drive, but there were some delays so it took us about 7 hours! It was a long day and night of driving but the baby was so good. She mostly just slept and only got fussy towards the end, but after that long in a car, I don't blame her!

We got to the hotel and let her relax on the bed and she was so content. We ordered some pizza, watched some TV and then went to sleep. The race was Saturday so Shane left to the track and then we got ready. He called later on and said that he had wrecked his car in practice and was too bad to race. We were bummed and so was he. His brand new car is wrecked from the driver seat back! All that hard work and now he has to do it all over again. A guy had leaked some anti freeze on the track and Shane hit that going into turn 1. He spun and backed it into the wall. He was a little sore, but okay.

We took our time getting to the track and then hung out at Shane's parents motor home. It was parked right off of turns 1 & 2 and had the perfect view for the race. The track was really nice too. Shane's dad Pete ended up winning so we took Cadence to Victory Lane and she got her picture with Grandpa. He was pretty proud of his trophy and of Cadence, it was so sweet :)

pretty girl ♥
(I love how she sleeps with her hands folded ♥)

Sunday we got up around 10 and got ready to head home. It was a beautiful day with lots of pretty scenery. I had so much fun hanging out with them all weekend, especially Miss Cadence. She is just so sweet and I can't wait to see her again real soon!

Last day of school picnic

Thursday was Campbell's end of the school year picnic at the park so I met Melinda and the kids there and brought Subway along. The kids weren't really interested in eating. Campbell wanted to play with her friends and Cooper just wanted to run into the water.




They were excited to feed the ducks, but Cooper just wanted to eat the bread! It was hilarious.



I can't believe it's the end to another school year and in a few short months, Campbell will be in Kindergarten!

Thoughts.

I know I've posted about this blog before but it's a daily read of mine and I always walk away in tears. This woman has such a way with words. She can put it all out, exactly how she feels and it's so raw and real. She just leaves me speechless and I can't imagine the pain that she and her family feel after losing their darling Ava. If you haven't stopped by yet, please do.

I'm off to enjoy a weekend of racing in Canada with Shane, Shae and Miss Cadence Rae.

I hope you spend your weekend doing something you enjoy!
xoxo

The last Wednesday

Yesterday was Campbell's last day of Pre-School and that means the last Wednesday that I will get to pick her up from Little Dove's. It was a little sad to me as that was just another sign that she's getting older! She tried telling me yesterday that she's almost 6 now and I quickly reminded her that she just turned 5!

Since it was the last day of school, it was pajama day and she was pretty proud with her Hannah Montana pj's. They have got to do fun things all week and now today they are ending it all with a picnic at the park at noon so that should be fun. She is beyond excited to start Kindergarten and to take lunch to school everyday, ahh the simple joys of life :)

Campbell's Birthday Party!

Yesterday was Campbell's 5th birthday party and the theme was a "Pampered Princess". She invited the 8 girls from her class, her cousin and 2 neighbor girls. We had planned to paint their nails, put on some make up and my sister came over to curl their hair.


We also had a station set up for them to make bath salts to take home and then they colored paper bags to put everything in. The party went so well and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Some of them have quite the personalities so that was fun to watch!



For food, we had crown shaped peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and cheese sandwiches. We had taco salad, turkey roll ups and fruit salad but the girls were just interested in the chocolate covered strawberrys and the cupcakes. We also served Italian Soda's and the blueberry flavor was the big hit.


We rocked out to Hannah Montana and all the girls screamed when Campbell was opening her presents and she got a Hannah Montana shirt and lunch box.




Overall the party went really well and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I think it's something they will remember for a long time to come!

Road Course Race

Saturday the tour had a race at Pacific Raceways in Kent and I was excited to return there. We raced there in 2003 and it was so much fun. The weather was a little bit different this time and it felt more like January than June. Travis had never raced a road course before but he took to it very well, qualifying 4th. The race was supposed to be 40 laps, but with a mist coming down the track had to be dried and it took longer to start. They started around 7pm, and it was already getting dark. There were a few cautions that slowed the race and it was getting dark so they called the race and Gary Lewis was the winner followed by Jason Fraser and Travis! He did good and was happy that the car was in 1 piece. Hopefully we can go back next year with better weather!

Becca, Dailey and I hung out in a suite for most of the afternoon and during the race so we stayed warm and watched Dailey play. She is just so cute and has the cutest expressions and that little laugh that I just love :)



She was trying to talk to Uncle :)

Our trip..

My sister and I had a great time on our road trip and I'm so glad we got the opportunity. My Sister has never been to L.A. and just went to Phoenix for the first time a few weeks ago, so it was really neat to her to see all the things we saw.

We left Wednesday night and pretty much drove straight through, only stopping a few times to take a short nap. We got to our hotel in Monrovia at about 5:30 Thursday afternoon. I like staying in Monrovia because I have stayed there before when I have went to races at Irwindale Speedway. It's about 20 miles out of L.A. but I feel safe there and that was my main concern. We went to Universal City on Thursday night and walked around. It was really neat and sort of like Vegas with lights and music everywhere. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and went to a few souvenir shops and got a little treat at Ben & Jerry's.



Friday our day was spent hitting up a few Cupcake shops, walking around Beverly Hills, and then shopping at the Fashion District where we got sunglasses and purses. We headed over to Venice Beach after that and sat on the beach for awhile. It was a bit breezy but a beautiful site. We ended up having dinner at The Olive Garden, I know, big shock :)



Saturday we got up and headed to Beverly Hills where we walked around Robertson Blvd. where there are some pretty fancy shops. We went into Kitson, Kitson Kids, Lisa Kline Kids and Surly Girl. I got some really cute sunglasses at Surly, and then we headed over to The Newsroom Cafe for lunch. It was an interesting menu but we found a couple things we liked.

After lunch we headed over to Santa Monica where we stopped at the Vanilla Bakeshop, another Cupcake Shop that was featured on Martha Stewart during Cupcake week. It was a darling little place with a nice selection of Cupcakes, Macaroon's, and homemade suckers. I will be writing more about the Cupcake shops we visited in another post. From there, we went to The Santa Monica Pier, one of my favorite places. It was the perfect sunny and warm day and the Pier was packed with people. Kids eating cotton candy and getting their faces painted, musicians playing and families fishing off the pier. Just a fun atmosphere! We had dinner at Marisol's, a Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier that I have visited before and loved. We enjoyed a great dinner and the beautiful ocean.





The rest of our evening was spent at Irwindale Speedway where we watched a great late model race. Big field of cars and they were pretty competitive too. My sister isn't the biggest race fan, but even she was impressed by the facility. I have been there several times and always love going there, just a nice track and good racing.

Sunday we got up and got ready to head to Phoenix. It was about a 6 hour drive which wasn't bad after a 19 hour trip before that. When we left L.A. it was about 75 degrees and when I stopped in Palm Springs for gas, it was 97. That was quite the change! It just kept getting hotter and by the time we got to Phoenix at 6pm it was 103! We found our way to Grandpa's house and he was pretty excited to see us. We relaxed and chatted with him for a bit, toured the house and then went to dinner. It was almost 9:30 pm and still 90 degrees! We sat outside for dinner and it was so hot out still.

Monday we went to Ikea to get some things for the house and to Target for some furnishings. It was so hot during the day, that it was hard to do things outside so we pretty much stayed inside. We got lots of things done for the new house and it looks so good. We got couches and beds, blinds, a TV, nicknack's..all sorts of fun things. It's so fun to buy things for a new house.

Tuesday morning, my sister and I got up and headed to Scottsdale to visit the brand new Sprinkles Cupcake shop that just opened down there and it was quite the adventure. We had our Tom Tom, but I didn't put the whole address in, so we were lost for a bit. Luckily I was just down there in February so the area was familiar to me and we finally found it.

We headed back to the house with a stop at In N Out for lunch and then I packed up my things and Grandpa took me to the airport. When I left Phoenix it was 104, when I got to Seattle it was 54 and raining! A whole 50 degrees cooler, but that was fine with me after the hot weather down in Phoenix.

All in all, we had a great time. I still prefer a road trip over flying any day. The scenery we saw was beautiful as usual and I can't wait for my next road trip :)

Home!

I had a great time on our roadtrip but I am definitely glad to be home. 105 temps and I dont get along too well :)

I will share more later, but here is a few pics from the trip.