Victory!

Usually, going racing means travelling for me, but not this weekend! There was a big race held at Evergreen Speedway, about 5 minutes from my house and it was so nice. There were 4 classes racing Saturday night and it started with a practice on Friday night. I went and watched for a few hours and saw some fast cars!

Saturday was a long day starting with the gates opening at 7:00 am for the West Series. I was there around 8 to drop off some food for Jeff and the team and then I came back around 9:30 when the rest of the teams were allowed in. The day seemed to go pretty fast with practice, and qualifying taking up the majority of the day. It was so humid out, definitely wasn't used to that.

The first race started around 6 which had put everything behind schedule. I went up to the grandstands to see Shae & Miss Cadence. Shane raced in the 2nd main event so Shae had been in the stands for a bit.



Shelby came and found us in the stands before the race and she was excited to see Cadence since she hears so much about her :) She handed me a card that she wanted me to open right then, so I did and it was asking me to be a bridesmaid in her and Jeff's wedding, so that was pretty exciting! I just said, "oh my gosh" and she said WELL, is that a yes??? Of course, I said. Shelby and I have become great friends and I would be honored to stand by her side.

Jeff's race was the last of the night and it started way later than it was supposed to. Jeff had qualified 3rd for the race which was awesome. He took the lead fairly early in the race and I was so excited, but I knew there were a lot of laps left and as we all know in racing, anything can happen and we have seen it! I started to get really excited with 30 laps to go, I kept saying in my head "he's going to win this" and what do you know, HE DID!! Finally, a win in the West Series. So, so much deserved. Jeff and his team work so hard, Jeff especially, to prepare cars competitive enough to race in this series and their hard work finally showed and paid off. Jeff has definitely had more than his share of bad luck and I was so happy to see that turn around. It was really exciting to be there for it all, there truly is nothing like that first victory.

A funny story..

It started about a week ago with Shae asking me what I wanted for my birthday. I told her to give me pictures of Cadence but she said that was not an option. She wanted me to tell her 3 things I wanted for my birthday because she had gotten me something and she wanted to see if it was on my top 3. I told her that I really couldn't think of anything at the time. So she said fine, she was having my present shipped to my house and it would arrive on Friday.

On Wednesday Karen called and told me that she was sending my birthday present and it would arrive on Friday, but I would be in Montana so I would have to wait until Monday to open it.

You might be able to tell where this is going..

So on Monday night, Shane, Shae and Miss Cadence came down because they wanted to watch me open my present, so right then I figured that this must be a big thing. I was excited to have them come down and apparently Melinda and Shae had been working together on this so Melinda had hid the present.

We visited for awhile and then I opened up Shane & Shae's present and this is what it was:



Can you believe it? A kitchen aid mixer! I have wanted one of these for a long time! I love to cook and this would make cooking so much easier in many ways for me. I almost bought one a couple months back at a Macy's one day sale, but I decided not to. I was so excited to get one! I can not believe they got me a kitchen aid, such a cool gift because it is something I really wanted.

After a few minutes, Melinda comes out of her office and she says she has something else for me, so I look up and Melinda is holding this:



Another Kitchen aid?? I said, who is that from? And Melinda said that on Friday when she opened her door, there were 2 kitchen aids that had been delivered..one from Shae and one from Karen! How funny! Of all the things in the world, and they both got me the same thing. I thought I was pretty darn cool to receive such a nice gift from two of my best friends. They both thought it was pretty funny too. First I didn't have one and now I have two :)

Shae said that she remembered me talking about wanting one and Karen told me that when I was telling her about making the cupcakes for Lynsie's baby shower back in May, that she knew she was going to get me a Kitchen aid for my birthday.

I guess this means that I have some treats to be making :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Shane, Shae & Cadence, and Karen, Rick, Kaitlyn & Trace! You all made my birthday very special and I am so lucky to call y'all friends!

Also, thank you to Melinda for being a part of all of this :)

The Montana 200!

The Montana 200 is one of my favorite weekends all year and I think it has a lot to do with the drive there and the surrounding areas. It is so beautiful and it is the perfect road trip, only about 8 hours with easy driving. My friend Ashley flew in from Twin Falls Idaho since it was both of our Birthdays last weekend and we like to celebrate them together. She came in Wednesday afternoon and we drove up to Canada to see Baby Cadence. We had Olive Garden with Shane & Shae and had fun with Cadence.

Thursday morning we got up and drove all day, stopping quite a few times to check things out. I love the drive once you turn off of I-90. The road goes along a river and it is so beautiful.



We got in Thursday evening and checked in our hotel, went to dinner and then came back and went to bed.

Friday morning we woke up and Jay's parents, Mike & Susi, took us to Breakfast for my birthday at this cute little restaurant in Lakeside. After breakfast we went to Susi's brothers house up on a ridge and it had the most stunning view. We drove, what seemed like forever, up this windy hill and when we got to the top this is what we saw.



It was so pretty and peaceful up there. We hung out there for awhile and played pool. Mike took the quad out for the 1st time and he ended up loving it. Pretty soon we spotted him on the next ridge over! I think there might be a new purchase for him :)
Ashley and I headed into town and picked up some things for a BBQ later that night and then we all headed to the track. Friday night was qualifying and heat races and then a last chance race. Jay flew in from Seattle since he couldn't take any time off so he didn't get in until 9:30. When he got there he went up to the announcer and had him say this "Happy Birthday Becky, the only Kyle Busch fan here, We love you, the Saul's"..It was hilarious. I heard my name, and then I heard Kyle and I was like oh no :) It was pretty funny though.



After the races, we went back up to Steve's and had a bonfire and played pool and the boys played darts. The Saul's gave me a huge picture frame that Susi had made filled with pictures from our trip to North Carolina and I love it!



Saturday we just relaxed and Ashley and I had lunch before heading up to Steve's again. We just sat up there for a few hours and relaxed before heading to the track. This is one of the biggest late model races in the Northwest and pays $12,000 to win so there were some really good cars there. It was a great race for the most party and there was a lot of hard racing. Gary Lewis ended up winning it, as he has most of the year! The race didn't get over until about 1:30 so needless to say, we were pretty tired. We went to the pits, saw some of our friends and then went back to the hotel.

Sunday we had lunch and then left around noon to head home. We stopped in Spokane at The Olive Garden since it was Ashley's birthday and that's where she wanted to go. We didn't get home until late Sunday night but we had so much fun in the car. I described it as a sunroof open, windows down, wind blowin, music blarin, girls laughin & singin kind of trip and that's what it was. We had a great time!

The Pioneer Woman..

As I've said before, I enjoy looking through blogs and every now and then I stumble upon a really good one. I have done that again with The Pioneer Woman's Blog. It is about a woman who lives in the country and is married to a farmer. I have to admit, I haven't read much of her actual blog, but instead find myself going to the cooking section where she posts new recipes darn near daily. She doesn't just post a recipe though, she posts step by step instructions, along with pictures of every process and some great humor along the way.

Yesterday I happened to go on there and she had a recipe for Farfalle Pasta with Zucchini and it looked great. So great that I went to the store during my lunch to get all the ingredients to make it. I love farfalle (bow tie pasta) and I love Zucchini. I also added chicken and asparagus to the recipe which made it perfect. I may have added a bit too much garlic, but I still think it turned out great and I can't wait to try out more of her recipes. I wish I would have taken pictures of the process but since I didn't, I will include a few of hers.

If you get a chance, stop by and check her out!

Rice Pudding..

For Christmas, Melinda gave me this cookbook and it has been sitting on my shelf ever since. I loved it and loved recipes in it and always had intentions of making something out of it, but had not done so yet. Until last night that is. Yesterday while looking at a blog, I saw a recipe from the book and it was for Rice Pudding. Lately I have been on a huge rice pudding kick and I think it's because it reminds me of when I was little and I would go to lunch with my Grandma and once a week we would get rice pudding. I have always loved it and have made it before but definitely not the way this recipe called for.

I spent an hour and a half, bare foot and slaving over the hot stove (haha had to throw that in) but it was well worth it. That was the best rice pudding I've ever had and if you need a great dessert to cook for a dinner party or any party for that matter, I would highly recommend this. Note, this is not something to "whip" up. It takes time, and a lot of stirring, but still worth it :)Also, I did not use a vanilla bean and only used the pure vanilla extract that it called for and it turned out just fine.



I wish I could take credit for this photo, but it's the one from the cookbook and that's probably my favorite thing about the book, the gorgeous photos. It really did look like that too!

Rice Pudding

1/2 cup Arborio rice
8 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

Combine the rice, milk, sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon, and salt in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring every 5minutes as the mixture starts to thicken, for about 30 minutes. Continue cooking until the rice is tender but not too mushy, about 15 minutes longer. The milk will be thick and the rice tender, but the mixture will still be very soupy, which is what you want. (As the pudding cools, it thickens, and if it is too thick while still hot, it will firm up into a thick, stodgy lump with out the unctuous creaminess of a great rice pudding.)

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and cream together and stir into the rice pudding. Continue cooking the pudding over medium-low heat for about 2 to 3 minutes, until the eggs are cooked through and pudding is creamy and glossy, but still fairly soupy. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Grate a little nutmeg, if you like, into the pudding. Remove the vanilla pod. Pour the pudding into a serving bowl and press plastic wrap over the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, about 2 to 3 hours. Serve cold.

Note: This pudding is delicious as it is, or you can fold a dollop of whipped cream into each serving, or layer the pudding in a parfait glass with dulce de leche or caramel sauce, or just drizzle some sauce on top before serving.

No more training wheels!

Well, the training wheels are completely off and Campbell is a pro at riding her bike. They originally came off her bike a few weeks ago and she has been too scared of falling to ride it, so she has only rode her scooter. This weekend she finally got it down and now she has no fear. She was so proud to show me that she wasn't afraid and she even knew how to stop her bike without falling off of it :) She is just so cute and I'm so happy that she is back to riding her bike.

Roseburg, OR.

Another weekend, another race track! This time I drove down to Roseburg, Oregon which is about a 6 hour drive. It was so pretty out and it was a warm day, but not nearly as bad as Sonoma or Irwindale. It was a Friday race which is unusual and it threw me off all weekend! I hung out with Shelby all day and we just tried to stay cool. Jeff qualified 9th and did a good job in the race. The track is 1 groove and kind of boring as it is mostly follow the leader but it wasn't too bad of a race. Jeff did great and finished 5th and he is now 4th in points and leading the Rookie of the year points. Finally, some well deserved good finishes!

Summer things...

This week has been so beautiful. Every day I have woken up to clear blue skies and the temps have been between 75-85 everyday and it's been wonderful. Not too hot, not too cold and a beautiful view of the mountains. It really doesn't get much better than this.

Here are a few ways I have been enjoying summer:

Out door garden decorations. There is a cute little country shop at the Seattle Premium Outlets called The Country Rose, that I love to go to. Last week I picked up these cute little bird house yard picks. I love the colors and the polka dots and the rusty roof. They make me happy :)

Cup of dirt! Who didn't have these when they were a kid?? I remember having them at school and our teacher had told us that there were real worms in them. All the kids sat and stared at the cups waiting to see if the worms would move and eventually we realized they were gummy worms :) Something made me think of these recently so I decided to make them for the kids last night and I think they went over well. Campbell was a little hesitant at first, but then she was all about the pudding and oreos :)

Mmmmm, some fresh Watermelon, a huge favorite of mine. I have had a ton of it lately and it has been so fresh and sweet. A perfect summer treat!

Announcing ♥

These are some announcements that I made for Shane & Shae. I didn't tell them that I was making them so I just made a few to show them and they loved them, so now I will be busy making a bunch more. I love the way they turned out. I used my favorite photo from when Becca and I went up there and took a bunch of photos of her. She is just precious!

Weekend getaway: Destination, Los Angeles

This past weekend, I headed down to L.A. with my friend Shelby. Her fiancee races in the West series and they had a race at Irwindale Speedway on July 4th. We flew down Thursday night and once we got in, we had dinner at a BBQ place called Wood Ranch with some of Jeff's sponsors.

Friday, the guys had to be at the track by 6:30 am, so Shelby and I got up and took them and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready. It was going to be a warm day and I wasn't looking forward to it. Thank goodness Jeff's hauler has A/C and we were able to be in the hauler for the good part of the day. Jeff did well in practice and qualified 6th. Prior to this race, he had raced there 4-5 times and had never finished a race yet so that was his goal. He stayed in the top 5 for the whole race, even battling for the lead on the last lap of the first part of the race. It was exciting and fun to watch and it was the best West race I've ever seen. Jeff hung on for 4th and he was so happy to just finish, and to get a top 5 just made it that much better.



Saturday morning we got up and took the guys to the airport and then Shelby and I went to find our Hotel. Tom tom got us lost (although it was probably an operator error) haha. We finally found the Marriott in downtown LA and we were really impressed with the room. It had the coolest bathroom ever with the movie lighting on the sides, so cool! We dropped our luggage off and then we went shopping. We went to the Fashion District which is blocks and blocks of shops. We bought so much stuff! We left there around 3:00 and headed for Beverly Hills. We stopped at a bunch of shops along there and I almost bought a purse at Juicy but I didn't love it, so I decided to wait until I find one that I absolutely love. We went into Dior, Coach, Juicy, Dolce & Gabana, BCBG, Kitson, Kitson Kids, and a few others that I don't remember the names of. We also went to the Crumbs cupcake shop that is a favorite of some celebs.




Next we decided to drive down Sunset Blvd. and we found the biggest shoe warehouse I have ever been to. It was unreal and overwhelming. We tried on sooo many different shoes and Shelby ended up with a few pairs. By this time it was getting later so we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out.

There weren't really any clubs around us and Shelby wasn't a fan of getting a cab, so we walked across the street to the Westin. We heard there was a great steakhouse there so that's where we went. It was on the 35th floor and it was a rotating bar. We got a window seat and got to see the whole city and night so that was really cool. We had nice dinners of fillet Mignon and shrimp. After dinner, we headed downstairs to a club called Suede. It was brand new and very nice. We made some friends, had some drinks and just had a good time.





Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at our hotel which was really good and then we made the journey to LAX. That place was a zoo. We walked in and I said, yea were not going to make our flight. The line was wrapped around 4 times, and that was just to check your luggage, not to mention the line for security. We ended up making it through it plenty of time and our plane was a little late so we were fine. We both slept on the plane home and then I read my book. We got home and went to dinner at The Rock and then I headed home.

We had the best time down there and we both agreed we need to do it again!

Hot, hot, hot!

Well I've never been a fan of the heat, but it seems for the past few weeks I can't get away from it. It finally decided to be summer here now, but with that comes the 90+ temps that I am not a fan of.

I spent a few hours on Saturday with Shelby and her sister in law at David's Bridal looking at Bridesmaids dresses. They didnt have the right style in the right color but Carrie was able to try on a few dresses in the right color. After that I headed towards Tenino to watch Jay race, but before that I had to stop at the outlet mall of course! I got some new clothes and then went to the track. I was not looking forward to getting out of my car because at 6:00 it was still over 90! Thankfully there was a nice breeze.

Jay qualified 5th and started on the 2nd row, outside. He was doing well until about lap 20 when his car made a few loud pops. I was thinking it was the motor and he brought the car to the pits. They discovered that the distributor wires had melted, so they fixed that and sent him back out. There had been a red flag for most of the time he was in the pits, so he hadn't lost many laps. He was doing well and then he went into turn 1, got real high and ended up hitting the wall with the back of his car, then the front, then the back again! It turns out he had lost his breaks. The damage wasn't all too bad. Just needs a new bumper cover and some TLC :) I think he was just bummed because basically since October, he has just wanted to race and have a good race at that. With being gone for training for his new job, this was the first opportunity he had to race. When I left Saturday night, the last thing he told me was, next time we will be better, so atleast he is keeping his head up :)

Sunday I just wanted to get out of the hot house, so Campbell and I headed to Bellevue square, where else huh? My sister recently got a job at a Salon in the mall, so she hung out with us on her break and then Campbell and I shopped the rest of the afternoon. We got Cami some new clothes at The Children's Place and a few things for Cooper too. I just love that store, they have such good deals.
Campbell also got this new webkin and we named her Chewy :)



My favorite purchases were at Sephora. I love that store, so many things to buy! I got some new eye shadows, some mascara, and lipgloss.