Little turkey.

This is how Campbell looked when I picked her up from school on Wednesday. She was so cute and excited for Thanksgiving and more importantly, having 4 days of no school!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I look forward to this day every year. I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade while the kitchen is busy with cooking and everyone is searching through the ads looking at what they will buy the next morning. The excitement that we will get up around 3 am to go shopping tomorrow morning. The afternoon football games
(which includes the Hawks this year) and the Christmas music in the house. I just love it all.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Wedding.

Jeff & Shelby's wedding was last Saturday and oh what fun we had. It was held at The Tracy Castle in Buckley. A neat little side note is that country singer Blaine Larsen who is from Buckley, was married there about 3 years ago.

Us girls spent a lot of time hanging out in the bridal suite, listening to music, getting our hair and makeup done and just laughing. It was a fun way to spend the day. The guys met up for breakfast and then also came to the Castle for pictures.

Shelby looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress. She has spent the past few months getting it altered just right and she loved it. She was just glowing :) When they saw each other for the first time, it was pretty emotional. He requested that Shelby meet him at the bottom of the stairs so that he could watch her come down them. So sweet.

The ceremony was performed by Pastor Bob, a chaplain for the racing community which was very fitting. Bob has married several from the racing community and he always does a wonderful job. Thanks to his wife Kathy, I have pictures from the whole day without having to take them myself :)

I think everyone enjoyed themselves at the reception, especially the bride and groom. While dancing with Jeff I asked him if he was having fun..he took a breath and with tears in his eyes, said "this is the best day of my life." So, so sweet. It was a pretty emotional day! Here are some pictures from their big day.

Jeff & Shelby Barkshire
11.22.08

Well.

My Sister Ashley had her ultrasound yesterday, and after many measurements and lots of waiting, we found out we will be having a little princess :) She already weighs about 11 ounces and the Dr. said she has long bones. Ashley is about 19 weeks along at this point. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. April can't come soon enough for this proud Auntie :)

Giveaway Winners.

Thank you to everyone who posted a comment on my 200th post! I chose the winners by going to this site.

Becca
Kristin
Karen
Danyelle

Your little somethings will be in the mail soon :)

200.

Wow. That's a lot of posts! I love the blogging world. Every day, I look forward to posting and reading other's too. So in honor of that, I am having my first giveaway today! Post a comment on this post and I will randomly select 4 people to send some of my favorite things.

Happy giveaway :)

Crate&Barrel.

I want this:

And these are pretty cute too:

And check back tomorrow morning for a special 200th post :)

The Last Lecture.

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” — Randy Pausch

I first learned of Randy Pausch when he appeared on Oprah several months ago. His story quickly inspired me and I was hooked. He was a father of 3 young children who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. Randy was also a professor at Carnegie Mellon and was asked to give a speech as if it were his last. Since he had just found out that he didn't have much longer to live, he focused the book around chasing your dreams. He included many short stories from his life to give everyone, most importantly his children, an idea of what kind of person he was. After reading the book, it's pretty clear what an extraordinary person Randy was. Unfortunately he passed away in July, but his legacy will live on forever.

The video of his lecture has spread all across the country inspiring all who see it. His book was the kind of book that I read in 3 days because I could not put it down. Rachel was reading it with me on the plane to Vegas, and now I have passed the book on to her. I would highly recommend reading this book. It will open your eyes to how simple life can really be when you don't worry about the little things.

The Zac Brown Band.

These are the guys that make up The Zac Brown Band. When we went to their concert in Vegas a few weeks ago, they announced their new CD would be out on November 18th, so Rachel and I have been counting down the days and it's finally here! Most popular for their song "Chicken Fried", this band is gaining popularity quickly.

I love concerts as it is. Something about live music is very inspiring to me. Hearing these guys perform songs that I had never heard before, really got my attention and made me appreciate their talents even more. They just work well together and their songs have great meaning. I actually downloaded the CD last night since I pre ordered it and I have been listening to it all morning :) Go take a listen for yourself!

Visiting.

Saturday morning I drove down to the Portland area to visit my friend Lynsie and her sweet baby boy Zach. Brandon was off hunting for the weekend so we just hung out at the house and had a nice relaxing weekend. We rented a few movies, Lynsie made dinner and we played with Zach. He is such a great baby and is always so happy. You just look at him and he smiles. Not only is he a spitting image of Brandon, he also inherited his gift of gab and he will probably be attached to a phone in no time :)



Zach was wide awake at 5 am on Sunday morning and by 8 am it felt like we had already had a full day! We all napped and then watched the race. Zach got so excited when they showed the cars. His little arms and legs started flailing and he was talkin up a storm :) It's pretty much inevitable that he will be racing something in a few short years.




I had a great time visiting them and can't wait to see them again this weekend at the wedding.

The Vest.

I've had my eye on this cute little vest for awhile now but wasn't willing to pay $50.00 for it. I was at the Nordstrom half yearly sale the other night and saw it on the sale rack for $24.00 and just had to get it for Campbell. I picked her up from school yesterday and she looked so cute waiting on the sidewalk in her little vest :) She excitedly told me, "I wore this thing all day!".

She is such a sweet girl and I am so lucky and thankful to be a part of her life!

Happy 1st Birthday Grace!

Kevin and Mandi's darling baby girl Grace turned 1 today, how fast a year has gone! Since they live in North Carolina, I have only got to see her a few times, but they are good about keeping me posted on her happenings by sending photos and videos's of the girl, as they call her :)
Such a sweet girl she is!

I can't wait until the Hamlin Family comes "home" for Christmas :)

Veteran's Day

Today I enjoyed a nice day off thanks to the Veteran's in our Country that have put their lives on the line for our freedom. I am so very thankful for my freedom and all the opportunities that go along with it.

I enjoyed my day by staying at home and catching up on some chores. It was the perfect day for that as it was cloudy and dreary, my favorite kind of day to be inside :) I started a pot roast around 2 and the smell filled the house all afternoon. I read some of my book, did some laundry, cleaned my bathroom, cleaned my closet and dusted. I also made a couple of Pumpkin Pies which turned out great. Days like today really renew me and get me ready for the next whirlwind of events.

Pumpkin Pie

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
Whipped cream (optional)

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

6 months

Miss Cadence turned 6 months old on Friday so I went up to see her. Shae's mom and her 2 nieces were up and we had fun playing with the baby and playing salon. We went to Dairy Queen for her monthly birthday there. It started on her first month birthday when I was there and we went to DQ. It has become a monthly tradition :) Too bad Cadence sleeps most of the time but this time she woke up and wanted some ice cream!

We tried everything to get her to crawl to us by putting a bunch of things in front of her that she would just love to play with. She moved a little bit, but not a full crawl. I bet it will be soon though. She is such a smart baby and so sweet too :)

Stuffed Peppers.

These are a favorite of mine and they are perfect to make on a cold fall night, and that's exactly what I did the other night. There are many different recipes but I just threw mine together and created my own.

Ingredients:
6 peppers
1 lb. hamburger
1 can of traditional spaghetti sauce
1 box Spanish rice a roni
1 small can corn
1/2 onion diced
A few table spoons of brown sugar



Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the tops off of the peppers and clean the seeds out.
Boil peppers for about 6 minutes and then set aside.
Cook rice a roni as directed on package.
Brown hamburger and onions together until cooked through and then drain.
Add spaghetti sauce to hamburger, then add the corn.
After the rice is cooked through, add to hamburger mixture. Add a few tablespoons of brown sugar to taste.

Spoon mixture into peppers and pour the extra sauce over the peppers and in the bottom of the pan.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Election Day in America

Well today is the big day! On the way to school this morning, Campbell and I were talking about the election. She excitedly told me she was voting for Barack Obama. I asked her why and she said "Well some of my friends are and also he saved the world". She also told me that some of her friends were voting for John McCain and that was okay too. It was cute to listen to her talk so candidly about both candidates. I'm sure they have talked about it at school and then she hears conversations on tv and at home too. I was shocked that she even knew both candidates names.

Las Vegas

We are back from our trip, and oh what fun we had! I don't think we ever stopped laughing :) We started out going to Old Vegas when we got there Thursday afternoon, for The Zac Brown Band concert. The PBR was in town and also NHRA, so the town was packed. We had a great time at the concert and can't wait until November 18th when their CD comes out. They are very talented and I hope they go far in their careers. After the concert we got to meet all of them and get pictures and talk for a bit, they were all very nice guys. Everyone gambled for awhile and had some drinks so we didn't get back until about 3am.

Friday us girls shopped all day while the guys had practice at the track. We went to the Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood and then to the Forum shops at Caesar's. Rachel tried on a hat at a store we were in, and it sort of became the joke for the trip, with her trying on over 10 different hats. Of course I had to get a pic every time and her line was "Why wouldn't I?" We got many good laughs out of her :)

The guys weren't going to get back until around 10 pm, so we made reservations for us girls at Mona Vie in Paris. We wanted to sit on the balcony to people watch since it was Halloween and all, but we weren't able to. We had a good time and still saw some great costumes and not so great ones too. We went to the Toby Keith bar after that and got many good laughs there. I think I can officially say I have now seen it all after being in Vegas on Halloween.

Saturday the guys left early and us girls waited for Eric's Dad to arrive from Bakersfield. He and his wife picked us up and we headed to the track. Eric had a great car all day and qualified 2nd. It was great to see some old friends from the SWT. Going to this race made me realize that of all the race cars I've ever watched, the tour car is still my favorite. I love the way it looks, sounds, races..everything. I was so happy to see Jim Pettit race again and he ended the night by winning the Championship for the SRL series he raced in all year so that was pretty neat. Eric got spun and had to go to the back, but still finished 5th.
Brandon was down there helping his Uncle Mike, so Lynsie and Zach came also and I got to sit with them in the stands for awhile. Zach is so cute and loved the sounds of the cars, he didn't make a peep :)

Saturday night we got cleaned up and took a limo around town, eventually going to the piano bar at Harrah's. We had so much fun laughing and watching people. We left there around 5am and had a limo take us to get some burgers before going back to our hotel. I think when I got in my room it was around 6:30 which was really 5:30 with the time change. I was wide awake at 8 am and couldn't sleep so I just got ready and went to get coffee. Rachel and I went over to M&M world and I got some things for all the kids before we had to leave for the airport.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:30 Sunday but once we got to the airport, realized it was delayed for a few hours so we just hung out at the airport. We were all so tired and most everyone took a nap. The flight was delayed due to wind and it was so miserable during the flight I have never had a flight with so much turbulence and there was more than one time that I thought I was going to get sick but thankfully I didn't. I think we were all glad to be on the ground and headed home to go to bed. We all had a great time and I can't wait until I go back again!