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!

Happy Birthday, Jay.

"Friendship is not how long you've known each other. It isn't how much you've given or received; nor how many times you've helped each other, but it's how you value one another."

Happy Weekend.

I haven't been home on a weekend in far too long. That will be changing this weekend and I am so happy for it! I love going places and spending time with friends but I also love just being home.

My weekend plans include:

Having Ava stay with me all weekend.

Also having Lizzie, Campbell and Cooper for a sleepover tonight.

Buying Ava a jumperoo..she is ready for one!

Making Chili.

Making a Pot roast.

Taking the kids to a park to enjoy some wonderful Fall weather.

Watching some racing.

Hanging out in my sweats.

Scrap booking..more realistically..looking at my stuff :)

Fall Classic weekend 09.

Another Fall Classic down which is hard to believe since that means it's the end of the racing season around here. It was a fun weekend that started off in Ellensburg on Friday night as it was a girls night that included dinner and drinks and then going to cheer on the EHS Football team. Travis and Rachel's nephew Kody plays on the team and it was the Homecoming game. Afterwards we went out for a few drinks and then called it a night.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at the track in the freezing cold and crazy wind! I was so excited for the races since there were so many good drivers this year. Saturday nights race didn't go well for either Jeff or Jay and neither did Sunday. Shane was running really good and in 3rd at the time when a mishap on a restart left him with a wrecked car. The race took over 4 hours which is way too long and I was glad to see it end. Another race season in the books and I am happy about that..for now :)

Viva Las Vegas.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to Las Vegas for the Truck race weekend. My friend Jenn from NC, flew in and we met at the airport before heading to the Stratosphere. I hadn't seen her since she was here in March of 2008, so it was great to spend 5 days with her. We had such a fun weekend just hanging out, gambling, drinking and meeting new friends..well, new to me :)

Thursday night we headed over to The South Point Casino to watch the truck series drivers compete in a bowling tournament. That was fun for me to see the guys that I normally just see on TV, having a good time and bowling.

Friday Jenn's friend Shannon picked us up and we went out to the Red Rock Casino and had lunch and gambled a bit. No luck there as far as the gambling but it was a beautiful place. After that we shopped at the Miracle Mile for awhile and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for the night.

Saturday was the truck race which was really fun. Although, I wished I would have bet on Johnny Sauter to win like I had thought about doing earlier in the day. He won of course! Oh well..it was still fun. We got to sit in a Suite for most of the race which was a cool view and nice with the air conditioning. It was 103 when we arrived at the track Saturday and anyone that knows me, knows I hate the heat.

{Me, Jenn and Melissa}

Sunday we switched hotels and went to stay at Harrah's. We gambled a bit, went to Margaritaville for awhile and then just walked the strip. We watched the water show at the Bellagio which I think is my favorite thing in Vegas!

Monday we woke up sort of late, but had to catch up on some much needed sleep after being up until 6 am Sunday morning! We got ready and went to a restaurant called Serendipity 3 for lunch. It was very good, but super huge portions. A great place to go with a group of people. We walked around the Forum shops for a bit and then it was time to leave. I had a great time in Vegas!

{Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3}