Records.

The Pacific NW has been breaking records lately, and none that I'm a fan of! It has to do with the heat, and I will call it extreme heat since I think that this area is not meant for these high temps. Wednesday, Seattle broke an all time record with Seatac reporting 103 degrees, the hottest day ever! Many areas were warmer, including lucky us in Monroe where they reported it to be 107. Thursday also broke a record for Seattle with Seatac reporting 96, breaking the old record of 94 for that date.

Now if we had A/C, I wouldn't complain much. But we don't. And let me tell you, that makes for some pretty uncomfortable nights.

Happy Birthday, dear friend.

She can always make me laugh. Always.
She genuinely cares about everyone.

She has the sweetest bond with her nieces.

She is an amazing wife.

She loves surprises.

She loves to laugh.

She supports everyone with everything.

She has awesome hair and a great sense of style.

She loves concerts.

She loves Vegas even more.

She is a small town girl with a big city heart.

She loves being around people and people love being around her.

She has a wonderful attitude on everything.

She is my friend.

She means so much to so many.

Thank you Rachel for all that you are and all that you do. I hope you have the most wonderful birthday :)

Daughtry.

If there is 1 thing that Rachel and I both love, it's concerts..and free ones at that! I happened to find that Daughtry was coming to Seattle July 17th and it was a free show too, so I got us tickets and a hotel and we were ready to go. We got there and found a massive line to get in, like 7 city blocks long. We thought for sure we weren't going to get in, but we did and ended up having an awesome view of the stage being able to stand right in front of it. It turns out that it was being filmed for the Jimmy Kimmel show so it wasn't that long of a concert but we got to hear some great songs. Daughtrys new album "Leave this town" came out on July 14th but we already knew most of the songs. It was a fun night that we ended with a wonderful steak dinner at Ruth Chris and a couple drinks at a martini bar.

Birthday Surprise!

This was the look on my face when I walked in to PF Changs thinking I was having lunch with my Sister, niece, Brother and Dad...and was surprised with Becca, Dailey, Skylee, Rachel, Shae, Cadence, Breanne, Campbell and Cooper! I had no clue and it was the best surprise. Before lunch, they had taken all of the kids to get a group photo taken for me of all "my kids". I love all of these kids so much and I feel so lucky to have them in my life. They are the cutest kids around :)

Thank you to everyone involved! I am so happy to call all of you friends.

4th of July.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to one of my favorite places, Irwindale,CA. We flew out Friday evening and arrived in Burbank where Travis and Budah picked us up and took us to In n Out.

Saturday morning, Rachel, myself and Travis's Mom Gale got ready for our big shopping day. We were going to the Fashion District in down town LA, but when getting off the exit, we realized the Staples center was right there so we made a little detour to check out the Michael Jackson scene. I must admit that I never really considered myself a fan of MJ. I knew who he was my whole life of course, but never really got into his music, or him. However, I just can't get over the fact that he passed so unexpectedly. We parked in a parking garage where no one else was and went up to the Staples Center where there was a huge billboard with MJ's picture. We stood in line with only a few people in front of us to sign the board and get our picture taken. Gale couldn't believe we were there :) Funny enough, I have seen the same board on TV many times now and it was reported that people waited hours in line to sign that..guess we were pretty lucky to not have many others there.

After that experience, we headed to the Fashion District which is always fun in an overwhelming way. So many things to see and buy. We were there exactly 2 hours and all got plenty of things to try to get home. We cruised around LA and then headed up to Universal City to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We sat on the patio and it was a beautiful afternoon. Clear blue skies, music and people everywhere. At lunch Rachel was talking about how lucky we were to be able to go to all the fun places we go and do the things we do. I thought about that the rest of the day and couldn't agree more.

After lunch we went back to our hotel to change and head out to the Speedway. We arrived just in time for qualifying where Travis qualified 14th. There was a huge crowd for the race which I was very surprised by. Rachel, Eric and I headed up to the main grand stands to watch the race and sat with Travis's cousins and their 3 girls. Although Travis's car was great in practice, it didn't appear to be the same in the race and he ended up finishing 12th.

We had such a great trip full of laughs and it was exactly what I needed. I can't wait for the next trip to Irwindale!

Happy Birthday Michael!

12 years ago today, my brother was born at 8:25 am. I was 12 at the time, and was determined to be in the delivery room when he was born. My Mom & Dad left in the middle of the night and when I woke up, my Grandma was at the house to watch us girls. I begged her to drive me to the hospital and we arrived just in time. I walked in the room at 8:20 and he was born minutes later. Later that day I walked the halls with him and showed him off to anyone that would look at him :)
Since I was 12 when he was born, I remember thinking that when he was 12 I would almost be 24 and I can't believe that day is here.

{Michael, Taylor, Hunter..best friends}

Hello, July.

This month I plan to:

Celebrate the 4th of July at Irwindale Speedway watching Travis & Eric race.

Try some "summer" recipes like this, and this.

Enjoy the new Daughtry CD when it comes out on July 14th.

Celebrate my birthday and Ashley's 21st birthday with a trip to Las Vegas!

Take advantage of Strawberry season.

Wear flip flops pretty much everyday.

Play with and enjoy all the kids :)