Hallie's 9th Birthday

We had a wonderful time today celebrating Hallie's birthday.  She turned nine which is unbelievable!  The party had an ice cream theme and the decore, food, the company, and the cake was perfect.  Hallie is so sweet and I feel like I have a "special" connection with her because for whatever reason she always gets overly excited when she greets me at familly events.  Ryan and Tiffanie got to meet Miss Brookyln for the first time and Lincoln had a blast playing with Corbin in the dirt and on the swing set.

Footprint Stepping Stone

Pinterest is a site that absolutely LOVE!  In fact I have become completely enthralled with it lately.  I think because summer is just around the corner and I will have spare time this summer when I am home with the kids.  I've been using probably three times per week because of all the wonderful recipes I want to try!  Anyway, I had found some cool stepping stone ideas and I remember that my mother in law had been talking about needing to get a plate made with Brooklyn's footprints since I had made her a plate from Painted Plate with Lincoln's footprints on it.  My thought was to make a stepping stone with her footprints on it.  

I started with a concrete stepping stone and some combo adhesive grout that I purchased at Home Depot.  For the decor I used some tile pieces and some marbles.  It would be fun to start collecting unique dishware pieces from garage sales to us in future stepping stones as well.  

The first step was to lay out my design.  It took me a few tries, but eventually I ended up with a pattern I liked.  I placed a thin layer of the grout adhesive directly on the stepping stone and then set my tiles in place.  Brooklyn's footprints were the inspiration around the project so I wanted them to be the central focus.  It was very hard to get a good print with the grout adhesive.  I attempted three times before I ended up with the final.  What seemed to work the best was letting the grout adhesive dry a little before making the print.  For future stepping stones with hand and or footprints I will test some other ideas for the highest quality print.    once the pattern was applied I let it set for 24 hours.  

Next it was time to fill in the space between my tiles.  I found that using an old sock on my hand helped to get the clumps out and smooth the surface as much as possible.  The stepping stone then had to set for another 24 hours.

Once it was dry the last step was to clean up the tile pieces and smooth them out.  I used a putty knife and a warm wet rag.  It took a bit of elbow grease, but really didn't take too long to clean each piece.  I think my mother in law will like it :-)

        

Conrad's Graduation Celebration

Today my cousin Conrad graduated from Tenino High School.  He not only graduated, but he graduated second in his class!  I am so proud of him and the man he has grown into!  He is not only very intelligent, but kind, responsible and caring.  As he ends this chapter in his life with a celebration of family and friends it is also the segue into his next chapter, college...  August 11 he embarks on the journey of college.  He will be attending Washington State University.  We had a great time celebrating with him today and wish him the best of luck (though he doesn't need it.)
 

  

 

    

Edgefield 2012

It was a long time coming, but the day finally arrived...  Girls night at Edgefield in Troutdale Oregon.  We left Friday after work and came home Saturday afternoon.  I know that our next girls weekend at Edgefield will be for two  nights as there was just not nearly enough time to check everything out.  Our scenic tour of the grounds was cut short due to the horrific weather.  There was thunder, lightning, and a torrential down pouring of rain.  However, the less than desirable weather did not dampen my spirits!  It felt so good to just relax, catch up, enjoy delicious food and drinks, and just have virtually no responsibilities outside myself.  I was relishing the thought of sleeping in and hitting the spa...  Haha!  I have come to realize that you can't retrain your body and mind with hopeful thoughts just for the sake of a "mini vacation."  In the end my body would not let me sleep past 7 and my mind just couldn't get past the "prices" at the spa!  Maybe next time I will schedule a spa treatment a head of time so that I can't talk myself out if it!  


Our room was "Bridge of the Gods."  We brought a few libations to mix in the room then we began our "adventure."

We started off with dinner and drinks in the Black Rabbit Bar and Restaurant.  

From there we headed to The Little Red Shed to enjoy a drink by the fire, but it was already full.
 

Instead we enjoyed spirits at Jerry's Ice House.  

From there we were ready for a more greasy bite so we headed to The Power Station.  The Power Station menu serves the classic McMenamins cuisine, so of course we ordered Cajun-ized tots and burgers :-)

We ended our Edgefield experience with a filling breakfast and a trip to the gift shop, but our vacation was not quite complete...  We officially wrapped up girls weekend with a trip to the outlet mall in Troutdale.

Beautiful Family Sunday

Today was a wonderful day!  We woke to Lincoln sneaking into our bedroom with his Easter basket full of cars.  He just made it around the bed when he must have tripped and they all went crashing to the floor.  He very carefully started picking them up while proclaiming, "Oopsi daises!. oopsi daises!"  Best alarm clock ever made :-)  

The weather started out a bit cloudy with a few sprinkles here and there, but ended with beautiful sunshine.  Just doing things together as a family makes my heart billow over with joy.  We went to church in the morning where Brooklyn spent her first time in nursery.  She was a champ!  Next was the weekly grocery trip then home for a nap.  A nap attempt is more like it as Lincoln just laid in his room for 2 hours without ever sleeping...  Then it was off to Josh's softball practice in Lacey.  Danette met us at the park and Lincoln got to enjoy the playground.  He had a blast.  "I can do it by myself." was his quote of the afternoon.  

We ended our Sunday with a bbq at my parents house.  The food was delicious and it was wonderful to see my brother and Necia.