Christine's Bridal Shower

Have I mentioned a time or two how excited I am that my little brother is getting married? My sister Kelly and I had the honor of throwing our soon-to-be sister-in-law a bridal shower this weekend, and not to toot our own horns or anything, but it was a smashing success!

THANK YOU, PINTEREST. You never fail us.

On the menu: caprese salad skewers, bacon wrapped pineapple, strawberry spinach salad, quiche, fruit with fruit dip, and cupcakes.

We also served strawberry lemonade, sangria, cucumber infused water, and coffee.

The Cupcakes were from Fat Cupcake bakery in Oregon City - they were incredible!

We had the guests fill out a cute little card of wishes and advice for the bride & groom that Kelly made (she made all the banners and signs too. She is awesome.) They will fit in an album we gave Christine that we'll also fill with pictures from the shower.

And finally... the beautiful bride-to-be!

Visiting and eating before playing "guess the groom" and "bridal scattergories". 

I was pretty proud of my Guess the Groom board! (If you're stumped by number 8 that's because it was especially for Christine... he was the Heisman winner from her alma mater, Florida State, and we knew no one else would know him besides her!)

These hangers are so fun for a wedding day picture of the dress. Kelly and I ordered this one on etsy - there are tons to choose from.

My Aunt Kathy and cousin Kristin made the rehearsal bridal bouquet from the ribbons on the gifts, and then got really creative with wrapping paper and tissue after we realized most gifts were in bags! Didn't they do a fantastic job? 

Oh it was such a fun day! Kelly and I enjoyed all the planning and preparation that went into it and were tickled pink when everything turned out how we envisioned it. But most of all it was a great "girlfriends" afternoon, and actually really relaxing once the shower began. That's always a bonus :)

We love you, Christine, and can't wait for your big day!  

InstaMonday {Life Lately}

It's Spriiiiiing Breeeaaak!

(I don't know why I get so excited about my kids being out of school for a week. I still have to go to my part time job, and Russ still works, so we're not on vacation or anything. I think it's just the break from making sure everyone's homework is done/is in bed on time/to school on time/picked up from school/etc.etc. And everyone can sleep in!

So I guess I do know why I get excited :)

And here's what we've been up to lately, according to the cell phone...

I tried this delectable selection of mini cupcakes from Fat Cupcake in Oregon City, did not share them with anyone, and decided, yes... they are the best cupcakes I've ever had. 

WILL RETURN SOON. 

Blake turned eight...

and requested a mini-trampoline for his gift. You know, so he can do dunks on the hoop outside.

We laugh in the face of imminent childhood injury. 

My husband's cute grandpa also had a birthday... his 90th! We loved celebrating with him last weekend, and look! Santa's photobombing! hahaha. 

My parents returned from New Zealand with gifts that only someone from New Zealand would understand. Like the Raro drink mixes we grew up with, tomato chutney that is waaaay better than ketchup, and salad tongs with the all important sliding closure thingy. Yes, we are weird about our salad tong preference. 

Birthday celebrations continued Saturday night with a double date with my sister and her husband for their birthdays... and we still have one more to go with Cooper's 13th this week!

After dinner we saw Allegiant and I found out the final book is being split into two movies, so really this was only part 1, and I felt TRICKED AND BETRAYED. On the other hand though, at least I didn't have to watch the horrible book ending yet and now I can still cling to my secret hope that they will totally rewrite it. 

A girl can dream, right? 

All Scrapped Out

Here's where I was this weekend... Scrap Around the Clock Fall 2015!

I've recapped this event several times before so I won't go into all the logistics of it... just imagine a large space filled with giddy scrapbookers with no kids or other commitments, and you can guess what a happy place it is :)

We were completely full once again, in fact we sold out in a record 3 weeks! I love how word of our event keeps spreading through positive word-of-mouth. Yeah, happy scrappers!

{Kelly, Karyn, me, Jana & Gaylen}

Our fab crew, minus Linley who was out of the state. This was Gaylen's last hurrah; she's moving to Louisiana at the end of the year but hopes to come back as an attendee twice a year - ahhh the luxury life of a new retiree! We will of course not let her out of this verbal commitment and will badger her until she returns ;)

Kelly and I love having our Mum come - this year she worked on a photobook of her bike ride across the States, and got sucked into the movies on the big screen like I always do. It's hard to be productive while shedding a tear over The Age of Adaline! (Great film, by the way.)

Working with family is fun! 

I'm excited for next Spring's event and meeting old friends and new, once again. I'm also excited for a week of catch up sleep! Dang I ain't 20 no more!!

Last Spring's recap.

Monday Confessional - More Small Confessions

- School starts tomorrow and tonight I let Kendall stay up until almost 10:30pm watching Pride & Prejudice with me while I painted her nails because we've been listening to the audiobook together when driving around running errands and she actually likes it! And wanted to watch the movie! So I was all... watch it again for the 37th time? On the first night of the new school year? HECK YESSSS.

- Speaking of school starting tomorrow... we just finished school clothes shopping TODAY. Always on top of things, this mama.

- My boys drove me crazy today. So crazy, in fact, that I teared up with frustration while driving them home after new school haircuts (something very out of the norm for me), and had to clench my teeth to force myself not to say mean things that I would regret. Instead I made our busy day take a break, took Blake and myself to bed for a nap, and Cooper got to read on his bed (and not move or make any noises). Life was better after that. They were still obnoxious, but I didn't feel like driving myself off a cliff anymore.

- I turned 36 yesterday. 36 is no longer close to thirty. I'm on the shady side now... possibly in my "late thirties". I don't like that, to be honest. But I liked my birthday! Russ is away on a hunting trip so my parents took me out to lunch, and my girlfriends took me out to dinner and I was completely spoiled rotten by friends and family alike.

{Jana, Kelly, Valerie, myself, Kristie, & Christine}

And when Russ gets home (tomorrow!!!) he's taking me out on a birthday shopping date, so the fun continues, which I'm soooooo cool with ;)

- Possibly not so cool though: after telling my girlfriends about a fun trivia game we played in Sunriver, they stopped to buy it for me on our way home. And we may or may not have then opened it in the car and played it while driving. A trivia game. ON GIRLS NIGHT OUT. This is 36, folks. 

 

Lincoln

This cutie-patootie is my 10-month-old nephew, Lincoln. He came to stay with me last weekend while his parents were away on an anniversary trip, which meant after a six-year break from babydom I was thrown back into the world of feedings and high chairs and playpens and naps and rocking, and everything else that comes along with precious and adorable wee ones. 

It was all fun and games until there was sticky poop up the back and I'd completely run out of energy and had to wonder how I'd ever manage if I had to do it over again. I think I'll stick to auntying please!

Auntying is LOTS of fun. I got to squish those cheeks and arms and legs and smell that head and giggle and make goofy noises and video him every other hour and get my baby fill to my heart's content, and then send him home and take a gloriously long Sunday afternoon nap! 

The nap was great of course, but I think I might need to "borrow" Lincoln again in the near future ;)

Mother's Day for the win

As far as mother's days go, and mother's day weekends for that matter, mine was pretty splendid.

It started here...

{At Cannon Beach for our church women's retreat}

And ended here...

{At a family BBQ at my parents to celebrate Mum}

Worship and the Word were both incredible this year - so refreshing and renewing, and since both shopping and yummy dessert were also included, and sweet talks and laughter with friends, the whole thing was the cat's pajamas. 

{too many cute choices! Banana Foster caramel bread pudding!} 

But the best part of all was coming home to my family, where my kids and husband had cleaned the whole house until it was spotless, made me the most adorable cards (including a love letter from my husband that made me cry), and were excited to show me everything they'd done, including completely rearranging the boys' bedroom!

I am blessed to have the amazing mothers that I do, and blessed to be a mother.  So, so blessed.

The Scrap Recap

What a weekend! My Scrap Around the Clock crew and I hosted our 23rd event, and it was a crazy, awesome, and super-rewarding time!

We hosted 74 ladies from all over western Oregon and parts of Washington for a 33-hour crop, which included 4 catered meals, 7 vendors, 2 make 'n take workshops, prizes and giveaways, 15-minute massages, an espresso cart, movies on the big screen, and lots of personal scrap space!

{Our crew: Kelly, Jana, Karyn, myself, Linley, and Gaylen}

{The scrapper's showcase, where ladies vote on their favorite layout or cards made over the weekend.}

{Karyn getting her nails done by Joni, our Jamberry Nail rep. It's not just about the scrapping!}

Personally, I got a lot accomplished myself besides helping run the show. My big project was photo organization from the past 3 1/2 years, and sorting through the THOUSANDS of cell phone pictures that I had thrown in randomly named files on my laptop over the years instead of putting them with my regular camera pictures in monthly files. It was a huge headache but I did it! And I feel sooooo good to have it done. 

A TON of work goes into these weekends, with all the proceeds going to a ministry at our church, and by Saturday night we are poooooped. But then we start reading the comment cards left from our attendees and are so tickled pink by the compliments and praise our event receives that we start getting excited for the next one already! C'mon October 9th & 10th!

I'm so proud of Scrap Around the Clock :)