COUSINS!

Well, it's been a tough week at work, I don't want to complain too much cause I know one of our favoritest cousins Jason is so overworked it's not even funny. Let's just say I kinda blew up at the stand-in supervisor cause he is so completely ridiculous that I thought I needed a day to stay home.

So I'm staying home tonight. I ran my 3 miles and did the last minute at 6.5 mph- I normally run at 5.0 mph, and it felt great! It helped to burn off a little tension! Then after my shower I put my pajamas back on- THAT WAS AWESOME!

So most kids are having spring break right now. Cousin Kyle called and wanted to hang out with Kent. I think that's so cool that these cousins hang out from time to time. They have alot in common, they were both born in 1994, Kyle just turned 16 and Kent is almost 16, both have super cool "K" names: KENT AND KYLE!!!, both have super cool mom's and both our strong Christians! Kent and Kyle went for a nature walk and started walking into town. Kent called and asked if they could walk around town. I know Kyle does that so I thought Kent would be ok with him. The boys had a great time. They went to Game Stop ( a video game store), then they got some teriyaki to eat, then they headed to the mall for a while. Kent called and said he was having a great time. They are growing up so fast.

So when Jeromy got home I asked if he'd do some BBQ again. It just sounded good with all these big boys around. Then all 5 of us sat down to watch some classic Muppet shows that Kyle brought over. I remember watching that show when I was a kid. After eating we realized we needed some kind of treat! I don't really have that kind of stuff lying around cause it would just be eaten.

So we had to look thru the cookbooks to find what cookie we could make with the sparse ingredients I had on hand. Well, we decided on Snickerdoodles- always a good choice!

Jade is the super cookie girl!
Love these kids: Kyle, Kent and Jade!!! I have a picture like this of them when they were around 4-6 years old!In other news I got the pictures back today of these adorable girls: Nadia, Aurora, Beriah and Tae'... so cute!Now I am just relaxing with this nice cup of coffee and eating some of Jade's snickerdoodles. Much better than being at work right now. Good night!

BBQ Birthday Bash weekend.

Well, there are alot of birthdays in March. It took a whole weekend to celebrate 'em!

I got up Saturday morning and started the bake-off! Actually I was really excited all week, cause I knew I'd have 2 days off, and I wanted to decorate some cake!

Our chickens have been really going egg crazy, so I was glad we were able to use alot of them up- 15 to be exact for all these cakes!It was supposed to be really nice Saturday so Jeromy went out and pressure washed all the lawn furniture.

Saturday evening we were having the whole gang from church over. Ok, not everybody, but a few families. We always have alot of fun. We were having a BBQ potluck! Jeromy BBQ'ed hamburgers, turkey burgers and hot dogs- yum!

This is Jeromy saying "take the picture, then get the camera out of my face woman so I can BBQ!" lol, gotta love it!

While outside, before people started showing up, I took some pictures of the yard... I just love these white trees, there are 2 different kinds here...

The white flowers don't last very long, you can see they are already falling all over the ground, looks like snow in March. It's really pretty but I do wish they'd stay on the tree a little longer!

These are the 3 bushes we are trying to get rid of. I just want to open up the yard ya know? I think my mom has dibs on the red flowered one... any takers on the other 2? And mom- my white flowered trees better stay there!!!

Now that we know we'll be staying in the house for a few more years, Jeromy has been doing alot of yard work. He's cut down about 5-6 trees. He also moved the shed to the back yard next to the chicken coop.

He built a platform for the shed.... here's a closer look!

This picture of the chickens is for you Auntie Linda! I never get this close to them, so they probably thought I was stranger!

We had to get another table set up for the BBQ!
Guests started to arrive... Here's Hannah sharing a cracker with Ashton...

How cute! Hannah sure looks like her big brother Max!
Some cute girls: Tessa, Julia, Jade and baby Natalie...
Kids having fun outside...So who do you think is bigger... Ashton or his hot dog??We were celebrating 5 birthdays: Jason is 37- but he was working, what a bummer, we missed him! Michelle is 36. Kyle is 16. Beriah is 10. Shane is 8! We also found out that our friend Alison also had a March birthday, but she couldn't make it cause she was a little under the weather. But happy birthday anyway Alison- we missed you, too! There were other birthdays also, Jeromy's mom and step-mom, Jade and Kent's dad.... and of course my MOM! But we'll talk more about her later in this blog!Julia and Jade... love those "J" names!Hannah enjoying her BBQ hot dog!
Kent really enjoyed his BBQ food, too!
Here's the birthday people, Jason had to work, so Max blew out his dad's candle...
A video....



Iana had fun picking some beautiful flowers... until bugs started crawling out of them! Out went the box! Now onto Sunday. We went to church this morning. I hate feeling so sleepy during church. I'm really trying to absorb what Pastor Kevin is teaching, but since I'm swing shift- mornings are tough. But Pastor Kevin is a great teacher- I love listening to him teach the bible in a way I can understand.

After church, we were on to round two of the BBQ birthdays! Today we were having a birthday for my mom! She turned 60 this month- amazing cause she doesn't look a day past 40- so cute mom! And keeping on that treadmil every week- so awesome!

Well, I wanted to make my mom a really special cake cause you only turn 60 once ya know. So I had been looking online for a while just trying to get ideas. I'm by no means a professional cake decorator but I do have fun with it!

I had actually made the cake Saturday morning cause I knew it needed to be done after church cause everyone was coming over at 1pm. Sooooo, I made 4 different sized cakes- I actually bought these 4 tins earlier this week just for my mom's cake! It is going to be HUGE!

You'd think this cake looks good enough huh! Well, I was only half way done here... I loved the Whoppers idea I saw online!Here it is....I really wanted to put 60 candles on the cake- I really did, but I thought I'd spare my mom having the smoke alarm going off like last time- that was awesome!

Ok, notice the detail.. the bottom is purple with pink M&M's , the next layer is pink frosting with green M&M's , the next is green frosting with yellow M&M's- see the pattern here? We got the Resurrection Sunday (AKA Easter) M&M's to match the frosting! This cake was heavy people!

Here's mom and dad, Misty and I, and the hanging basket-o-flowers Misty and I went in on for our mom! It was really pretty! That was Misty's department- she does flowers, I don't know flowers.... but that hanging basket was really pretty, I think I may want one (hint: Jeromy and kids, Mother's day!)Mom also brought over Misty's BEAUTIFUL finished quilt! Look at that!
Kelsey liked it, too!Jeromy BBQ'ed more hamburgers and hot dogs...

Look at all that family... see Jade? Wait- that's her senior picture- ya I know it's huge!

Happy 60th mom! Look how cute she is!!!
Our family- missing cute Aurora's face tho...
Come on- who doesn't want a piece of THIS cake??
Pretty flowers...
Grandma Cindy was showing Kelsey her flowers. Kelsey was touching them and smelling them- so cute!The girls: Misty, Kelsey, Grandma Cindy looking at Kelsey, Katie and Jade (MIA: Aurora)
The boys: Mason, Grandpa Lee, Kent, Jeromy and Denny. (MIA: Dennis- we missed you Dennis!)
And last but not least, a little video of Kelsey being so cute! Did you know she's counting now? She's a genious!

So again:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL YOU MARCH BIRTHDAY PEOPLE!!!