Best 4th of July Ever!

This past weekend was the best 4th of July ever! We started out with a much too early flag ceremony/breakfast at a family friends house and then a trip to the cemetery to place flags on our Granddad's grave (a family tradition since he passed away 15 years ago).


Then after a nice long nap we had a BBQ at our place. While all the guys were over at the BBQ a bunch of us girls entertained ourselves with slip-n-slide Olympics! Here I am representing Sweden in the "distance" round...unfortunately out of the 4 of us I tied with England for Bronze.

4th of July is my Mom's favorite holiday. Here she is in front of one of our may flags enjoying some time with her grandson Adden (it was his first 4th of July)!

We came up with so creative summertime food items for the BBQ, but since my Internet is being slow this is the only one I will picture. Brianna with the flag cake we had for dessert. There was tons of amazing food!!

After the BBQ we went to Barney Schwartz Park to watch the fireworks. Grandma and Grandpa brought along some tootsie pops which was the standard treat from when I was a kid.

My cousin Michael's wife Tania and her little boys Adrian and Danny had a great time sliding down the hills on cardboard while waiting for the fireworks. The show was GREAT as was the company! It was an amazing day!

Les Miserables in Solvang

Last week I went Solvang to see Les Miserables with my sister Brianna and friend Hillary. We were a bit early for the show so we went to look around a bit.

Hillary and I loving Solvang!

Here we are in front of the theater!

They sold amazing fresh baked cookies. Here's Hillary and Brianna enjoying them before the show. The show was AMAZING, they did an incredible job and it was cool to be watching it outside (minus the bats that kept flying around attracted by the lights). It's a must see if you live on the central coast!

Babysitting Adden!

A couple of weeks ago my sister Callie and I went down to Southern California to watch our nephew Adden while his daycare provider was on vacation. Every morning we would feed him some breakfast...peas were especially appetizing.

Then we would spend some time playing outside. This pic that Callie took is adorable we both look thoroughly amused.

Adden loved hanging out with Aunt Callie.

Then after a nap we would spend some time playing indoors. He loves the Disney toys my Mom got him the last time we were at Disney Land his favorite is Buzz.

A few afternoons while we were there we went to a near by park. Adden enjoyed showing off his 2 new teeth while swinging.

Another fun game was take off Aunt Tara's sunglasses over and over.

One evening Carrie took us to the local farmers market. At one booth she gave Adden a orange sample...and he was less than impressed unfortunately. His reaction was hilarious.

One morning while Callie and I were getting ready Callie gave him one of her make-up brushes to play with when I walked over to him he immediately reached out to brush my face with it...ready to help me look my best...so adorable. We had a great time and loved bonding with Adden!

Hillary's Birthday Surprise!!!

I was in Oakland for my good friend Hillary's birthday...so when I got home my sister Brianna and I set up a girls night and invited her over. First was a scavenger hunt for her presents...here she is thinking of where the next clue would led to.

Here she is reading her happy birthday messages that went along with her presents....

The bathroom seemed like the perfect place to hide a few of the gifts...

After the gifts came and ice cream Sunday surprise!!! This doesn't look so big in this pic but it's a whole half gallon of lactose free ice cream, m&m's, whoppers, chocolate syrup, and mini twix bars, slathered in whip cream. There were 5 of us and we still had to send the left overs home with Hil. Delicious...total sugar overload!

After the ice cream we did pedicures...here are Hil and my toes in a fabulous pink. It was a great night.