40 is good stuff.

This happy girl turned 40!!

Despite all the negative hype this particular birthday gets...

I must say...

I HAD A SUPER FANTASTIC DAY!!

40 isn't so bad!

To start it off...

My dear, amazing friend, Elece brought over a huge box.

And in it?? 

 40 gifts for me to unwrap!

My smile muscles started hurting after 2 seconds.

You should have seen us both jumping up and down

like little kids with anticipation and excitement.

It was awesome.

She was so thoughtful

and filled it with all my favorite things...

including DIRT!

Check out what she wrote on it.

"Ya...I totally got you a bag of dirt for your birthday :)"

Hee.

Here it is all unwrapped.

I think my smile muscles still hurt.

But I want to tell Elece...

Thank you with all my heart.

That was a SUPER FUN gift!!!

And I loved it more than you know.

I didn't get any other pictures of my birthday.
But it was all so good.
I got to play USTA team tennis tournament.
Our team did great and we are moving on.
Trev surprised me with new tennis clothes!
My friends & family surprised me with gifts and
happy birthday messages.

I just had such a good day.
Thank you to all!!!

And then on to my darling daughter.

Prom.

Isn't she pretty in green?

Cute...

Love this picture of daddy's girl.

17 years ago, we only could have imagined times like these.

And now they are happening.

And they are so so fun.

And more good stuff around the corner...

1.  summer!

2.  my tennis team is going to Portland in August!

3.  my mixed tennis team gets to start practicing

4. Oregon Coast vacation

5.  A getaway with a friend

6.  My niece Chels is getting married

7.  I get to host her reception in my garden!

Keep it coming good stuff!!!

Every day moments.

I was just thinking about how I don't use my 

camera very much anymore.

When my kids were smaller, I remember having the

camera out and ready so I could capture

the cuteness that happened in an instant.

 

Like above when Googles would suck on her toes.

Or below when the girls would play the

"can you guess the spice" game.

 

 

But lately it seems I only have the camera when

something special happens.

Like a birthday or a trip.

 

My kids are older, but they still DO camera-worthy things!

Like this...

 

 

So I'm going to try to capture more of the everyday moments.

Because these days are flying by.

See ya.

Gotta get the camera out...

 

 

 

Cake is good.

Let's start with CAKE!

Cake is an absolute good.

You aren't sure that one of these is a cake?

Just wait.

I'll explain it in a minute.

But trust me...it's cake... and they were both

super delicious.

Montana had a birthday.

She keeps growing no matter how hard I try to stop her.

12 is a big one.

She is super excited about her new...

"Apple iPod Nano 8GB Green 6th Generation"

Yep.  That's what she called it as she jumped for joy.

And here is my lovely mother.
She also had a birthday.
And here she is modeling the sassy apron
my sister made for her.
See the cute cowgirl fabric?  My sis is from Wyoming.
And she is darling.
And so is my mom.
and this apron.


And I really wanted to hang it up with my other aprons.
But it wasn't for me.


It's not all about me, you know?

I have really cute nephews.

Here are two of them,

Matthew and Michael.

They don't care about aprons.

I have cute nieces too.

They are really smart.

They care about cake...

Mom gets to blow out some candles.

On the cake that was supposed to be a 

3-layer lemon coconut beauty.

When the layers slid off the lemon curd, and the frosting

fell off the sides, we decided it should be a "trifle" instead.

But it was still cake.  And it was yummy beyond belief.

I doubt I will attempt a triple layer cake ever again.

Making one...not eating one.

And candles for Montana...

I love love love my siblings.

If I could be with them every day, I would.

They bring out the happy in me.

They also bring out the silly.

 

Silly.  Happy.  Blessed.
This is good stuff.

 

 

Just yesterday.

To all you parents of  little children...

I came across this picture,

and I'm pretty sure it was taken just yesterday.

You may have heard this before,

but I'm going to tell you anyway.

It's super important...

DON'T BLINK.

Why aren't you blogging?

"Why aren't you blogging?"

I have been asked this question a lot lately.

And how nice to know that I have loyal followers that miss me.

Even if it is a handful of you.

It is nice to be missed.

And in all honesty I have really missed blogging.

I rarely have spare time any more.

BUT I am going to make time.

I MEAN IT!

So here we go.

A little catch up for you of the last few months.

And then maybe we can get this 

blog thing really rolling again.

Cheer me on!

Maybe that will help!

:)

HERE WE GO!

Well this was before Christmas.

My friend Cheryl and I after racing each other

to the bottom of the hill.

Facefulls of snow....

Refreshing!

And here is my crazy boy and his friend.

Took off their shirts and went for it.

...Refreshing?

Time for a cocoa break!

Just what we needed to warm up before

the next sledding session.

Me & my snowbunny girls.

Cheryl, Joanna, Kim & me...

Nothing like a tea party to warm you 

up on a cold winters day.

My girlies during the break.

JoBugs played in her first doubles tennis tournament.

They won a match and lost a match.

Way to go sweetie!

My sweet Hubs turned the big 40!!

Thanks to my talented friend Wendi for the 

tombstone cake.

It was amazing AND delicious.

And thanks to some great friends

who helped us celebrate.

My sweet beautiful Googles turned 8 years old.

In our church that is the age for baptism.

She was smiley and glowed on her special day.

Her cousin, Ty, was also baptized.

He is on her left in the picture.

A great group shot of both sides of the fam that came.

 Thank you family!

My sister, my niece and me.

Cooking for New Year's Eve.

So much fun.

I so wish they lived closer!!!

And more recently...

Trev and I got to go to Maui together.

It was WONDERFUL!

He did a lot of this...kiteboarding.

We did a lot of relaxing

and just taking in the beautiful surroundings.

I think I can hear the ocean waves right now...

I have video!
I ziplined for my first time!
SO FUN!
Ok...I did scream.
But it was a happy scream!

And I will leave you with that!
Until next time...

Cute dogs and stuff.

For some reason, there are a lot of dog pictures in this post.

I think we have cute dogs.

Really cute dogs.

The kids aren't too bad either.

Here is Googles and Jasper.  

Check out that tongue.

Here is Monkey C and her tennis partner winning a tournament.

Just a fun fact for ya...

her partner is my tennis partner's daughter.

Pretty cool, huh?

The girls and their pumpkins.

I kind of forgot to buy pumpkins for the whole fam this year...

great mom, huh?

As fate would have it, Monkey A had homework and couldn't carve anyway,

so Trev and I helped the girls.

My boy did his own.

At least we got 3 awesome jack-o-lanterns.

Costumes!

My mom hosted a party this year, so we still got to dress up

and have fun.

Did you know that Trev and I are secretly Trekker nerds?

Yup, it's true.

JoBug's friend Jeff joined us this year too.

(cowgirl, army guy, ninja, army guy, janitor, Star Trek)

More dog pictures.

I could eat them up.

Especially that Jasper boy.

Another fun fact for you...

we call our dogs Cottonball Jones and Jasper Jones.

I am  not sure why.

Our last name is not Jones.

This little guy loves sunny patches too.

Just like me!!

See?  He belongs.

I told you...lots of dog pictures.

This body pillow case was warm from the dryer.

They stuck him in there, and he didn't want to get out.

Daddy and daughter.

They borrowed the hats from my son and hung out together.

Too cute.

Holidays are coming!

Yay!

I'll end this post with the perfect quote I found.

Remember how I LOVE fall?

Well, I have enjoyed it immensely this year.

I know it is almost over but... 

"Delicious autumn!

My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird

I would fly about the earth 

seeking the successive autumns."

 - George Eliot

Last camp out.

I think you know we are an outdoorsy family.

We wanted one more camping getaway before it got too cold.

So we packed everybody up and went to Hepner, Oregon for the weekend.

Good campground, beautiful trails and trees, & not too far from home.

And of course we took our quads & bikes.

Good Morning me! 

And dogs!

Yes, my camper is wonderful.  LOVE it.

Started the day off with a good breakfast!

Oatmeal, raspberries & toast!

Say yummy!

We hit the trails.

Why do I love all the blond hair coming out from my daughters' helmets?

Because they are all cute tomboys?

Don't know why, but I do.

How many times have we posed on these rocks?

Pyramid Rocks.

We all still love to stop here on this trail and climb.

And pose.

And their true natures...

Our turn.  

Hee.

Is that a dirt biker totem pole?

Or my son?

The girls on our hike.

It was a beautiful day.

Not too cold, not too hot.

So fun to see the fall colors.

Collecting roasting sticks in the forest.

Had such a great time with Trev and the kids.

My favorite parts were just hanging out with the family,

the hike with the girls, roasting marshmallows with the sticks

the girls carved, and watching Raising Hope together before bed.

Have you seen Raising Hope?

Love it.  It's a laugh and a half.

Well, I think that's it for our camping this year.

Good bye lovely camper!

See you next year!