MYSTERY WOMEN GETAWAY

This weekend I was in California with my high school best friend and some other women I hadn't met.
Actually, no one there knew every person, so it was dubbed the mystery women getaway. It ended up being a series of unfortunate events and a lot of amazingness.  It was most definitely a beautiful mess.

Due to a last minute flight cancellation, six of the eight women didn't have a way to California ( I will NEVER fly Allegiant Air) and that started a wave of events.  Luckily they got tickets with another airline, but they weren't able to fly out until the next day.
I was already at the Oakland Airport waiting for them.  Thankfully, one of the other women lives close so I was able to take the BART to her and we started the weekend fun, that sadly, the Utah lasses missed out on.
We bonded straightaway and I feel like I've known Rebecca forever.
We hung out in her neck of the woods and in the morning we drove down to Monterey and went sea kayaking - oh my goodness, was that fun!  One highlight was we had six curious seals that kept coming really close, one even rolled over like it wanted it's belly rubbed!

Finally, everyone was in one place and I got to hug my Kristen Pisten!

It was such a great weekend reconnecting with Kristen and getting to know the other lasses.  We rented an amazing house in Pacific Grove, stayed up to the wee hours of the night, went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, enjoyed the coastal gorgeousness, had a birthday celebration, walked around Carmel, ate at delicious restaurants (every restaurant we went to was very vegan friendly - it was so nice!) explored 17 mile drive and laughed so hard I almost wet pants.
I had no doubt I'd like all the women this weekend, but I had no idea how fast I'd fall for them.  They are spectacular!!  Although this weekend had circumstances beyond our control, this weekend gets a four star review.

HE'S SIXTEEN!

It's a wonderful day to celebrate Laird

Laird is

kind and thoughtful

a mama's boy and proud of it

honorable

a hard worker

has a heart of gold

loves his family

intelligent and spiritual

funny and has a great sense of humor

is interesting and interested

loving and lovable

an awesome brother and son

We love you and are very proud of you Laird!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

THE ANNUAL YOUNG CAMPOUT

was at Cascadia State Park this year and wow, did we ever love it there!

We went on a hike that took us to petrglyphs - we were told they are thought to be the oldest in the NW.
Unfortunately, people have tried to carve their initials and other things in the rock and many are gone due to vandalism.
It's a really amazing wonder tucked into the forest.

The water was super duper cold, but of course it didn't stop us from having shenanigans and loads of fun.

We also hiked up to Soda Creek Falls.  It's a really pretty, 3/4 mile STEEP hike.  We had so much fun.

This is an ancient Indian burial site.  It is so quiet and peaceful in this area - and would you believe it, it's the pet exercise area.
Luckily for us, we were the only ones there so we could feel it's reverence.

The weekend ended with a dead battery, car sickness and a dead van.  Other that those minor setbacks, the weekend was a smashing success.
We're already looking forward to the 2014 campout!

IT'S OFFICIAL - HE'S SIX!

Lach makes us laugh everyday.  

He thoroughly loves being inappropriate and the reactions he gets.  

He is a riot and you never know what he is going to do or say.  

We are SO happy he was born.

He is a joy to our family and he is the perfect caboose to our clan.  

That face melts our hearts.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LACH!

WE LOVE YOU!!

LAURA RAE DESIGNS

I'm really excited - we've decided to sell the wood letters and symbols again.    

42 inches - $75
Custom fonts and colors available.
And, of course, smaller custom sizes are an option.  $2 an inch.

Happy, happy!

SNEAK PEEK - LONGBOARDLARRY BENCH

This is the COOLEST bench.  It's coming soon to the LongBoardLarry website.  AND, the best part is that Larry will be doing custom colors.

EXPLOSION CAKE

Lach is turning six and we celebrated his birthday early with a family party.  We had a pasta potluck because this boy loves his macaroni and cheese.  Then, of course, it was presents and cake.

Lach's cake was a hot mess.  Thankfully, this happy go lucky boy of ours turned it to a positive and saved his mama lots of tears.

I put blue cake balls in it as a surprise for him and as I was icing it, the cake was peeling away in front of our eyes.  No amount of icing could save it.  The weight of the icing would actually make it peel away even more.  Lach decided that the blue cake balls were lava bombs and made the cake explode.  So this was named the year of the explosion cake.

He was spoiled with presents and it was a pure joy watching him unwrap them.  He is a little ball of excitement.  Only six more days until he's officially six!