WE HAD A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

for Larry last night with our families.

42 candles, birthday wishes, balloons and helium fun.

A vegan 1234 cake with yummy frosting and strawberries.

And presents, presents, presents for the birthday boy.

18 family members, 2 dogs, a lot of chatter, energy and laughter.  It was a fantastically fun evening.

IT'S LARRY'S BIRTHDAY!

This rad guy is having a birthday today. 

He's the kindest person I know and the man clan and I adore him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARRY - WE LOVE YOU!

PHOTO BOOTH

I love this guy!

PS - If you're curious about the hats, I'm wearing a monkey hat and Larry's is a panda hat.
We purchased the hats for the wee ones at the Cinco de Mayo Festival.

CINCO DE MAYO

Saturday afternoon we went to the Cinco De Mayo Festival at the Portland Waterfront Park.  We rode on a few rides and Larry got to eat food that was not vegan.  He was a happy camper!

IMAGINE DRAGONS CONCERT

I know you think I'm going to say, Imagine Dragons were AWESOME!  Well, you're wrong.  They were BEYOND AWESOME!  It was amazeballs - they killed it.  They play with SO much energy and passion,  They are super fun to watch and we were bummed when their segment of concert time was over.  We could have listened to them all night.

We were right up front for the concert.  The stage is really small at Mississippi Studios and so with the setup, we could see Wayne and Dan perfectly, part of Daniel but could only see the top of Ben's head.

The photos were taken with my small pocket camera, no flash and dim lights.  I don't even care that they are blurry.  Even if the lighting was brighter, they'd still be blurry because I couldn't hold still the whole time they played.  

Benjamin Francis Leftwich opened first.  His songs were mellow and some of the lyrics were interesting, not sure what inspired some of the songs, but overall we liked him.  He was really funny.
The Jezabels were the headliners.  They were good, but to be honest, they should have been opening up for Imagine Dragons.  No joke.

Local friends, you are going to have two chances to see Imagine Dragons this month with just a smidge of drive time:
Friday, May 25 they will be playing in Auburn, Washington.
Sunday, May 27 they will be playing at Waterfront Park in Portland.

Get your tickets right now.  You're welcome.

HOTEL MONACO IN PORTLAND

For Larry's birthday weekend, I booked us a room at Hotel Monaco in downtown Portland.  I was so impressed with the customer service from the get go, if I ran a hotel, I would book a room and implement their procedures.  Besides this being a stunningly beautiful hotel, it has amazing staff with excellent communication.

Here is the lobby.  Although very large, it was welcoming, comfortable and had a coziness about it.  In the evenings, the hotel provides drinks and music in there you could come down an mingle if you'd like.

Before I tell you about our room, let me tell you about the valet service.  From the street, you drive down to the parking structure under the hotel.  When I think of parking structures I don't think pretty or classy, but this one is.  They have large green canvas curtains hanging from the pillars, which also have decorative lattice on them and the floor is polished pavers in an overlapping arch pattern.  The valet personnel is very friendly, nice and helpful.  From there, you take an elevator up to the lobby.

When we checked in, the front desk told us we had received a complementary upgrade to a king premier suite on the top floor.  When we walked into the room, we had to pick our chins off the ground.  We had a foyer, a huge bathroom, living room, and the bedroom.  It was so beautiful, fun, unique and eclectic.  Hands down, the coolest hotel room we have ever stayed at!

When we returned to our room later that night, we had sparkling cider on ice waiting for us and Larry had a handwritten birthday card from the front desk.

Isn't this hotel rad?  I know where I'm staying next time we have a weekend getaway in Portland!

IMAGINE DRAGONS AND LONGBOARDLARRY

Larry made a custom 56" Cruiser for Dan Reynolds, lead singer of Imagine Dragons.  You know us well, if you know Imagine Dragons is one of our FAVORITE bands.  We were beyond excited to make this longboard!

We had tickets to see them in concert Friday night, as part of a Portland weekend for Larry's birthday, so this beauty was packaged up and we took it with us Friday morning.

There was a special private acoustic performance at Kink FM in the afternoon, in the Bing Lounge, that we were invited to, to do the hand off.  To be honest, we were giddy!

Of course, they were amazing and it was super fun to watch.  After the meet and greet, we unveiled the custom longboard.

photo taken by Ryan 

photo taken by a cute and super nice Kink FM gal

photo taken by the same cute and super nice Kink FM gal

you guessed it, taken by the cute and super nice Kink FM gal

They are really nice, super friendly and down to earth.  Larry and I smiled the rest of the afternoon and were even MORE excited to see them in concert that night.  Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of summer we're still smiling.

PS - We had another "highlight" at this performance.  Kink FM gave everyone at the performance tickets to see Imagine Dragons, on May 27th, at the Rose Festival RoZone Concert at Waterfront Park.

Local friends, you must, and I mean MUST, get tickets to see them on the 27th.  If you don't, you're insane in the membrane.

A VEGAN PASTRY TASTE TEST

is planned for tonight.

Lucky for me, Pure Decadence Pastries carries vegan pastries.  I got one of everything vegan and for Family Home Evening, we are going to be putting our taste buds to work.

Needless to say, I am excited.  SO excited.  Oh, happy day.

SUNDAY PICNIC DINNER

It was such a nice day today and it's rumored to rain all week, so we had a dinner picnic at the park this evening.

The kids and dogs played, we ate yummy food and caught up on schedules and shenanigans. Although we all live in town, we sometimes don't see each other as often as we'd like, due to busy schedules and LIFE.

What a fun evening we had!  I can't wait until summer when we can do Sunday dinner at the park more often.

PS - that last photo.  Lach couldn't find his shoes so he improvised.  So cute.

T-BALL

Landon had a t-ball game today.  His team was playing an undefeated team but his team won - yay Braves!

It was one of the funniest games I've ever seen.  Four children on the opposing team repeatedly fighting over the ball,  young athletes contagious enthusiasm and a hilarious young player named Dwight who was, according to him, "on fire!" being the highlights.  It just might go down as one of the cutest games in t-ball history.

IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY

to celebrate my brother's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVIE-POO!

WE LOVE YOU!!

MY NEW BEST FRIEND

I've been having problems with shin splints.  Thanks to guidance from my Gallagher Running Clinic leaders and compression socks, they are healing quite well but they could be better.
We have come to the conclusion that my calves are the culprit of my shin ailments, so I purchased The Grid today.

I had NO IDEA my calves were so tight!  After 5 minutes of "YOWZA!" and some achy face expressions, I couldn't believe how that hurt made me feel so good!  I was so excited with the difference, I used it full body.  I can't wait to notice the difference on Monday from today.  My muscles are going to be on their way to Loosey Goosey City and I'm so happy!

Trigger Point is my new best friend.  Shin splint riddance is afoot.

MORMON WHISKEY

We love ginger beer, not the super sweet kind but the ones with spicy heat.  Larry has been experimenting with making our own and he almost has the perfect recipe.
It's not your mama's ginger ale.  This is a sipping drink, and woo wee, does it have spicy heat - that is why we have named it Mormon Whiskey.

NEYSA'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

was a yummy, fun lunch with the Soul Sisters.  Do you remember when Dwight showed up with roses and a smooch at our last lunch?  Well, Jared showed up with a birthday balloon with two candy bars that red "you get to SKOR with a BIG HUNK" and a bouquet of flowers for Neysa, his beautiful wife, and chocolate kisses, balloons and three yellow roses for the rest of us.

We were talking about how we are going to be disappointed when we don't have a husband show up at one of our lunches with a surprise for us!  Larry needs to put his thinking cap on....

RECO

I'm gushing with friend pride!

Do you remember my post about my high school friend, who is now an award winning film director? If you want to have a looksee at his award winning short film, Reco, it's on his website.

"Fear of the unknown.

We all face it daily. How often are we afraid to seek or reveal truth for fear of the knowledge it brings?

The story of Reco explores this as Annie embarks on a destined journey on horseback across Utah's back country. Sent to fetch her adoptive grandmother, she meets a woman and confronts a past that leads her to a life changing discovery.

But first, she has to come to terms with the vivid and fearful dreams that have haunted her for most of her life and risk asking the questions that could bring the truth she's been seeking."

It's a wonderful film and the scenery is breathtaking. Click here to watch.

DAISY

is Lily's two month old sister. She is my parent's dog and is quickly becoming best buds with Lily. Isn't she adorable!