Kyle's Graduation, Class of 2010

I had a busy weekend in Arizona. Sorry, I didn't really tell anyone I was coming because I had a full plate. I not only planned my friend's baby shower, I also had a graduation to attend! My brother, Kyle, graduated from Phoenix Christian High School. As soon as I finished baking/icing cookies for the shower, I ran over to Phoenix to my brother Kyle's house. We had a mini photo session before heading to Bethany Bible for the ceremony. I laughed and took a ton of pictures of the girls' hats. They decorated the tops of them!! Then I got to be Kyle's personal photographer as he took pictures with his friends. I was totally that "Mom" who ran to the front when Kyle was announced and walked up to receive his dipolma/Bible =p It was an awesome ceremony! By far, the best I've been to. People were cheering and had home made signs. The seniors got to hand their parents roses. They had a picture slide show. They laughed, they prayed, they sang. It was beautiful.






The next day, after my busy baby shower, I headed back to Phoenix for Kyle's graduation party. There were a few friends and tons of family. Growing up, my sister and I always went to family parties, so we're pretty close with his family. It was fun to get caught up and take more pictures! There were tons of scrapbooks and baby books to go through too. Kyle is such a cutie! I helped him with his cards and keeping track of how much moolah he got =) Jan-Michael and I bought him fast food gift cards for places near his campus (thanks Google Maps!). Kyle will be attending JBU in Arkansas this fall. He is studying to be an ER doctor. Hello! Doctor in the family! So excited and so proud of him! Congratuations Kyle!!

Katie's Very Blue Shower...

I have known my friend Katie for 15 years. I have switched schools so many times, that I have never had a friend that long! That's why I hang on to you Marcos people! Katie and I met in 7th grade and quickly because best of friends. She threw me the most beautiful Tea Party Bridal Shower a Bride-to-be could ask for. And now, it is my turn to return the favor!

Katie had her first born boy, Robert, while she lived in Pennsylvania. With all of her family living in AZ and other states, she didn't get to have a baby shower. Now, she is pregnant with baby boy number two, Elijah. Time for a shower!!




I used as many shades of blue as possible. Her sister Andrea and I bought decorations and without even coordinating, matched perfectly! Whew, it's hard throwing an out-of-state shower, but somehow, it worked! The shower was at 10am, so we had breakfast foods. Her Aunt Janelle made a yummy breakfast egg casserole and fruit tray. My Dad contributed some yummy breakfast potatoes. I brought in our favorite- Einstein Bagels! We had coffee,
orange juice and water. The cake was made by Domonique's sister, Candice. She is a new culinary graduate and is getting practice making cakes for me =) All I told her was that we were using different shades of blue, and this is what she came up with! The cupcakes even had edible glitter on them. So cute and so pretty! It looked fantastic with all our decorations!





Since I was on a budget (hello, I live in CA!), I decided to take on a few projects. I stumbled upon a website that taught how to make a bouquet out of baby socks and just had to do it! It's so cute! You basically roll one sock at a time, stick a floral wire in the bottom, and tape it up with floral tape. I bought some extra leafy greens to make it look more like a bouquet. You're suppoed to use solid color socks, but other than seeing Mickey's face, I think they look just fine.








I also took on the project of making favors for guests to take home. Because I have had to make several cookies for Tiara Tea Time, I decided to do them for the shower too. I knew it would be very time consuming, so I enrolled the help of my Dad. He and I baked the Friday morning before the shower, using cute baby carriage and onsie cookie cutters. Note: Powdered sugar keeps dough from sticking a lot better than flour. After they cooled, I lost my helper and frosted them by myself for the next couple of hours. I ran out of blue sprinkles by cookie #22. Luckily, it was enough! That night, my Dad helped me wrap them in clear cellophane bags tied with ribbon and a blue saftey pin. I think they turned out really well. I added extra powdered sugar to the frosting to stiffen it up a bit and keep it from melting in the AZ heat. It worked! They made it to the shower and looked fabulous =)


Having never thrown a shower before, I used games I found online AND one that was actually from a bridal shower! They filled in the blanks to nursery rhymes, guessed at animal gestation, picked at melted candy bars in diapers (gross but fun!), and made babies out of play-dough. Then I read a story that had the words "right" and "left" in it so that they could pass around a prize. The games went by quick enough so that Katie could then open her gifts and make it out the door for an appointment. Her sister, my Aunt and I then cleaned up before heading to Garcias for lunch! YUM!




My only regret is that I didn't hire a photographer! It was hard to host the party AND take pictures! haha!

Visitors Recap

In March, April and May, we had several visitors....

My In-Laws! Jan-Michael's parents actually drove HIS car PACKED FULL of our stuff cross country. Of course, this isn't the first time they've done it... When Jan was going to drive cross country last October, his car died a week before he was supposed to leave. Eventually, his parents decided that they would drive his car out so that he could fly. Their trip was post-poned and delayed due to aaaalllll the snow PA got this year. Finally, at the end of March, they made their journey out. They stayed here in CA for just over a month. Isn't it great to be retired?! Must be nice!!!

My Dad! My Dad came in for a couple of days. Unfortunately, he came on a Sunday and left on a Wednesday which meant I didn't get to spend very much time with him. However, he was happy to have some time with Jan's parents. My wonderful friend Nathan gave us all a private tour of Walt Disney's Barn in Burbank. Afterwards, we took a mini-train ride at the Carolwood Pacific park which is right next door. My Dad's favorite place to eat when he visits is Pink's hot dogs in Hollywood. Look how happy he is with all those nasty hot dogs!! The following days were spent with Jan and his parents doing fun touristy things while I was at work. Boo =( But at least he had a great time!












Domonique and Gene! Domonique and Gene came the last weekend of the Electrical Parade. SO of course we went to Disneyland! The next day, I accompanied them to Universal Studios. We sure miss that girl!

Leanne and Mike! Jan-Michael's cousins just happened to be visiting from PA at the same time his parents were in town. It was quite the family get together at ESPN Zone. They were in San Diego for a conference and decided to extend their stay in CA to go to Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Hollywood. Pretty sweet!

A Celebrity and Steak Filled Birthday!

Happy 26th Birthday Husband! This past Saturday, we celebrated Jan-Michael's first birthday back in CA. I was so excited to plan this one, I could hardly stand it!

First, the cake. Every year, I make my husband a crazy cake. Sometimes I focus on the flavor, and sometimes I focus on the design. This year was a design year. I wanted to make a donut shaped cake. So I used regular ol' boxed cake mix, baked it in a pie dish, used a glass to cut out the middle, frosted it with chocolate pre-made frosting, and added Mike N' Ikes to look like sprinkles. I also made a dozen cupcakes and put mini glazed donuts on top (held on there with frosting). I think they looked pretty cute =) My husband loves his donuts!


Months before his birthday, Janelle and I were driving to Disneyland when we drove past the above pictured restaurant. Oh ya, we should have Jan's birthday there! For years, we have driven by this snow covered, log cabin restaurant and Jan has never failed to say "I want to eat there someday. It just looks cool." Sure enough, just after I made the reservations, he said it yet again. I just chuckled
to myself! He was totally surprised! Turns out, this restaurant is a really awesome steak house. It's called Clearman's North Woods Inn. They have quite a few restaurants, one even near our house, but we took him to the one he always wanted to go to. You eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor, they use too much butter
and dressing (you know you live in L.A. when people talk about that), and you eat by
the soft glow of Tiffany lamps and stained glass. For a Saturday, it was pretty much empty. So we allowed ourselves to be loud and celebrate! Jan-Michael's parents came, his brother, and our friend Nathan. When it came time to sing, Janelle and I jumped up and lead the way. I had a feeling our waiter wouldn't be as fun as us. haha! Jan-Michael had a really good time and talked about it for days after. Surprise success!! (Thanks for the bear picture Steven, it's hilarious!)



After a fantastic lunch, we headed up to Hollywood to check out the new wax museum that just moved in... Madame Tussauds. Unlike most wax museums, this one has props you can wear AND you can touch the figures. So you can get up close and pretend like they're real. It was so much fun! We were there for two hours taking hundreds of pictures! They have quite a few scenes to go along with the movie stars, as well as lots of random celebrities all over the place. It's three stories, so you can imagine how many there were to take pictures with! I'm sure we will be back again with visitors. SO FUN!