Erin's 40th Birthday Bash!

Anyone remember June? I shouldn't let myself get so dreadfully behind on my blogging duties, because now I can't recall a lot of stuff and when it all happened. One of June's highlights began with the invitation below:

My sister is pretty much as awesome as they come. She decided to make her milestone birthday an occasion worth attending AND remembering. Erin came up with a brilliant theme and Barry designed the invites.

It turned out to be a super rad, fun evening. I especially enjoyed seeing many of the guests show up in fetching 80s get-ups. 

Here's Erin, Barry, and their teen sons Isaac (in back) and Ethan . . .

They make the 80s look so easy!

They provided a lovely laser backdrop poster so party-goers could get "school pictures" taken . . .

My one regret of the evening is not putting a different shirt on. I was set on wearing this amazing blue leotard, which I obviously ended up doing. But if I'd been more open-minded, I would've realized that colorful tights and a baggy shirt would have looked much better with the stunning gold Savers skirt (shown later in this post). Way better than the blue uniboob shown above.

(Rant over.)

It's hard to tell from this pic, but Erin's hair is crimped and her bangs were impressively big. And firmly hair sprayed in place. =)

A better look at Erin's fancy footwear. She found these high-tops at DI.

I feel like I need-lessly hyphenate every-thing! ; ) I just don't know, okay?!

Anyway, I love that Erin thought to layer and roll her socks.

 That decade was known best for rad fashion trends.

My stepdad (below) biding his time doing anything but dancing. He's always been the creative type. It would've been cool to see him do some creative breakdancing in the dark with all those glow accessories.

A sisters' snapshot. In-laws on the right (Jamie in yellow; Maren in pink). Chelsie (step sis) is the one in the back NOT sporting a uniboob. Megan was with her little family on a Mexican vacation (actually IN Mexico, not Nampa or Caldwell). We missed her!

Group photo of most everybody there. I guess most of the men in attendance made themselves scarce for picture time. = /  Ryan opted out of coming after a long day of work. He said he's not fun, or doesn't know how to have fun, or something along those lines. Gavin was there with their new baby Archer. My mom was there, too. A nice bunch of her friends from high school came. I think they drummed up a lot of good memories.

She had the cutest decorations. I loved the color scheme, the 80s candy scattered on each table, the homemade Aquanet cans, the spray-painted VHS and cassette tapes.

I didn't get any pics of the dancing, but it sure as heck happened! Erin had quite the selection of music.

 Isaac and Ethan were the DJs. Requests and dedications were made. Slow dances were shared (while Maren and I danced interpretively). People attempted to remember steps to "Thriller".  Lights were turned off to allow for special, out-of-this-world-glow-in-the-dark dances. People chatted and snacked and laughed. And such. Erin throws the best parties. And now I need to figure out how to outdo her with my 40th birthday jubilee. I have 4 years to plan it. Which also translates to 4 hours, since that is how far in advance I will actually begin arranging it.

My Pretties

I must discuss something serious with you. 

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I think you should sit down for this... thing...

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I... uhhhh...

I kind of...

sort of...? 

have an itty bit of unbridled passion for...

for... 

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........................................hhhhhhhhh........................................

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{-ahem-}

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For...

...um...

{Summer flowers}

There - I said it!

Beneath this mess of hemming and hawing, I feel inclined to offer a peek at the fanciful flowers surrounding our home. I've been snapping pictures aplenty - and I've been dying to share.

I planted three smallish rose bushes in a bare flower bed. I was noticing all the gorgeous roses in everyone's yard around town, so I decided to be a follower and bring some of that joy to our residence. Now I can gasp with delight for years to come, without ever leaving home. 

These (below) are some of my faves. They're tiny. I planted these all around the perimeter of my 

front flower bed. 

My alyssum grew back from last year, so that's exciting. It's now about the size of me if I were to lie down in the fetal position right on top of it. 

Maria gave me this beautiful hanging basket for Mother's Day. I love it!

 Flowers are just about the best presents! 

I love fuchsia plants! I'm not sure who decided on that spelling, but the flowers are compelling!

Check out the combo of orange and pink in these pretty petals.

It seems like every year I find new flowers I'd never seen before. I love it! Take these 'peppermint petunias' for example. I like almost anything that reminds me of candy. Combining candy and flowers into one is simply a winning situation. But I don't recommend consuming these flowers. I tried a few petals after a spicy dinner and they weren't as minty as I'd anticipated. ;-)

Ugh! Aren't they fabulous?!

The only problem is, the stems are so tall that they flop over the side of the pot. But that doesn't stop them from being pretty. I took these pictures soon after I bought them. Now they are slouching more than I do. Maybe they need more water and/or sun. I don't know!!! They're still alive and stuff, but I feel like they aren't standing up like I think they could if I knew how to care for them. It was probably something I said.

My delicate dahlias.  

Wooohoooo! 

These carnations grew back from last year, and I didn't know they were going to! I'm so glad I didn't dump them out when I thought they were a lost cause. I absolutely like the smell of carnations. =)

This is the more common variety of peppermint petunias! I'm always on the lookout for these when I'm selecting my flowers to plant each year.

Zinnias make my heart sing! Just kidding - that would be creepy and it just isn't physically possible. 

But they sure as heck make me feel happy!

Notice the plentitude of pink. I can't remember the name of these, but they like to multiply. 

I like that they like to do that.

I love all the layers of petals on these. 

Perfection. 

(Those may or may not be droplets of my own drool on the petals.)

Zinnias and petunias and marigolds - oh my!

June 1

June 20

Yes, I know the second pic is closer up, but the flowers are also more voluminous than they were when first planted. I'm glad they're comfy enough in our yard to show us what they've got.

I love watching the progression of flowers. It's amazing how the same grouping of blooms changes as the days melt by. Some fade and need to be clipped, but that only makes more blossoms spontaneously take their place. They eat up the sun and water and put on such a wonderful show. 

I do believe this is my favorite assortment of flowers I've planted since we've lived here. I guess the third year's a charm!

Spring Sprung

Spring sprung and now summer's half gone. But I'm not going to gloss over my favorite season. My blog needs a smattering of spring happenings.

It was a time filled with end-of-year school programs, Cora's piano recital, field trips, and me delighting in all the glorious spring flowers around town.

On Friday, April 25, I got to be a chaperone for Oliver's kindergarten trip to the zoo. It was a rainy, kinda chilly day, but we still had fun while it lasted. The original plan was to picnic in the park before heading back to school, but they decided to go back to school early and eat in the classrooms. 

Usually the lions are way out behind a rock or something, but this time they were camped out under the roof right by the windows. Yay!

The poor zebras didn't have anywhere to turn...

Here is Oliver's garbage-bag-clad-class.

Oliver is on the top left. =)

On Friday, May 2, I got to chaperone Jane's 5th grade field trip to Eagle Island, where there was a sizable Civil War event afoot. They had all kinds of stations set up to give the students a glimpse of how things were back then. It was really neat. I liked all the costumes and props and such. 

The best part of the whole day was . . .

. . . THESE . . .

I wanted a pair of these blousy trousers.

I think this very well could be the best outfit I've ever seen.

I couldn't stop staring and snapping photos. =)

Abe!!!

This was cool.

They fired something or other from this cannon into the water. I can't remember the details. 

I wanted one of these awesome dresses. I asked them politely, but none of them would let me have one. ='(

I liked their authentic-looking "canteens". ;)

Jane's BFF was in her class for the second year in a row. Here we are on the bus ride back to school. It was pretty windy in there, as proven by Jane's crazy hair.

Spring ushered in the need to weed.

This was a particularly satisfying weed to pull. It took a whole lot o' tuggin' and gruntin'. 

I nearly fell on my seat when the root at last came loose.

I guess I consumed some chocolate partway through May.

How did Dove know I have a great laugh? (Maybe if Chewbacca's laugh is considered "great".) 

I basically spend my days shining and laughing in my sensuous way.

My point is, chocolate is good.

The kids picked these out for me at the store for Mother's Day...

They were beauteous while they lasted! I loved the color combo.

Saturday, May 3, we met up with members of Ryan's family at the sand dunes. It turned out to be an okay time. The sand was burning hot and it was super windy. (Note Jane's faceful of hair in the photo below.)

Here's Jackie's family, Bethany's family, and Ryan, Oliver and Janey.

Next time we will go earlier in the spring or not at all!

One of the gals I visit teach asked me if I'd make some cookies for teacher appreciation week in May at Cora's school. I was glad to.

I made a load of flowers, then decided to do a plate of quick and easy ones.

The night before Easter, I was simply tickled to attend the Broadway in Boise production of  Wicked. 

I went with Ryan, my mom, Megan, Erin, and Maren. We had purchased the tickets about 18 months in advance. =) I think we got a good deal that way. We were in row E or F, if I recall correctly. Pret-ty sweet seats. The show was even better than I'd imagined. I actually went without even knowing the plot, believe it or not. I mean, I knew very little about it other than a couple of songs and that it was about the witches from the Wizard of Oz. The whole cast and production was amazing, and I wished I could have watched it again and again! It was a whole lot of awesome.

Okay, allow me to close with a few expected spring flower pics from our yard... I'll let them speak for themselves.

Spring was so inviting this year. 

=)