She loves strawberries

But, really, who doesn't?  I so look forward to this time of year when all of the warm fruits and vegetables come on!  Canning season here we come!  I just couldn't resist this cutie with her jumbo-sized strawberry.  And she did her hair all by herself.  She is definitely my little fashionista!

This is probably the biggest strawberry I have ever seen!

"Hey mom!  Take a picture...I'm getting ready to bite it!"

"Here I go..."

Super juicy and YUMMY!

And that's the way it's done!

And I think she's a doll!

Corvallis CARDV 5k Race

Today was the annual CARDV Mother's Day charity race.  My dear friend, Katie organized our little group to participate - it was SO much fun!

Our fun group before the race: Julie, Katie, Joleane and I

We just HAD to pose with Benny the Beaver (decked out in his baseball uniform).  We did it for the kids...at least that's what we tell ourselves!

A small portion of the crowd that would join us along the way!  There were a ton of people there (I was quite surprised)! 

I spotted this gal, who later introduced herself as Tova, and just had to get a picture of that shirt!  Her little group was a blast to be around.  They called themselves "Team Lava" and she added, "We're slow...but we're HOT!"

And they're off!

It was so beautiful out there!  We took the bike path down past the skate park and headed to Avery Park (the half-way point), then turned around and came back.

I carried my camera with me the whole time (my smaller backup camera, that is), and I'm so glad I did!  I loved being able to jump out and catch a shot here and there.  Even if many of them did turn out like this:

It still shows the beauty of this area that I live in!

We did it!

What a wonderful opportunity to bring awareness for such a great cause!  I feel honored to have been able to participate - especially the day before Mother's Day!  Thank you ladies, I had a blast!  Next one...Portland Marathon...we shall see!

One of the gorgeous sculptures that line the waterfront streets.  I just love this town!

Cinco de Mayo

I started this post last night (at 11:54 pm).  I uploaded my pictures, sorted through them, edited them, saved them and then ATTEMPTED to upload to my Flickr account.  That attempt lasted until I threw my hands up in frustration and went to bed (at 2 am).  And of course, the pictures uploaded on my first try this morning!  So, sorry this is late!


We had fun celebrating Cinco de Mayo!  To me it's all about the food - and I love cooking for different holidays!  My family loves Mexican food in general, so this was a perfect excuse to whip out the favorites and do a little something special.

Cheese enchiladas...a family favorite ever since I was a child

Corn chips and Chicharrones (my new favorite low carb snack - especially with guacamole)!  Notice our fine dining ware...I call it "china a la sectioned plastic dinner plate."

I wasn't quick enough to get a good shot of the guacamole.  We're serious about our guacamole around these here parts...

And then I said, "Let them eat cake!"  And served up a super-yummy (although I didn't taste it myself) Tres Leches Cake!  Recipe curtesy of The Pioneer Woman.  I added 1/8 tsp almond extract to the whipped cream "icing".  It goes beautifully with the cherries.

Too bad she didn't enjoy her cake more...

Payton was pretty stoked about it too

But this little guy was most happy about his little slice of heaven.  Zeke is finally getting over a nasty bout with Gastroenteritis, caused by the Rotavirus.  It was awful!  The poor kid threw up for three days straight (plus diarrhea, lethargy, high fever, etc)!  He ended up with a prescription for Zofran (to stop the vomitting) and sips of flat coke to get some sugar in his system.  We had the afternoon on Tuesday to keep liquids down him, and if not, he would need to go in for and IV.  Thank goodness he improved dramatically and by Tuesday evening was eating Cheerios and bananas!  He ate voraciously all day Wednesday.  The poor kid was starving!  The diarrhea lasted a couple days more, and now he's good as new! 

The Pioneer Woman and I...we're tight

Ok, not really, but I did get to meet her (insert gagging noises from the husband)!

My mom and her friends; Lyn (read her account), Luell, Sue and I went to the booksigning of The Pioneer Woman! It was such a blast! She's as charming, real and funny in person as she is on her website. We got there early, which was a good thing, because it got packed FAST! It was fun to make friends with the people around us and discuss our favorites recipes in Ree's book.
Speaking of her book...The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a fantastic cookbook!  It has beautiful pictures (she is an amazing photographer) and lots funny tidbits and insights into her life on the ranch!

Ree and I

Sue, Lyn and Mom (waiting for the fun to begin)

Mom and Luell (more waiting)

Ree and Mom

There were well over 400 people there.  Our ticket numbers were in the 230's.  It tooks us about 3 hours of waiting to finally get up and have her sign our books (I can't imagine how tired she was or how much longer she stayed after we left). 

Our group with Ree!

Ree and Luell

 

Cute, cute Nan (mother-in-law) and Alex (daughter) Drummond.  They quietly hung out in the back of the store waiting for Ree to finish.  We went back and talked to them for a little while.  They loved Oregon and wanted so badly to spend some time at the coast.  Lyn brought a few issues of Oregon Coast Magazine for them to take on the plane.  Nan and Ree were thrilled!

Ree doing her Ethel Merman impression in "There's no business like show business."  She is so hilarious!  She really did sound JUST like her!

We ended the evening with a late meal at Baja Fresh (so yummy)!  It was such a fun time ladies!  What are we doing next?? 

Love you all!

The Adorable C Family

This is my friend Katie and her cute family...

Beautiful eyes!  Remember them...you'll be seeing them later...

Beautiful family!

The eyes...they kill me!

We did an indoor shoot (obviously), which is not my favorite, but I love this candid moment.

Another candid moment with "Sheepie".  This is Avonleigh's best boy friend whom she has vowed to one day marry.

Really - HOW CUTE ARE THEY?!!

Sweet Baby Goob

(He was NOT feeling well this day and actually ended up in the hospital a couple of weeks later)

What a fun family!

This one cracked me up!

I have a funny story about this photoshoot (I hope Katie doesn't mind my sharing)!  The morning of, she called me up to reschedule for a later date.  The reason?  Her oldest dumped a bottle of GREEN food coloring in his little brother's cereal bowl!  His face and hands were covered in green dye!  I figured we should go for it anyway, and then plan to do a re-shoot later.  She got quite a bit off before I saw him, but it was still pretty extensive!  It ended up being much more time consuming to make that green disappear than I had anticipated! hehe 

Good times!

Thank you C Family for being such great sports!  Next time, we do outdoor shots!

Easter Recap 2010

Yeah...I'm so far behind on getting my pictures on here, that I figured it may be Christmas before I got our Easter pics up!  Ok, I'm working on it!  Here are a few of the eggs the kids dyed.  We had such a nice afternoon dying Easter Eggs!

Can you tell which one was my favorite?  Well, it's DEFINITELY NOT the one that I pictured twice.


Anywho...how the heck are ya?  I'm so glad my wonderful friends and family still check my blog - even when I neglect it for long periods of time!  Yes, I have read your emails...and I'm getting myself back on track...promise. 


I have lots (hundreds) of pictures I've been working on.  I'll get them up little-by-little (not all of them, mind you).  And I may get around to making a new banner...but I'm not promising anything.

Nana and Papa's backyard in preparation for the cousins Easter Egg Hunt (the parents got a little over-zealous and filled some 200+ eggs)!

My cute nephew

Serious business: Avonleigh searched high and low for those eggs! (Please disregard the two yellow eggs that she doesn't appear to notice)

See those bulging baskets?  Yeah...we may have filled a few too many eggs...

Payton collected ONLY the pink eggs...I wonder if she needs to go to PA (you know, Pink Anonymous)!  PS - she also dressed herself...I'm just sayin'

Uh oh...she heard me...

Are you talkin' to me?!

Another cutie nephew...are those eyes RIDICULOUS or what?!

Oh baby boy!  You and your electronics scare me already!

Papa joined in on the fun!

What a fabulous Easter we had!  Thank you family!