Happy 5th Birthday Emily!

Holy Moly! How is Emily already 5?!?!?!?! I'll ask it again, WHERE has the time gone!? My cute little niece Emily who is sassy and smart as always, turned 5 last week, so we celebrated it tonight at my Mom's.

It was my very first attempt at a Barbie cake. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured or wanted, but I was actually pretty happy with it for my first one. ALL Emily requested was a Barbie and a Baby. Her only two wishes, so of course I HAD to at least attempt the cake.

 

The birthday girl and her mom.

 

And....  Present time!!!!!

 

We got her another Barbie

 

Michael putting her "BAAAAAAAAAABY!!!!!!" 's batteries in. I didn't even get a picture of her screaming "My BAAAAAAAABY My BAAAAAABY!!!!!" because we were laughing so hard!

 

I was laughing so hard because I had my phone camera turned around so we could see ourselves. All Matt could say was, "WHAT!? Do I really look that old???? Why am I so OOOOLLLLLLDDDD???" 

 

Wait for it.....

 

Wait for it.....

 

A little help from Cousin Michael....

 

"OOOOOO!!!!! A BABY Stroller!!!!"

Going over the card Cai Lynn made for Emily.

Once she realized the baby was animated, she wasn't too sure about it. (Then I told her that she could turn it off... and she QUICKLY did.)

And let them eat cake!!!!! Emily HAD to put the candles in.

 

 

Blowing out the candles

 

 

Taking out the candles

 

Cutting the cake

Patiently waiting for me to unwrap the Barbie. (Michael took the pictures while she waited)

 

 

Happy to be holding the "all clean" Barbie.

 

And.... of course they had to fly the helicopter..... The challenge was to try and make it fly (with its little remaining juice) from the top of the stairs and gently land on the bottom.

 

Picture time! (I wish I had my camera and not my phone...)

 

Happy 

Birthday Em!!!!

Bon Jovi Concert

For over 20 years my best friend and I have wanted to make it to a Bon Jovi concert together. It was one of our bucket list items. She found out that the concert was coming to Minneapolis, MN (2 hrs from where she lived) and that we HAD to go! She has been very sick and many MANY specialists later, she finally got clearance to not only attend the concert, but be able to fly home with me and visit her family back here in Reno (and Northern CA) with me. It was very difficult for her to sit up all of those hours, but we had a wonderful time in spite of it. They put on a FANTASTIC show!

Getting ready to start the show (The security guard took our picture. LOL)

 

"Raise Your Hands"

 

He has the BEST smile! 

 "Bed of Roses"

 

His regular guitarist was excused as they began their tour. VERY sad. They have been together for 30+ years. It really showed as Jon sang particular songs. BUT this guitarist was fantastic too! (But it wasn't the same obviously for him without his best friend.)

What a wonderful show!

The Great Outdoors

We are very blessed to live right up against a big beautiful mountain full of trails, trees and lots of places to explore. Due to the beautiful weather lately, we have been taking full advantage on the weekends.

 Jared and I went by ourselves and had a great time running up and down the trails.

 

This is coming back down the mountain. You can see Reno. 

 

Not sure what critter lives here.... but ummmmm we left it alone.

Unfortunately we have had several fires that have run through here over the years. It was pretty cool to see the path it took and Jared even climbed one of the charcoal trees.

 

 

 

One of the hikes we took, we took both dogs. (Which will probably be a one time thing.) Ruby is starting to show her age and while she LOVES walks, a hike was not the best idea. 

 

It sure was windy up there, but we were hot and it felt GREAT!

 

Just FYI, if any of these rocks are overturned, you will have about a 70% chance of finding a scorpion. EWWWWWEEEEE!!!!!

 

Going up is actually MUCH easier than going down! Just sayin'