my mom's 50th birthday party.

my mom turned 50 today! and i was so proud of my dad when he came to me with his amazing idea for her birthday party.

so her party was last saturday nite and it was a blast. everyone met at the fun center to enjoy "drinks", cupcakes and watch a great slideshow of my mom's life that my uncle had put together.

then we all had to BRAVE the cold and go outside to play a round of mini golf.

after freezing our faces off, we came back inside so my mom could open her gifts. i finished this quilt a couple weeks ago (with the help of my grandma) and was counting down the days until she could open it! when present time was over, my dad announced why everyone HAD to participate in the mini golf game.... the winning couple was going to INDOOR SKYDIVE after dinner.

while everyone fought over who officially won (not sure we run with the most honest of crowds.....) we went over to outback for dinner. cute picture of megan and david. she must have been excited for her kiiiiiiiing crab legs.

holly and my mom at dinner.

so, yup. somehow megan and i fudged the books so we could do it. but once i was all geared up and about to go in the wind tunnel, i was second guessing all the cheating i did to make it there....

me.

megan.

it was a wonderful nite (good job, dad). i hope we made my mom feel loved. she really is my best friend.

my very first masquerade

at first, i was leery about attending a fancy masquerade my friend was hosting. i dont do costumes. but my mom, megan and i decided we would all go together and enjoy the once in a lifetime event.

we are SO glad we went. it was amazing. amazing people watching (people got REEEEEALLY into it)....

amazing entertainment (please notice the sweet pair on the right)....

more amazing entertainment....

followed by amazing dancing. we had such a fabulous night.

stasia's bridal shower

last nite, my mom and i threw a little bridal shower for a great family friend, stasia. stasia is the little sister of my best friend from high school, marissa. we were so excited to celebrate stasia's upcoming wedding to mike.

i decided to go with dark gray, silver and hot pink for the colors of the invitations (they werent quite that bare but i erased some info for privacy) and party. homemade confetti was also sprinkled through out.

we served our favorite appetizers and mini treats for the ladies to snack on.

megan and i are on a chocolate dipping binge so we made strawberries for the shower. i might have snuck waaaay more than my fair share.

janice (mother of the bride), stasia (bride-to-be!) and my mom enjoying the spread.

i requested janice's infamous mushroom caps. (she catered them at my wedding seven years ago!) they are so good.

during the evening, we also put the ladies to work. :) they helped tie up the gorgeous fabric ropes that will decorate the reception venue.

then we played "he says, she says". i found this great idea on.... wait for it.... pinterest and knew it would be perfect for the shower. i asked mike and stasia questions about their relationship and then quizzed the ladies at the shower as to who said what. it was all fun and games until megan ripped her quiz into shreds. now i know where i get my sore-loser-ness.

megan, me, janice, my mom and stasia.

the ladies took home diamond ring sugar cookies.

it was a great night (wish marissa could have been there!) and i am happy we could help honor stasia and let her know how incredibly happy we are for her.

sully's first day in nursery!

sully turned 18 months so he went to nursery for the first time yesterday. i have been dreading this transition because it took tagg at least 8 months to go to nursery without a fight. and sully is.... well to put it nicely..... much more attached to me. (THE BIGGEST MAMA'S BOY EVER)

but guess who went to nursery for the ENTIRE two hours and didnt even pout (his new trick)? and got rave reviews from his teachers? sully did. with his cute little tie and his first official lds clipart coloring page. so proud of my baby.

birthday dinner with the girls

on thursday night, my friends took me out for my birthday dinner. it was almost everyone's first time at lunchbox and i was so excited for them to taste the goodness. we had a great time (as always, i had a little too great of a time. i need to learn to zip my lip.) with delicious food and fun conversation. and i think that about rounds out my birthday celebration. on to my mom's........

our birthday trip to southern califonia

last week, tagg and i flew down to california to celebrate our birthdays. craig had to stay home with sully (boo) but we managed to have a little bit of fun without them! :) i loved tagg's whole set up on the airplane. dvd, watch, and wallet. what else could a boy need? i kind of couldnt hold in my excitement when started to land in orange county......

my dad (my mom and dad met us down in southern california) picked tagg and me up from the airport and then we retrieved my mom from fashion island.

after fashion island, we went straight over to javiers. it is literally my favorite restaurant. the food, the ambience, the people. it just doesnt get better.

i was pinching myself that i was eating in the sun, at javiers, on my birthday. and tagg was pinching himself because he got his first pina coloda.

after lunch, we drove over to divers cove in laguna beach. it was seriously a gorgeous day.

tagg immediately stripped and began to run around in the surf. i have never seen a happier human.

he was yelling, "OCEAN! COME GET ME!".

finally, we pulled tagg away from the beach and my dad dropped my mom and me back off at fashion island. we shopped until neiman marcus turned the lights out on us (again. it isnt the friendliest of places) it was a wonderful afternoon with my mom.

that night, we met back up with the boys for my birthday dinner at flemings. it was so fun and i felt very special.

after dinner, we headed to anahiem to check into our hotel. i was so freaking tired but tagg had been talking about the hot tub all day long so i knew i wanst getting out of it. he loved it.

the next morning, we boarded the little shuttle to go over to disneyland.

our first ride: pirates!

my aunt brooke, uncle scott, and cousin nick met up with us at disneyland. we had so much fun with them. and tagg LOVES his uncle scott.

taggs favorite ride was buzz lightyear. we were able to ride it twice. we actually got to ride every ride twice. the place was empty! we basically had to park to ourselves. it was amazing.

next, the jungle cruise. how do the "captains" think of all those jokes? they are SO cheesy. but i still laugh.

nick and tagg. brooke and scott got tagg a "its my birthday" pin. all the disneyland employees were great about wishing tagg a happy birthday. he even got a few happy birthday songs!

i was so excited to ride space mountain. i hadnt been on it since i lived in san diego (about 14 years).

my mom isnt really the roller coaster type. i was so proud of her for going on it with me.

the first time i went on, my dad and i were in the front row. it was pretty insane.

we finished up the day in fantasy land. tagg got his picture taken with the weird mad hatter.

i get nauseous looking at this picture.

after disneyland, we drove down to san diego. the next day, we went to this lobster roll place everyone had been talking about. not worth the hype. but it was great seeing my aunt shanna!

that afternoon, tagg and i played in brooke's backyard.

my cousins came up to play with tagg. tagg was in heaven.

that night, we went out for pizza. i love spending time with brooke!

the next day, i met up with my cute friend from middle school, nicole. it was great to meet her little newborn, maxx!

then, before tagg and i headed to the airport to go back home, we picked up some AMAZING chocolate malted crunch ice cream. that stuff is out of this world.

tagg and i had a fantastic time in southern california. honestly, a few of the best days ever.