here comes the bride

my good friend, kirstin, got married this past week. i had the pleasure of throwing a saucy little bachelorette party for her. this is me, kirstin, and candi at the cheesecake factory. (we still had smiles on our faces because we had no idea we were in for an hour and a half wait! i HATE that restaurant. the food is disgusting cafeteria food and the place is always packed. i do not understand the appeal.) "thump". that was the sound of me getting off my high horse.

waiting.....and waiting....... betcha cant guess which fine dining establishment i wished we would have gone to...... we would have, for sure, had a g'day, there!

after the cafeteria, we came back to my house for desserts and games. i was/am obsessed with the hot pink margarita glasses. they were perfection. we also served: mini cupcakes, lemon delights, my aunt's famous sugar cookies (in the shape of high heels, none the less) and chocolate rice crispies. yum-o.

these were the little party favors i put together for the guests. new brides love to see their new married name on anything, hence the tags. and the color of the jelly beans were the colors of kirstin's wedding.

we played a game where kirstin had to answer questions that we had previously asked her fiance. if she answered them the same as james did, then she was applauded. if not....... someone that was blind-folded applied makeup to her face. the black eye shadow was all me!

here is the beautiful bride and her new hubby. they were so happy together and the entire wedding, from beginning to end, was exquisite.

the reception was at the seattle tennis club. even though the weather wasnt all that nice (dont even get me started on the summer we have had.... jocelyn disregard the last sentence....) the scenery was fantastic.

that was the first night that craig and i had left tagg with a babysitter. i must have called at least ten times during the four hours.... but baby and sitter did great!

the day after the reception, i found these beauties on my doorstep. how lucky! i am serious, the flowers were the best i have ever seen.

k, enough wedding talk. this is tagg at the airport while we waited for our cousin to get home from his mission in peru. i cannot believe we will be doing the same thing for my brother in less than three months. i know tagg and taylor will LOVe each other.

excuse the wetness. i dont know that that was all about! but just focus on the cutest outfit you have ever seen. i am so excited that tagg is getting bigger and i can finally put him in big boy clothes. he is pretty happy with himself too. geesh.

i mostly bought this sweatshirt because of the bull on the backside. and it says "run" on the front. cute, no? i think it is so hip.

white coats, an idaho retreat, and one great eagle scout {updated}but........... before i get into all that stuff, i must document the first favorite photo taken by our new camera. i got a new camera last week and i am loving it!

a couple weeks ago, craig had his white coat ceremony. this event marks the dental students' half way point and represents their transition from pre-clinical (reading text books and working on each other) to clinical practice (actually working on victims. i mean patients).

here is the dental crew after the ceremony. tagg and i are so proud of our hard little worker bee. craig has done an amazing job his first two years and we hope he keeps it up.

last weekend, we were fortunate enough to be invited to our friends' place in sandpoint, idaho. craig wasnt able to come with us but we still managed to eek out some fun times. their property is fabulous and we all had a great time playing on the water and eating ourselves into oblivion.

yikes. i dont really want to publish a picture of me in a bathing suit; but i did want to show how incredibly brave i was on this tube thingy. it was a complete blast.

look familiar jess and max? tagg fell in love with this little plastic rocking horse. so adorable.

ok, so my parents wouldnt stop teasing me because i talked all about the eagle scout project but there wasnt a picture of the project or the eagle scout anywhere to be found. shameful. so, this is the bike shed that my brother renovated. and this is the motley crew that helped him out.

anna, sam, tucker, and my mom. we make everything a party. seriously.

i brought some real shoes so that i could get in on the dirty work. yeah.......i had good intentions......but the shoes never left the car. i was there for moral support, ok?! plus, i had some real work to do....... (read on.... :) )

yesterday was my brother's eagle scout project. his project consisted of building a bicycle shed for this house that shelters abused mothers and their kids. it was a beautiful day and we were all so proud of tucker and his hard work. there was also a zip line on the property, so of course i had to try it out. this was me, before take off.

and this was me, mid air.

tagg wanted a thrill ride too!

i have two of the cutest boys around, no?

tagg, being serious.

this is tagg being serious with the horses....

and with pike place....

and with his "b is for bear" book. in the last couple months, tagg has definitely become a super social, bubbly, life-of-the-party kinda guy. however, he still appreciates his serious time; when he is learning new things and taking in life. we love our little boy!

working hard (or hardly working?) for our blackberry cobbler

today, we picked blackberries near our house to make a cobbler {see recipe below} . there were so many ripe berries that we figured we should put them to good use! this was the extent of my harvest. luckily, it wasnt only up to me to fill the bowls.

when we first got there, the sheep ran away. but after awhile, they came back and started baaaing right in our faces. it was so much fun.

tucker and tagg think they are so handsome. 

craig was our blackberry daddy warbucks. taking one for the team. so he got the first helping of the cobbler.

the final result. this is the BEST berry dessert i have ever had. and that is not a hyperbole. it has a scone-type topping and tapioca mixed in with the blackberries. trust me, you are going to want to try this sucker out:

{blackberry cobbler}

berry mixture

4 cups blackberries

1/4 cup tapioca

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemonade

scone topping

5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cream 

3 tablespoons sugar

scone topping wash

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons corse sugar

heat oven to 350 degrees. stir together blackberries, tapioca, sugar, and lemonade. pour berry mixture into a 9x9 inch baking dish. in a food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. add chilled butter to dry mixture. add cream to scone mixture and pulse until incorporated. roll out dough and place on top of berry mixture. brush top of dough with remaining cream and sprinkle corse sugar all over. place in preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. yum. yum.

august, so far {updated}last saturday, the whole gang headed up to the second cabin. we rode the four wheelers, sat around the lake, and walked through the unfinished cabin. the view from up there is so amazing. we cannot wait until it is all finished.

i am so hard core.

sam is perched on top of the "diving board" my dad made. i know we are going to have a blast when the construction is done and the lake is more than a foot deep.

tagg got a brand new towel. a shark towel. he loves when i roll him up in it after his bath and play peek-a-boo with him.

yesterday, my good friend and his brother came into town. i was the little tour guide (a lame one) and took them around downtown seattle......mostly just pike place. they loved all the fresh produce and interesting people there.


my friend also took some cute shots of tagg with his awesome camera. tagg is so fat.

duh. i guess i could post a picture of my friend that came to visit. this was at the airport before they took off for korea. please dont judge me on how disgusting i look..... it was a long morning of being a tour guide, ok.?

a very happy un-birthday to you.... to you.....

yes. believe it or not, my little cherub turned six months on august first. the following post is filled with recent favorites of tagg. because i just cannot get enough of his face. and because i want to celebrate him being on this planet for six blissful months. i especially love louis in the background of this one.

this is what he looks like when i finally come and rescue him from his crib. he sure is easy to please!

i think he looks like such a big boy in this picture. and more like craig than ever.

i staged a photo with tagg and some of his favorite things right now. they are: louis, henry the hoglet, brian the bear, his giraffe, (which has a name too, but i feel like we are obnoxious with our stuffed-animal-naming, so i will spare you) banana baby food, the big hungry bear, and pajama time.

we all love this picture. he looks pretty manic............. but in a cute way.

ok. so i thought it would be really cute to make a "half" cake and take a picture of tagg with it. then, all the ADULTS could dig in. yeah, i forgot that tagg is totally into the stage of grabbing at everything and sticking it in his mouth. hence, frosting-gate 2008.

he was so naughty, but loved every sugar-filled minute of it. happy six months little devil. we love you so much and cant wait for your first birthday when you can legally eat your cake!

having fun at the fun center. imagine that.last monday night, craig, me, and a couple friends made the long trek down to the fun center. it was a beautiful night and we had a fantastic time. this picture was taken after our bumper boat adventure..... more on that later.

before the big swing.

during the big swing. it goes back and forth super fast until you are straight up.

after the big swing. dont let the word "swing" fool you...it is intense.

the happy couples. both couples havent been married for very long and they are so cute together. it made me feel like craig and i were old hags!

craig and alex on the go-carts. i dont know what makes little, not-very-fast, fake cars so much fun; but they are!

yeah, so the bumper boat operator guy was really surprised that we volunteered to get ourselves wet at nine o' clock at night. we promised we wouldnt use the waterguns attached to the boats, but after about one minute that rule flew out the window. too tempting.

gearing up for the battle. laser tag was super fun. like someone said, "it is the most fun when people get really competitive over simple games." thats the truth. we had a great time with our friends and hope to do it again sometime soon.