Thank you for showering . . . Please take one. :)

Read on (or skip ahead to the highlighted part) and don't be offended. :)

This was one of those whirlwind weekends, more than our typical whirlwind weekend. The schedule was pretty tight with Britney's Bridal Shower at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Rich's Graduation/Birthday Party at 4:00 p.m., and Dad and Angie's concert at 8:00 p.m., but it was great. We made it to everything and had a wonderful time with family and friends and only wish we could have stayed longer. But, like Mom always said, it's good to quit while you're still having fun, so we did come back to Tacoma on Sunday afternoon. Here are some pictures and highlights from the weekend.

The Spread at Britney's Shower.

Being true to herself, Britney was first in line for the grub. :) Rowleys were so kind to give us peaches and berries to use in the fruit salad and in Tami's lemon-berry trifle. The "manu," as Fronk says it in "Father of the Bride" (and as Britney often quotes--which makes it an appropriate reference for this post, don't you think?) :), also consisted of chocolate-dipped strawberries, CHOCOLICIOUS Costco cake, chicken salad sandwiches, cherry lemonade (with Rowley's cherries, too), and artichoke dip with tortilla chips. Mmmm, Mmmm, good.

The Decor.

I had so much fun making these little dealies! I only ended up doing one tissue paper pom pom, but I"m so glad I did. I was really excited about them!

Okay, I need a copycat recipe of this Costco cake. It's magically delicious! I made little nametags for the food and beverages, but realized as I was making them that the only things that weren't really apparent what they were were the artichoke dip and maybe the cherry lemonade. It seemed kind of silly to make a nametag for "Water." But I did it anyway. This was the only one I got very creative with on the name. Ha. :)

Tami and Michael helped me make buckeyes early in the week and then when Michael and I rolled in at midnight on Friday, Angie, Britney and Tami stayed up and helped bag all of them (after they had finished making all the other food, including chocolate dipped strawberries . . . and after they had cleaned up from their chocolate dip food fight). Thanks! Diane cracked me up when she pointed out the kind of funny phrasing on the thank you note. "Thank you for showering . . . please take one." (My intention was for people to take a bag of buckeyes, not to insult them by saying they needed a shower. I think they got it, but it made me laugh to realize that it did sound a little funny.) :)

Trivial Pursuit: Britney Edition!

In the afternoon, we went to Rich and Am's for a graduation/birthday/Woohoo! He-passed-his-PA-boards! party. I am a lame sauce and didn't take very many pictures, but Amber made TWO awesome cakes! One was German chocolate (Rich loves that kind) and the other was a marbled cake (chocolate and vanilla, I think), decorated all cute! She even made a graduation cap and made the mortar board out of melted chocolate that she had put into a square pan to let set! It was pretty much the coolest thing since Britney Spears! :) Our nephew was a little aprehensive about us at first, but quickly warmed up. He didn't cry or anything, but he was just giving these looks like, "Do I know you?" He's so stinkin' cute, we think! Dad even made ice cream, which was great, and Amber's family brought lots of great dishes. It was a good day for my taste buds.

Fun Fact of the Day: Michael's dad, sister and uncle are rock stars.

Not kidding.

This is their band playing at the fair. They are called "Cruise Control" and they play oldies but goodies. We had a BLAST listening to them! We even got some swing on. And our niece and nephews got into the aciton as well. They were really going at it! So SO fun!

Just as a sidenote, if you don't know the song "Pickup Man" by Joe Diffie, you should. Here's a link.

(The band did this one and I was excited to see Tami get a kick out of the lyrics.) :)

Here he is rocking the air guitar.

After the concert, we went to the tail end of the rodeo and saw barrell racing and bull riding. I love the fair. Michael and Angie humored me and listened to a brief lecture on how to judge lambs for market while we stood in the sheep barn watching all the young 4-H and FFA lovers. Haha. Those were the days. :) (I showed sheep at the Benton-Franklin Fair and at the Columbia Basin Junior Livestock Show, and once at the Othello Fair, for about 5ish years when I was in elementary to high school. Yay for 4-H!)

As the rodeo was ending, I spotted a cowboy-hatted friend, Bro. Howard! His wife was Michael's kindergarten teacher and he was in my ward for as long as I can remember and has always been great to me. It was really fun to see them both! Michael was remembering a couple funny kindergarten experiences with Mrs. (Sister) Howard.

ONE: Mrs. Howard asked for Z words, but all the kids were having a hard time coming up with any, so Michael piped up and said, "Z for Zarahemla and Zenof and Zoro."

TWO: Mrs. Howard lined up several students who were all wearing brown shoes (or something like that) and asked, "What do all these children have in common?" Michael replied, "They're all children of God."

Mommy and Baby

(I got a new phone and I finally figured out how to take pictures on it. I think they are cute people!) :)

On Sunday, we went out to the basin for church. It is always fun to hear Dad play the organ at church. He always adds a little something to keep everyone awake. This time I especially noticed a deep baseline on the last verse of "Now Let Us Rejoice." He tries new interludes every so often, too, and he can lengthen the hymns so they last until whenever they need to, but they still sound good. He's pretty much amazing. And he might be embarrassed that I am bragging on him so, but he really does a great job and puts in a lot of effort to do a good job. He loves it.

After church, we had lunch at my parents' with Rich and Am and just had a great time hanging out with them. Can't wait to see more of everyone next weekend!

Eating Grandpa's homemade ice cream . . . and lovin' it. :)