TWILIGHT SPOOF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TfE_HeGWi4

Okay, so I saw this on youtube. My friend showed it to me and I thought it was pretty funny. I'm a huge twilight fan. And this was a spoof on a part of the movie. Hope nobody gets offended. It made me laugh so hard. Look out Edward Cullen!!! There's a new vampire in town!

A REINDEER GOAT?!?

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you...I am really blogging!!! Okay, so with my candy party, going to see joe, cookies being ordered galore, I haven't had much time to blog, let alone breathe. But that's all changed now and it's pretty much smooth sailing until Christmas, so yes, I'm back!!! Can I get a Woo Hoo?! I have so much to add to my blog, which I will do in the next few days. I am so excited to post my trip to Texas to see Joe. But, I'm about to leave for work. So, one quick tidbit before I have to go....last night I saw a reindeer! Or was it a goat? Actually it was both. For those of you less fortunate to not know the goat man of Escalon...there is a man who cuts down trees and hawls a goat in the back of his truck with him. He's referred to by all of Escalon as the goat man. Well, it's his pet. He walks it on a leash and everything. Last night as I was delivering pizzas, I got startled when I saw a small four-legged creature walking down a sidewalk with HUGE antlers!!! At first I couldn't quite figure it out, but then I realized it was the Goatman. He had put antlers on his goat and was walking him down the street. I tried to hurry and take a picture, but all I got was my dashboard reflection. Sorry, Misty, I totally am dissapointing you now on my photo taking abilities. But it was so funny. People were lined up outside their houses to see a "reindee". I laughed pretty hard. Which was good because it turned my aweful night of delivering pizzas in the freezing cold just a little better!

LION KING

So, I just found out that Broadway's musical The Lion King is coming to Sacramento next spring. I really want to go. But I don't know if I'll be around. Just thought everyone else might like to know about it too. Don't know much of the details except that it's in May and June.

CANDY PARTY REMINDER

This is a reminder for those wanting to come to the candy party on December 17th. I rush everyone, but I need your orders asap. It's getting pretty close for me to order all the stuff. So, hope everyone wants to come. Even if you have to wait a bit to pay me, if I can just get your orders that would be great. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

WEDDING CAKE AND HUMBLE PIE

So, today I was at work doing my normal Saturday morning prep work. I was leaving early in order to set up a wedding cake and so I was wanting to get everything in order before I had to leave. Well, we normally open at 11 am. An elderly lady called up this morning around 9 am. She wanted a mini pizza and I told her we didn't open until 11. Well, she said that was fine. About 2 minutes later she called back wanting to know if she could pick it up in a couple of minutes because she was going to a funeral. So, I got really upset. It was so dumb. I had no patience with this woman. Yes it was a simple task and would only take me a minute or 2 to put it together, but I wanted to be mad at her. I however did agree but very grudgingly. I kept going off about this dumb pizza and this annoying lady!!! I didn't want any interuptions during my prep work and now I had to deal with this! Well, she came in a few minutes later and she continued to thank me so much for doing this. You see, she was on her way to her grandson's funeral. He was only 36 years old and died of a heart attack. He left behind 3 children and a wife. Hmmmm....let's just say I felt like a complete jerk. Here I was complaining about 2 minutes of my time to help someone. And all along I was just making this womans very sad day a little better by getting this pizza to a man she took care of when it was convenient for her. Wow. Those lessons you need to learn. I told her it was no problem and I was sorry for her loss. She had no idea what I had thought just a few seconds before. I really needed to learn a lesson there. So, new goal for Melanie. I sometimes get caught up in how everything affects me. So, now I realize sometimes you need to step back and look at the big picture. Maybe there is an inconvenience we must face, but really are we sweating the small stuff? Just food for thought.

Anyway, despite my pitiful morning, I got to deliver an amazing wedding cake to a client. She pretty much designed the cake herself. She saw a picture in a book, but chaged it around to look like what you see here. My wonderful friend and fellow cake decorator helped me set it up. Thanks Gena!!!

FIRST FLUTTERS

So, today was so exciting. I felt my little one for the first time. I've been wondering for the past few days to feel something. And I know it was pretty early. I'm only 17 weeks. But I still have been so excited to know that it would happen pretty soon. Well, today I was just sitting down watching tv and my tummy totally did a little flip. It was like the first dip on a roller coaster!!! I knew then what it was. It was so unique and wonderful. Yay!!!!!

I love this bedding. Pretty sure it's what I want to get when I do my registry. I just love how soft it is. It's modern (my taste totally) and still so cute and for a little baby. Love the bunnies!!

JUST PONDERING....

So, Chuch yesterday was absolutely incredible. I got to witness a baby being blessed. The talks were amazing. When Bro. Garza talked, I couldn't help but remember my mission. Sometimes I miss being there so badly. Just to have that same feeling and spirit. There is really nothing like it. I am so grateful, though, that I did have that experience. Every once in a while I open my mission scrapbook and read my letters I sent to my family. It's funny because half of the things I mentioned in them I can't even remember. But I do remember most things. I 'm so glad I made that for me and my children so they can see what a great thing it is to serve our Heavenly Father. Then Jared spoke. I really loved his talk. I can't believe he is back from his mission already. His talk really made me ponder about knowing that Heavenly Father really does love each and everyone of us as an individual. It's sometimes hard to imagine because he has so many of us to watch over. But when Jared spoke, I felt it to be true. I'm so happy to have the gospel in my life. Joe and I struggled for so long to get pregnant. I was almost to the point of becoming pretty bitter about it. Then I talked to our great bishop and he promised us we'd have children. I couldn't be mad anymore. I knew it would be only a matter of time. I didn't know the means...our own children, adoption....but I knew that my Bishop was inspired to tell me that. I knew Heavenly Father was talking to me at that point. And I know that won't be our biggest struggle by far. But it was so reassuring to feel his love. It makes me want to be a better person everyday. Most days I slip up or don't do what I plan on doing. But it makes me want to be that better person. I'm grateful for great friends who are wonderful examples. You girls know who you are. So, church was pretty awesome.

JOE'S ADDRESS

Thanks to everyone who wants to write Joe. Here is his address. I thought this would be easier.

AB ARCHULETA, JOSEPH WR
320 TRS/FLT 053 DORM B6
PSC 3 1320 TRUEMPER ST
UNIT 369550
LACKLAND AFB, TX 78236-6095

Thanks for all your support

JOE UPDATE

So, I heard from Joe again on Saturday. I never know when he's going to call, so I've been really happy that I've received the last two calls from him. He said he will probably get to call every Saturday if they are on good behavior. Sounds like he's in prison (ha!). Well, he's doing great. I'm so excited that two weeks are down. Only 4 1/2 more to go. He was the dorm chief, but asked to be released because the other two guys he worked with were pretty much goofing off. He wants to concentrate on getting through it and actually graduating. So, now he's part of the latrine crew (lucky Joe) and the crossing guard. Yep, sound like a step down from dorm chief if you ask me, but he's happy about it and that's all that matters. Every time I talk to him, he sounds so excited to hear my voice. He is just so happy in the decision he's made. Well, it was a short conversation, so that's about all I know. If anyone wants to write, I can give you his address.

SOCCER SATURDAY

Okay, for those of you that don't know, D'Boni's Pizza is pretty much the only restaurant in town big enough to hold a big crowd. Well, every year around this time we get all of the little soccer teams because it is their last game. They eat pizzas, play games, get awards....fun fun fun. Well, for them anyways. Let's just say it's one of the most hectic times of the year for us. When I came into work at 9 this morning we had 5 parties scheduled throughout the day. By the time I left around 4 pm we had finished with 11 parties. Yeah, crazy. It's like a well rehearsed play that goes completely haywire. You think you have it under control until you get those few people that "forgot" to make reservations and were hoping you could just squeeze them in some where between the zillion other people there. But, we never turn away business. We made it through. I must be crazy because every year I get all pepped up for this day-like it's going to be fun or something. Yeah, never is. But I made it through and I even got to see some of my favorite people (Luv ya Lorilee and Ashlee). By the way we thought it was pretty funny that the soccer team that Pizza Plus sponsered came to our pizza parlor for their soccer party. Pretty awesome. We won't forget that for a while.

HALLOWEEN AT D'BONI'S

Every year my work dresses up for Halloween. And every year the costumes seem to get better and better. This year most of us stuck with a theme of musician. We had a few other costumes. All together we had a bumble bee, Tina Turner, Janice Joplin, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Hendricks, Freddy Mercury, Madonna, Dolly Parton, an 80's rock groupy and a greek goddess. We had a blast hanging out and dancing when we could with the band that plays for us every year.


Here are some of the people I work with. They are all fun and really great people.

This is my friend Jane. I loved this picture of her. She's pretty shy and so this is a great photo of her letting loose! Go Michael.

And this is Jon, Jane's boyfriend. He's even more reserved than Jane so when he walked in with these awesome silver metalic pants we all about died of laughter. And the fake chest hair just added to the madness.

And this is me. I got quite a few looks last night. Not sure what everyone was so fascinated with. Maybe it was my long blonde locks....probably not!!!

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE....

I love going to the temple. I honestly don't go as often as I should or want. I am so glad I have friends that love to go too. The trip with Carissa and Lorilee was great. The session was small and peaceful. I have to admit I was pretty sleepy and almost fell asleep (wink wink Lorilee). It was so nice to just sit in the celestial room and be with wonderful people who I love dearly. It was a first for me...I ate at the cafeteria. We all looked pretty confused but we figured it out. I hope we can go back again soon.

ALIEN BABY

I had my latest doctor's appointment today. I went in with my mom and sister, Wendy. I was supposed to hear the heartbeat today. But apparently babies love to move around. So, I didn't get to hear the heartbeat, but they brought in the ultrasound machine. It was so much fun to see my little baby move around so much. It's only about 3 1/2 inches long. But I love this picture. If you look at the head you can see the eye sockets. It reminds me of an alien. Ah, my little alien baby. You are so cute and so mine. I love you already. If you can't tell, the baby is is lying on it's stomach so it's head is facing down. The long line is the spine. The heart beat was great. The baby is perfect. That's what I love to hear!

AIRMAN JOSEPH ARCHULETA

Well, Joe left for basic training to Lackland AFB in Texas on Tuesday, October 21. Before he left I got to go and see him swear in. It was a pretty emotional experience. It was a small room filled with determined young men and women. They are willing to give their lives to protect us. Joe, I am so proud of you. I love you and I know you are doing great.

I heard from Joe on Saturday. It wasn't much of a phone call. I pretty much got his address. But he did get a few extra minutes to talk to me because of his higher position. I guess he has become crew chief over all of the other men and women he is training with in his group. I don't know exactly all of the details, but apparently he gets a few perks. GO JOE!! I knew he would do great. He sounded good and excited. He seemed focussed and happy.

I got this picture from an email sent to Joe's parents by the Elder who is at the church on Joe's base. Here he is on Sunday. I love it. He looks so content to be in a uniform.


These are pictures from when he swore in. Luckily his dad recorded it on video. I wasn't able to pay much attention to what they said. I was too busy taking pictures of my husband. But they promise to protect us and obey the orders of the President of the United States and their officers. They all looked so serious. It was a very emotional, exciting, and scary moment.

I love you Joseph

SAN FRANCISCO

I love him so much. Joe and I spent a romantic weekend together a few days before he shipped off to bootcamp. We stayed in a nice hotel in Livermore. Then we spent the next day in San Francisco. It was so nice to just get away and have it be the two of us. It was relaxing. I was so happy to be next to Joe walking the pier hand in hand. He treated me like a queen.

Isn't he so cute. The sea lions are cute too. But they stink pretty bad. They are so loud. A bunch of them try to get on these rafts and push each other off. It was pretty entertaining.

JOE'S GOING AWAY PARTY

I threw Joe a going away party at D'boni's Pizza at the beginning of October. He was leaving for boot camp. I was so grateful because everyone we invited came. My family, Joe's family, work friends and church friends all came. Joe was so excited that so many people were there to support him. Thank you to everyone who came. I thought I got more pictures, but I guess I didn't.


The cupcakes were a hit with the kids. I'm not sure if they actually got any in their tummies though. Here is Ashlee with cake all over her face.

Sydney and Dylen loved the cupcakes too.

Even Joe and I ate them. Isn't he so cute. I miss you Joe.

I did get a picture of Joe's family. On the left is Spencer, Joe's cousin. On the right are his parents, Ed and Judy and his little sister Leah is the one with the muscles!!!

MISTY'S BIRTHDAY (POSTED A LITTLE LATE)

Okay, Misty's birthday was a while back. Like I've said in the past, I'm a slacker when it comes to blogging. But I love these pictures. Misty was trying to blow out her candle on the pizzookie. We made her pose a million times. So, I posted the one where she's cracking up PRETENDING to blow out her candle. Don't you just love the tiarra. Tami, you're next!!


Tami, Misty, Myself and Lorilee waiting for our table outside of BJ's restaurant. They have very yummy food.

LATEST CREATIONS

Here are some of my latest cakes. Some are from a while back.



The wedding cake I did last weekend. I liked it except for the cake topper.

A birthday cake I made.

It was supposed to have the hearts on it but I wanted to see what it looked like with butterflies.

Cute little Dylen with her mermaid birthday cake

A little baby shower cake for an old friend

THE BELLY BAND!!!

So, it's official, my pants don't fit me anymore. I was a little freaked out at first because I'm only 3 months pregnant and everyone else has told me they started showing around 5 months. Well NOT ME!!! I asked my mom and she said she started not fitting into her pants around 3 months too. WHEW!!! That made me feel a little better. I've been living in sweat pants for the past week and today I went out and bought the BELLY BAND. Girls, I l-o-v-e it. I can wear my jeans again (even though their not zipped)!!!! Just thought everyone would like to know how excited I was to get it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTY!!!!

I realized I didn't call you today to wish you a happy happy birthday. I just want everyone to know that I am so glad to have Misty Ballard as a friend. I remember you telling me that when you first got to know me you thought I didn't like you. But you know the truth now...I was just a shy young lady who thought you were way too cool for me. And truthfully, you are. You are a great person. You are always so thoughtful and always willing to give a helping hand. You are pretty darn hilarious and love being around you and your family. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and that your next few birthdays will hold a lot more wonderful things instore for you.

EHS FOOTBALL GAME

So, last night Joe and I decided to go down to the Escalon High Football Game. It was homecoming. Let me tell you I felt pretty darn old sitting next to all of the highschoolers. We had a good time. The JV game was pretty exciting. They were behind the entire game and came back to win in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter. Then between games the imfamous homecoming floats were presented. The kids sure had a great time dancing on them. Then we watched the varsity game. That wasn't as exciting because they killed the other team. It started to sprinkle really lightly and I was just really hoping it would hold out until the end of the game. And sure enough it did. We sat RIGHT next to the band. And I was right next to the really big drum. And I didn't like it, so every time our team got a touchdown I hurried and stood up so the drum's vibration wouldn't get to me. Joe just laughed at me, but that's okay. I really enjoyed highschool, so it was fun to see how much hasn't changed. There's still the school spirit and being with friends and having a great time just being there cheering on your team. The only thing I was sad about was not getting one of those awesome foam fingers I saw everyone with. So sad. Maybe nextime.

Today I have to go to work. Now, it's Outlaw homecoming and escalon's city wide yard sale. Just hoping I won't go insane by the end of the day.

SOME FUN THINGS

So, I've been really bad a posting pictures along with my posts. So, I wanted to add Joe's birthday in here because he's soo cute. It was a pretty low-key day. We went to the doctor's for the first time for our baby. Then we headed over to BJ's (Joe's favorite restaurant) for some yummy food. Here he is looking so cute.


Joe loves pizzookies. He ate it all himself. As you can see he was very happy about it.

Here we are taking a photo op outside the restaurant.

Now, here is Nolan Michael Quashnick. This is my friends first baby. He was born on September 4th. He's so dang cute. I told Heather (His mommy) that if I wasn't expecting myself that I'd be stealing him and taking him home with me forever.

And now some of my latest creations. Here is my first ever Butt Cake. It was for a nurse and the stuck a real needle in the butt area. The loved it. And yes, the thong was their idea, not mine.

And this is the latest wedding cake I did a few weeks ago.

And Brooklyn's cake. Again it's an old picture but I thought it turned out pretty good. Too bad it melted in the sun. Pretty funny I thougt.

Okay, so I'm done posting old pictures. I'll try and be better about posting them while I actually write.

BELATED SANTA BARBARA POST

Okay, so it's been about a months since Tami, Misty, Lorilee, and myself went down to Santa Barbara for a girl's getaway. We stayed in a nice hotel near the beach and the best part was the Jack Johnson concert we went to. This picture is for Lorilee.
Here we are in our most sexiest of poses. Oh yeah!

Girls just wanna have fun!!!!!!!!!!

Check out the crowd! We were down there for a while but really couldn't see the stage so we went up to the bleachers where there were a lot of people too. I love the colors that hit the crowd in this photo.

Here's Jack singing with Paula Fuga. She's pretty cool. I loved here laid back way of talking.

MMMMM.....breakfast. Misty's dad was so nice and gave her money to treat us to breakfast. What's in that cup there Lorilee????

Okay, I never laughed so hard in my life. This was our excursion to the beach after breakfast and we were "playing" volleyball. And Tami dove for the "ball" SO FUNNY!!!

I had a blast girls. I can't wait to get together again. GO JACK!

WEEKLY CATCH UP

So I thought I'd get on again and say a little about my past week. There was nothing super fun or out of the ordinary. But over all I had a pretty great week. I worked a few nights. D'Boni's is the happening place lately. We've been pretty busy which is a pleasant surprise because this is usually a slow time of year for the business. So, I still have a job and that's good. Monday night Joe and I went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. I had been craving this soup they make there and so we went out and I ate some very expensive soup. Not really, we just ordered a bunch of food and had a great time. Restaurants can be so expensive. But it hit the spot. Then our "date" continued to Target where we picked up the hillarious movie "Baby Momma". I didn't have any desire to see it but Joe really wanted it. Let's just say it's laugh out loud funny. We took it over to the Hansens to watch because Carl was out a huntin'. So we hung out with Lorilee and the kids. We had a good time. The rest of the week I just spent the time on a few cakes I was hired to make. I made my first ever "butt" cake. I think I did a pretty good job. The girl really liked it and that's what matters. Carving the backside out of cake is no easy task by the way. But I forgot to take a picture so hopefully I can still get one from the girl. Then on Saturday I had a pretty busy day. I went to work as usual, but then had to zip on over to the primary practice which I thought was utter chaos. The kids were so hyper that day and Thomas De St Jeor was singing sooooo loud right by my me. I was practically cringing when he hit certain notes. But it was really funny. Then I had to zip on over back to work where I worked until 6. Then Joe and I went to Mikes Road House for a birthday dinner for one of his co-workers. Let's just say Joe got the biggest order of fries with his sandwich that I had ever seen. I took a picture and I'll post it later. I'm kinda lazy at posting the pictures lately. Anyway...had a good time but being prego and all I was beat and it was only 9 pm. So we came home and let me tell you my bed is my new best friend!!! And to finish of my week we had the primary program today at church and the children were amazing. They were sooooo good up on the stand and they said their parts well and sang beautifully. I, of course, started to tear up at the end when the sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" I was really proud of them. They worked pretty hard all year learning the songs. Okay, like I said, not a very eventful week, but pretty good over all. I need to be better about writing more often so I don't have mile-long posts once a week.

Okay, so I've been really really bad about posting anything. As you can see it's been over a month now. So, I decided to do a little recap (hopefully) on the events of this past month.
#1. Found out I'm PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Joe and I have been trying for over 3 years. And let me tell you after so much dissapointment, it is so surreal to actually know I will be having a little baby. I'm due April 20th and Joe and I just went in for the first ultrasound. Little Pinto Bean is doing just fine.
#2. Joe just celebrated his 26th birthday. We had a fun day of going to the doctor and then out to lunch. We ate at his favorite restaurant that just opened up in Modesto called BJ's. It is really good. It was low key and I felt kinda bad about that because the day mostly consisted of the doctor's appointment. But he got a Pizzookie at BJ's and that seemed to make him quite happy.
#3. Just working alot. I shouldn't complain about my job. I just get burnt out sometimes. And with all of the cakes I've been doing lately it's been quite a struggle to keep up with daily tasks. So my bedroom and bathroom are quite the disaster. But I cannot complain about how supportive Joe has been, always making sure I'm okay and I'm not overdoing it.
#4. YARD SALE!!! We had a big yard sale yesterday. I got up before the sun was up. We headed over to my aunt's who let us use her large front yard. We did really good. We made quite a bit of cash and got rid of alot of things. We're trying to lighten our load for our future move in April/May. In the middle of the yard sale I had to head over to Modesto to set up a wedding cake for a lady. Then I headed back to the yard sale. And if I'm not already a glutten for punishment, I requested to work that night. Unfortunately it was Outlaw night meaning all of the city league football teams came in about 9 pm and I didn't get home until around 1 am. I was so exhausted. Everyone could see how worn down I was. Practically in tears-not a pretty sight. I couldn't even make it to church today because I was in pretty bad shape. But now I'm doing great!

Well, that's it I think. oh yeah, I 'd better mention the fun trip us girls took in august. I won't say too much except it was soooo much fun. I love you guys. Lorilee, Misty and Tami are some of the funniest, sincerest and most beautiful people and I'm glad to be your friend. When's our next adventure girls????

GOOD TIMES AT BJ'S

Gena, Jenn, Veronica, and ME

Oh, yeah. Too cool for words.

Fun Pics with the girls

So, It's been wonderful being back here in Escalon. Lately, I've been able to reconnect with some long-time friends from high school. Sadly, one of them left to pursue her dreams in Hollywood. Jenn, I love you and will miss you. We had a farewell dinner all of us together. Gena, Veronica, Jenn and myself went out to BJ'S in Stockton last week. It was a blast. We were there reliving high school. I think we were there for almost 4 hours. And if we didn't have to get up so early the next day, I'm sure we could have spent another 4 talking about great memories and our future dreams. Here we are living it up at the restaurant.

MMMMM...PIZZA......

I haven't been on in a while because I had to work a lot this past week. Man, do I get sick of making pizza. But, the other night, Joe was hungry and wanted me to make him a calzone from work. Well, we normally take a mini pizza skin and stretch it out, but that wasn't big enough for Joe. So, he asked me to make a bigger one. Well, I decided to do exactly that, but instead I made a GIANT calzone. It was pretty hilarious. And everyone at work thought so too. Anyways, here's my wonderful creation. The things we do to entertain ourselves at work!!!

BIG BLUE

Okay, so Joe and I have named our new car Big Blue because, well, it's big and blue! Everyone gets a kick out of it, especially since my creative husband decided to get custom decals for the sides of our car. Everyone I know says "I saw big blue today". Anyways, it's growing on me. We were at the mall last weekend and we were in Lids. They had some pretty awesome sunglasses in the store. Well, we each found a pair of BIG BLUE SUNGLASSES. We just had to buy them. Yes, I know we're dorks. But we got such a kick out of it. Anytime we ride in big blue, we put these darn glasses on. Oh yes, we are sooo cool. Anyways, here's a fun picture of us with big blue and our cool new shades. Jealous??

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

Okay, so I've been a bit bummed lately because by this time last year I'd already booked 5 wedding cakes for the summer and fall. Well, this year I'm no where close and we could really use the extra money, not to mention I LOVE to decorate cakes. I know I'm weird. But I really do. So, last week I got to make these really cute cakes for my friend Heather's baby shower. They were mini cheese cakes. Really cute. Well, her husband's aunt decided to throw her a family baby shower and called me the other day to make some more of the mini cheese cakes for the next shower. And then I got a call the next day to make 2 cakes and 2 dozen decorated cookies for someone else. It's so funny. I can go weeks with nothing ordered or scheduled to make and then out of now where "POOF" I get so many orders I can't seem to even have time to blink. But I'm not complaining at all. You know, we sure are tested quite a bit. I got to thinking about how maybe I should get another job when Joe leaves for the airforce. But I hope I can just keep busy with the cakes and cookies. I would love if that could keep me busy. So, another cool thing that happened today. I had to work and I really wasn't looking forward to being the pizza delivery driver. Some nights it's really fun and goes by fast and other nights it's a really annoying job to have. And it's not worth the gas I have to use in my own vehicle. But tonight was great. It started out really slow and I was just about to ask another guy at work if he wanted to deliver pizzas instead. But since I've been thinking about making extra money lately, I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a little extra cash. Well, it may have started off slowly, but then all of a sudden I got so many deliveries. There was one time when I had to take seven. Just so everyone knows, that's a lot to take at once, especially when they are all over town and in the country. But I made it through and it really paid off!! I came home with 80 extra dollars. That is unheard of for a weekday night. So, maybe I'm not making many cakes lately, but I do recognize a blessing when I see one. So, that was my day. I'm really glad Misty and Tami got me hooked on this blog. Usually I don't take time to sit back and see what a great life I have. And even though we all seem to think about what's next or what's going to happen tommorrow. It's nice to look back and see what we have right now.

BABY SHOWER & THE MALL

So, I went to my good friend Heather's baby shower today. She looked so cute. I know she's been looking forward to this for a while now. It's her first baby. She doesn't know what she's having. She wants it to be a surprise. I don't know if I could do that. Anyway, we all had a good time. I got to see some people I haven't seen in quite a while...like Shelly and Ann. We were busting up pretty much the entire afternoon. Well, Heather got quite a bit of stuff for the little one. I made her a quilt (my first one). I love how she looked. Best wishes to you Heather and Todd. Then this afternoon I met up with my hubby at the mall. He went to get an oil change and our tires rotated. Well, this was on "Big Blue" our Toyota FJ Cruiser. Sometimes I think Joe loves that thing way too much. Anyways, we hung out at the mall while the tires were getting rotated. We had a blast. He bought a book and some sunglasses. I got a cute shirt and a couple of headbands. Hopefully they look cute on me. I've been trying to do my hair in a couple of different styles, but it's hard with short hair. It was just a nice day. Now, time to relax. Maybe we'll go see a movie tonight. I love not having to work on a Saturday.

CAMPING TRIP

So, in my last post I forgot to mention we just got back from our annual camping trip to Clarks Fork. It was so much fun. The first night, we pretty much just set up camp. It was too late to get a fire going and to cook dinner, so we headed back down to Strawberry for some dinner. We ate at the Strawberry Inn. It was quite an interesting place. The food was american but the set up was definitely eastern European. Then we went to Pine Crest. They have an outdoor ampitheater there. We watched the movie, Get Smart. Pretty hillarious. Then it was late and we went back to camp. We found our air mattress almost completely deflated. But it was too late to fix it. So, we just slept on it. I couldn't believe how warm it was. I wasn't cold at night like I normally am. So, Saturday we woke up and tried to make a fire. But the wood my dad gave us just would not catch fire. Poor Joe, there he was splitting all this wood, and it wouldn't even work! But we managed and ate a pretty good breakfast. Then we headed back down to Pine Crest. Last year we took the hike around the lake and I almost died. I couldn't believe how out of shape I was. Not even half way through I was completely exhausted and ready to quit. We had to stop every five minutes just so I could catch my breath and stop complaining for a minute. Well, this year we decided to do it again. I was a bit nervous at first because I didn't want to be such a baby. Well, to my surprise, I didn't have any troubles at all getting around that lake!! Joe let my lead the entire time. And no joke, I was practically jumping off some of those steps. I felt so good. I just wanted to keep pushing myself. I was sure that I was going to start getting really tire at any second. But I'm telling you I did great. I was so proud of myself. I've been going to the gym for the past few months. I really haven't lost much weight, but now I can see the difference it has made. Well, after the hike, we changed and sat down at the beach and ate lunch. Last monday I went to the city pool with Lorilee and her kids. I got the worst sunburn I've ever had. But by Saturday I was doing okay. I took off my shirt only to find I had hundreds of tiny water blisters all over my shoulders and back. It was GROSS. I guess from the hike I sweated so much that my peeling skin created these gross little blisters. But it didn't hurt and I was able to get rid of them. Joe and I decided to go into the freezing cold lake. I hate cold water, but since I was in such an adventurous spirit, I wanted to see if I could handle the cold water. So, we got in slowly but surely. Then we decided to swim out to the buoy (totally don't know how to spell that). We just sat on the beach after that under our umbrellas eating ice cream and watching the view and the hundreds of other families there. Quite entertaining I must say. Then we headed back to our camp, but first we picked up some fire starter. On the way back we decided to check out some other camp sites along the way. Some were quite remote and others were great. But I was getting pretty cranky after going over bumpy terrain for 2 hours. When we got back we tried to fix our air mattress. It must have just not been screwed on right because it worked just fine for us then. We ate dinner made from cooking fish and rice on the fire. Pretty delicious. We sat around the fire for a while. I made a s'more while Joe put this cool stuff in the fire that turned it different colors like blue and green. Pretty fun. After that we were beat. So we headed to bed. Then on Sunday, we woke up, packed up camp and fed the rest of our peanuts to the little critters of the forrest. We headed back down the mountain and came home. A shower was much needed and that was our little adventure. I love being with Joe. He's so much fun and he pushes me to get me to do the things I want to do, but am sometimes scared to do. Misty, we still have to go camping. Maybe next month!!