Cousins, 1986

When my dad was in medical school we'd spend the summers with my grandparents in Fresno. Since both my parents grew up there we had ample time to hang out at both houses. My mom's parents had fruit trees in the backyard, a half basketball court, a porch swing and sometimes a mini pool. My dad's parents had a trampoline, a play house, chickens and a soft toilet seat in the master bathroom. Summers were spent with lots of cousins. 

Fresno still seems to hold some kind of idea of perfection in my mind. Those carefree childhood summers must have been awesome.

me with cousins Kristi and Ashley.

best part of these photos are our bellies hanging out

Debbie got married

Last weekend I went to California for Debbie's wedding. It was in Oakland, and so we took off Friday and went to San Francisco before hand. The weather fantastically cooperated despite the call for rain and we had an absolute blast. It made me miss the west so much.

view of Golden Gate from Alcatraz

the DC girls with the bride

I had a fantastic trip. San Francisco was awesome. Debbie was the prettiest bride and I loved being on vacation. Someone get married so I can have another. Please?


and for my embarrassment, the photographer had all the bridesmaids and groomsmen pair up. see how there are two separated, on the ends? yeah. one of them is me. i'm going to be forever single apparently.

yes I realize I'm being completely ridiculous.

Emma

My sister Emma just spent the last year and a half of her life teaching people about God and The Book of Mormon in England. This weekend I hopped on a plane to Oregon (after spending a couple days in California for Debbie's wedding, more on that later) to hear her speak in church and spend some time with her. I only took one picture, the picture at the airport when they dropped me off to fly back to my real life, but I thought I'd share some of the lovely pictures our family friend Greg took at the airport as she greeted our family for the first time in 18 months.

And finally the only picture I took, an instagram:

We're so happy to have her home! I just wish I was in Utah this week with the rest of the family for Cami's BYU graduation, more family time, and obviously more vacation.

Classic Family Pictures

I just spent the last hour and a half scanning old photos. I love being at my parents house.

Cake

I spent all day Saturday making cake. Well making frosting and assembling cakes. (With a quick break to Michael's and JoAnn's fabrics.) I was exhausted and I didn't even take my own pictures of the creations. Here is one I requested from the instagram taker with each of the birthday girls holding the cakes I made for them:

Domineau's cake is a chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting and a chocolate ganache drip. Milan's is a cinnamon cake with a spicy "Mexican hot chocolate" frosting. I thought they were both so good and certain elements of both cakes will be added into my cake files. (I won't tell you what this critical baker will change for next time.)

Happy Birthday birthday girls! Don't they look cute in their tiaras?

Easter Dresses

Growing up my mom always made us dresses for Easter Sunday. (She is such a good sew-er.)  It was awesome. I asked her to send me a couple pictures of us in our dresses (though some of these aren't from actual Easter Sunday, they are still our Easter dresses).

this is actually with my cousins Olivia and Lindsay, look at my cute med school dad off to the side.

Emma is on the blanket, then Cami, Jess and me (this is when we were living in Texas)

When we were living in Germany. I loved that hat. Jess, me, Cami, Emma, my foxy Mama

picture taken in England but those were our Easter dresses that year. I especially love our lace socks. Jess, Cami, me

And for your enjoyment, here is one of the professional pictures we got taken in our pretty cream dresses a year and a half after they were our Easter dresses.

Don't you just want to kiss all our chubby cheeks?

And lastly, here's a picture of Rach in the dress my mom made her for prom last year. I don't want her to feel left out of all these Easter pictures since she's not in any of them. I'll have to find some old pictures when I'm in Oregon next weekend.

Wish I had an Easter dress to wear this weekend...

Weekend Review

1. National Kite Festival at the Washington Monument

2. Watching General Conference while baking cake (and waiting for Elder Archuleta!!)

3. Moving Shannon's box spring up to our house. Yeah, we really drove like that.

 4. Making homemade ice cream (Roasted Pistachio and Fresh Banana) to go with the strawberry cake (although that's not my picture, it's the recipe's picture, I forgot to take a picture)

5. Playing catch, or watching catch while enjoying a beautiful sunny evening. (And it's DOMINEAU'S Birthday today and her birthday week so she gets to wear a crown a few days early)

So in other words, it was a super chill, awesome weekend.

Things not pictured:

1. the cake obviously

2. watching conference with two kids under 3. (didn't hear a lot)

3. trying on our bridesmaid dresses to figure out accessories for next week's wedding!

A special thanks to Allie, Domineau, Lisa, Shannon, Laney and Tracie for making the weekend great!