Thank you!

My birthday was Monday and made extra special by the people I love! So, thank you to everyone who thought of me and sent me birthday wishes.

I've been away at student council camp, since last Wednesday (post coming soon?). I got home on Sunday to a clean house, stocked fridge and pantry, and a new awning over the back porch. Happy birthday to me :). Miles, you are awesome!

My parents, Brett, Shannon, Ben, and Scarlett came over Monday night. I loved getting to celebrate with family and, of course, good food.





Thanks, Mom, for the wonderful meal. I will always treasure the fact that rain, sleet, or FIRE you will bring me BBQ chicken on my birthday.

That's right, folks, the fire department had to come to my parents house, when the alarms sounded from grilling outside. Hilarious! She also got me Luby's macaroni and cheese as a side because she knows it's my favorite.

What? Macaroni and cheese is a vegetable. Cotton Patch said so.






I'll believe it.


Anyway, she's the sweetest - even if she did take the opportunity to make fun of me to the Luby's employee by pointing out that "she's actually 27, haha."

Not haha.

Before everyone came over, I went to lunch with Britney and Miles and had a massage in the afternoon. A pretty posh birthday, if I do say so myself! The masseuse found some knot in my shoulder and went to town. Super sore today. This is only my third massage ever, and I've heard that it's all normal, but...ow.

I have to say that that's my only complaint at the moment, and that's pretty much nothing. So, here comes the big thank you.

The reason that I am so lucky is because of all of my family and friends. They make me lucky. Thank you!

It was not easy, but it was worth it.

Cake balls are awesome, and if you've never had them, stop what you're doing and bake or buy some NOW. If you can, get them from my mom's bestie, Becky. Hers are the BEST.

So, when I wanted to make some for Miles' birthday, I asked Becky for her recipe. She gave me a folder of articles and told me I could copy it all and return it. Thanks, Becky!

The recipe for cake balls is pretty simple, but what I really wanted to know was if she made her own cream cheese icing to mix in or used ready-made. So, I skimmed all of the articles and decided I was good to go, except I still didn't know if I should make my own icing...

Her email account saw through me and sent me to junk mail, so I didn't have the answer on that until after I'd had to make them (I just used ready-made and they were fine, but probably would have been better with homemade icing).

But, I really think junk mail, my mom, and Becky are all in together with my grandma's old theory that you never give the next generation ALL of the info and steps to a favorite recipe right away -because then what would they need you for!?

Cake balls are only simple with the right preparation/time. You need to plan ahead and not think it's a start in the morning and finish in the afternoon type of baking job. Luckily, I had at least gotten this information from skimming the articles and finished mine with a whopping 30 minutes left before we needed to leave for family bday festivities. (I've grown so much in my adult years, in regards to my procrastination!)

Luckily, I also had Miles who is VERY detail oriented. When I was on day two of the process (you know, a few hours before the party), I was having a melt down (or not having the right type of melt down - hehe), when I couldn't get the right consistency in my white chocolate for the dipping of the cake balls. Miles read the back of the package, which said to add vegetable shortening. I would have tried it with only that info, but he, being who is through and through, also checked in my super-informative test kitchen cookbook to confirm this method. And, it worked! Those details do come in handy sometimes, I guess.

Now, go eat some cake balls!

Happy Birthday, Ben and Britney!

Today is my BEST FRIEND and BEST NEPHEW'S birthdays. :)

What do you need to know about Ben?

He's adventurous, so sweet, hilarious, fun, happy, and seven!

(Sidenote: Holy cow, Ben, you cannot be seven, can you!?)

What do you need to know about Britney?

She's beautiful, loyal, hard working, fun, funny, sweet, happy, and twenty-seven!

(Sidenote: Holy cow, Brit, we cannot be turning twenty-seven, can we!?)

Since I'm out of town, I don't have my computer with pics of Britney, but I recently took a couple of Ben on my phone. I promise to post pictures of Brit running through sprinklers asap...

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite Bs!!!

Saturday View

Lake day!

What I did on Tuesday!

Tuesday I went somewhere I've always wanted to go...

Somewhere that mixes food, smoke headaches, drinks, all classes of people (mainly old people), and a lot of busy hands...

That's right - I went to Winstar!

I love to gamble, always have, and it was easy to know the answer when asked if I'd be interested in playing in a slot tournament - for sure!

Did I know what a slot tournament entailed? Of course not. Was I sure that the strategy involved wouldn't be over my head? Of course so.

And it wasn't over my head. A slot tournament involves tapping a button over and over, as quick as you can, for three minutes straight. Your adrenaline gets all hyped up and you are in a slot mania, but it is a simple task. I'm not going to lie, though, my arms hurt afterwards. :)

I lost in the slot tournament, won big on penny slots, had a blast with two coworkers, and I definitely plan on returning!

Summer Snow Cone Stand

I found it! I found the best snow cone place close to my home.

I love snow cones so much, I even have a snow cone machine. But, the ice is never fine enough and all of the syrup goes to the bottom. I've been searching for a snow cone stand to begin frequenting this summer, and today I hit the jackpot!

Who doesn't love snow cones on a hot summer day - am I right!!?

Holy, Where Have I Been!?

I know it has been too long, since I last posted.  So, to all of my devoted fans (Mom) - I am sorry.

I'll be trying to do more detailed posts of some of the following events soon, but to tide you over...here's what I've been up to!

School ended.

No, I'm not deliriously happy...

My sis' family visited.

No, I don't take pictures of Joanie and Jacob now that they have these two sweet things...

My uncle visited.

No, Bobby did not stay in the pool the whole time just to avoid me...I don't think...

My great aunt and uncle visited.

Mel and Carole with my parents.

No, that's not me on the right - just my double....

Miles had a birthday. His 27th!

No, Miles didn't get anything but this t-shirt for his birthday.

Miles and I went to Mexico

No, it wasn't AMAZING... 

(Note: I am really just saying that, so all those who didn't get to go to Mexico won't be mad.)