Father's Day Fast Food!

I found this darling idea for "hamburgers and fries" for Father's Day on Bakerella.com.....aren't they so cute!

The buns are cupcakes, the burger is a brownie, the mustard ketchup and lettuce are frosting and the fries are sugar cookies :)

You can print the cute fries holder and the paper liner and the box off of her sight and then just assemble them, really easy.

I made them a couple of days ahead of time because that's when I had the time, so I hope they will keep well in the freezer.

Once you get all the cupcakes, brownies, cookies and boxes made, you can bust them out pretty quickly.

Kelsey graciously testing them out to make sure the dads will like them :)

MMMMMMM! Yummy!!

4th of July Decorations

For Christmas 2007, Rob bought me this beautiful hutch for our entry way. I had been asking for one because I wanted to decorate it for the different holidays during the year. I've loved finding little things to put on it for all the holidays. Yesterday I took down the fun pink and yellow spring/easter display and put up the July 4th decorations. There are a few special things on it that I wanted to blog about. First of all, our family, that's my favorite way to decorate...family photos.

It has 9 little shelves that I can decorate too :) The two military hats belonged to Rob's Grandpa Mel O'Donnal. He was a Lietenant Colonel in the army and was highly decorated. Rob let me borrow those to show off and honor his Grandpa.

Grandpa Mel passed away many years ago and this is the flag that decorated his casket. It is really a treasure to have it. He fought in both the Korean war and WWII.

My sister Denise had these cute flag lights for her son Tanner's Eagle Court of Honor and said I could use them. Aren't they cute?

We finally have a current picture of Westin up now, it was a long time coming :) He and Robbie are looking so much alike as they grow older. I am so thankful and proud to live in the United States of America and also so thankful for the many men and women who selflessly serve our country. Happy Independence Day (well it will be soon :)

Newport Beach!

What a fun-filled week we just had! My dad and almost all of my siblings (we missed Denise and her family!) and all of their children (nearly 50 of us) rented 2 beachhouses in Newport and had a reunion, it was wonderful! Rob liked to go out on the pier early in the morning to watch the fishermen pull in their catch. We saw sea lions trying to steal the fish before the fishermen could pull them up and it was hilarious, a race for sure. We rode our beach cruisers that Robbie gave us out to the pier nearly everyday, loved it!

My granddaughter couldn't be there but it was so fun to be a "substitute grandma" and Aunt Helen to all these kids. Here I am with the ever-stylish Ashlyn (on the left) and the snuggle-queen Maren....ready to hit the beach.

Part of the gang catching some rays. I love all these girls!

Just "love" the beach look...no makeup or hair done...ahhh...but loving the weather and the company :)

Cute Katy, she will have the most beautiful unwrinkled skin someday :)

It's bright outside Kels :)

My brother Paul and his daughter Ashlyn. Those sunglasses can get a little tricky.

Each night one sibling was in charge of dinner. The married grandkids teamed up with an "original". Tonight was Grandpa Benson's night with Sarah and Kelsey. Their dinner was a huge hit, Taco Soup and watermelon. What a handsome dad I have! oh and darling daughters too :)

Some, but not all, of my sister Kim's family chillin' in the family room. We did this 3 years ago and realized that we've had 6 weddings and 6 births since then, whew!

Katy wanted to be "Super Mom" and delight her children with a live gift from the district in LA. The bunny was for sure a huge hit and she definitely got the Best Mom award....unfortunately Bunny only lasted 4 days :( ......cause of death....too much love. He was buried with love on the beach.

The girls shopping trip to the LA district for all kinds of treasures. We found beads, and fabric, and notions, and clothing, and just about anything else you could want. We even found a very nice man who offered to escort us out of a bad part of town :) My sister Kim and her girls couldn't go with us on this day, they went a day earlier but in this picture is...Sarah, me, Katy, Ellie, Kelsey, Marisa, and Emily. We had a blast shopping and feasted on a bacon wrapped hot dog with the WORKS...you must try it when you go there...yummy!

On Sarah's birthday we headed over to Huntington Beach for breakfast at the Sugar Shack. Paul and Marisa and Ashlyn came with us :)

Our table, minus Rob, he was off shopping somewhere :)

Happy 23rd Birthday Sarah! Jake flew in and surprised Sarah for her birthday (he had to work extra long hours that week to make up the time, what a good husband!) Later that night we roasted marshmallows on the beach and made Smore's. A perfectly wonderful day!

A typical day for the kids...sand, sand, and more sand! They would get it everywhere all over their bodies and they didn't care one bit. At the end of the day, they would run back to the beachhouse up to the "hotcuzzi" on the roof and rinse off. I told Jono "oh dear, there is so much sand in the hot tub" and he very matter of factly answered "don't worry, my daddy will cwean up the sand". Oh the joys of being a little child :)

Rob's favorite thing to do at the beach is fly kites :) This one was 7.5 feet!

Newport Beach pier.

Jake and Sarah rode bikes with us out to the pier, what a great couple!

Apparently all those years in medical school were completely unnecessary! A little beer will do the trick, sorry honey.

Uncle Robbie and Summer

Robbie flew up to Salt Lake for business and stayed with BriAnne and Micah. AND he got to meet his first niece, looks like he thinks she's pretty great. I think he'll make a great daddy someday :)

It's IMPOSSIBLE to be around her and not kiss on her little face!

Robbie must have felt the same way :)

"Who is this guy?...seems pretty nice to me" :) Love at first sight.