We landed on the moon!

A few weeks ago my little family packed up the car and headed for the Rockies.  When I say packed up the car, I mean stroller, booster, 3 suitcases, 2 coolers, a baby, a Samsonite briefcase, a bird named Petey and the kitchen sink.  If you travel with kids, you know what I mean.  However, I still lurch at the idea of buying a minivan so we will just settle for not being able to see out the back window of the ole' CRV.

We stayed in Estes Park which is home to the Stanley Hotel.  I have to tell you that going to the hotel was what I most looked forward to as well as my favorite part of the trip.  Grant and I had so much fun taking a Haunted History Ghost Tour.  Our tour guide explained how the hotel {which is still serving guests} is haunted and was the inspiration for a little movie called The Shining!  If you haven't seen it, get it immediately.  It is one of my favorites and as my childhood friend Emily and my adulthood friend Ann can attest to, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE scary movies!  I was disappointed to learn that the major motion picture was not actually filmed at the hotel, however it was the inspiration for the movie Stephen King's version was filmed at the SH. 



Ah, just looking at this makes me want to rent it right now!  If you have seen it, you may be interested to know that this little number was a picture I took with the flash on at the end of a dark staircase leading up to the hotel's bell tower.  Read it carefully.  Freaky huh?

Also, I did have a ghostly experience in what used to be the children's wing of the hotel.  I won't go into it now, but I'd love to tell you about it over some cosmo's.  Call me.

Another unknown fact to me until I got there was that Dumb and Dumber was filmed at the Stanley Hotel as well.  Please enjoy clips from the movie and how they are oddly similar to the places we hung before the tour began.

Movie version:

Our version:

Movie's view:

Our view:

Movie:

Us:

Last, but certainly not least.  We had a chance to meet up with great friends who also happen to be Everett's future in-laws.  My friend Krystl sucked it up through car sickness to drive through the mountains to eat dinner with us.  Please enjoy our baby's first real date and the genius that is the iPad.  Thank you iPad for giving the adults some time to catch up.  Thank you friends for taking the time to visit us.  I am more jealous than you will ever know that you live in Fort Collins {my favorite place on the planet}.  Like your perfect little genius adorable family needed to get anymore perfect!  I still love you guys very much and miss you even more!

Look Who We Met!

Last week the head coach at ONW asked me to come up and pick up our STATE CHAMPION (you know I had to plug it one more time) shirts.  He also said Cole Aldrich was running his summer basketball camp in the gym so I should bring E up to meet him and Tyrel Reed.  Uh, no prob!  So here is basically how my morning went...

8:15- I knew the camp started at 9:00, so I had to be out of the house by 8:35 at the latest in order to possibly catch the guys before camp started.

8:20- Put E in his KU Basketball gear (of course!) and hand him a container of Cheerios for breakfast on the go.  I know, I am such a great mom.  Oops.

8:35- We are out the door and on our way

8:50- I am seriously sweating because of #1 the heat, it is like 1,000 degrees in Kansas City right now and #2 I didn't pay the $150 for this camp.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I don't know if they will let me take pictures of the players let alone the players with my kid!

The rest of the story goes as follows...

I walk into the commons of ONW and see Cole and Tyrel sitting at a table selling camp t-shirts and signing a few things for kids who, you know, actually paid to be there.  I think to myself, "I just can't walk up there.  I will look like such a weirdo.  I will just go back to the weight room, get my t-shirts and be on my merry way.  At least I got to see them up close and personal.  That's good enough".  As I am walking away I hear a lady ask if she can take her son's picture with the boys.  Ok, here's my chance!  I back that train up in reverse and do the same thing.  Who can resist a one year old with a KU t-shirt on?  I mean, please. 

I first ask Tyrel is very nicely agrees and tries to get Everett to smile at him.  No luck.  Everett is hanging onto me like a monkey.  I say, "Don't worry about it, you can hold him," as I seriously pry Everett off my hip and basically throw him at Tyrel.  Then Cole walks up behind him and grabs Everett out of Tyrel's hands.  Now Everett hears all the boys in the gym dribbling so he is screaming, I mean screaming, "B Ball!  B Ball!" and pointing wide eyed at all the kids.  Cole says to him, "You're gonna play basketball!  You're a stud!" OH-EM-GEE, I kid you not.  You can see in the picture that Cole is facing a different direction because Everett was basically trying to claw his way over Cole's shoulder to see the boys playing basketball.  I love it!  Everett is starting a little collection of KU pictures and his parent's could not be prouder.   

Summertime with E

Just to catch you up, E and I have been doing a lot of hanging out now that summer is here and I haven't had a lot of time for blogging.  Between Olathe Northwest going and WINNING state (if you are my facebook friend, you know I am quite proud of my girls!), softball camp, early morning runs, running errands, sewing, Fluffy Cakes photo shoots (oh yes, I said it, more to come later), cooking and baking, whew, you get the point, there hasn't been a whole lot of time to sit down and document Everett's summer as a 1 year old.  Please enjoy a few pictures of our adventures.

 Running with our choo choo outside.  I can get that kid to come running anytime I say, "Want to go outside?"  He'll just run to the door saying, "Outie! Outie!"

 Practicing our driving skills.

 T-Bones!  Mommy's favorite pastime!

Second love of Everett's life...hot dogs.

 Not too sure about Sizzle there.  If you haven't taken your little one to the T-Bones, I HIGHLY recommend it.  It is very family-friendly and who can deny $1 hot dogs and $6.50 tickets.  Also, Thursday night is 1/2 price beer night.  Good stuff.

I give you the evolution of cramming a tiny body under a deck side table

Chucky Cheese

Jiggle Jam

 Hey there little lady.  Check out my ride!



Fluffy Cakes Sweatshop: Part II

I'm cranking out all kinds of new stuff this week!  For a preview of my first new creations, check out Fluffy Cakes!

School's {Almost} Out For Summer!

I am a go-er!  There's no doubt about that.  If I am sitting around at home, I feel lazy and want to get out of the house and "do something".  My husband is sort of the opposite.  He is happy on the couch watching sports and eating nachos.   I believe my son has picked up that gene and he LOVES a crowd.  Loved Vegas, loves my softball games, loves festivals, loves going out in general.
I believe this stems from when he was first born.  The story goes that Ev was born in the middle of H1N1 season.  Remember when it was all over the news?  People were being hospitalized, wearing masks, pregnant women, children and the elderly were at HIGH risk?!  This was a huge delima for several reasons. 
#1. I am a ginormo germ-a-phobe.  My friend Jill can attest to this because when we were at Worlds of Fun last summer, I sanitized my hands after every ride.  I always wipe down the shopping cart, I keep hand sanitizer in every bag I own.  I know, it's a problem. 
#2. Our doctor told us we couldn't take Everett out in public for 8 weeks!  Yes, 8 weeks!  The little man and I had many trips to the car wash, Sonic and the Dairy Queen Drive through.  It was too cold for walks, but I HAD to get out of the house!!

So what is a girl and her toddler to do during the summer?  We need to get out and about!  To all the KC moms, here is my secret weapon-

KC Parent Calendar

This is a fantastic site because you can see what activities are going on around Kansas City, their prices and their age ranges.  A good tip is to look at the next week or two and then write those activities and addresses in your planner for the next week.  Ev and I will not only be enjoying our gymnastics and swimming lessons this summer, now we have a calendar of family-friendly activities!

Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes

Everyone knows I'm a cupcake girl!  If I haven't told this story before, our wedding cake was a giant tree of 300 cupcakes!  I started a cupcake club at school...sounded like a good idea at the time.  I wasn't prepared to make 48 cupcakes a week.  Anywho, I saw these little yummies today and had to share!

See the full recipe on Birthday Girl.

New Fluffy Cakes!

I was a pretty busy mama this weekend.  Grant was out of town at his nephew's birthday party so I was playing single mom and sweat shop worker.  Here are some of my new creations. Like what you see?  Click here.