Backyard Bash Part One

So last weekend we went to New Mexico to see my parents. Every year they have a huge wine themed party that we have named the backyard bash. We left on Thursday and didn't come home until Monday. It was a jam packed weekend with lots of fun and friends. I took a ton of pictures so I'm going to have to do a few different posts to get it all in. So Thursday we got up, our good friends Tim and Shara had spent the night because they knew we were leaving bright and early. So the four of us piled in the car and started our 12 hour car ride to Taos. The trip went very smoothly. Brody did so good. We only stopped twice and made it to Taos in a little under eleven and a half hours. We went to dinner that night with my parents and some family friends and then called it a pretty early night. Friday we got up and started to get things ready for the party. I made a wine bottle cake and some cupcake lolly pops ( an idea Abbey emailed me that I just had to try). Mark's parents, my best friend Angela and her fiance Django and our good friends Bernd and Thea all arrived on Friday afternoon. We had lunch and just kind of hung around the house in the afternoon and then everyone left to get ready for the tequila party. As part of the backyard bash tradition my uncle Pete has a tequila at his house the night before the party. They have really yummy Mexican food, beer and of course margaritas. Brody was really wiped out so Mark, my dad and I all left a little early to put Brody down and then everyone else met us back at the house and the prep for the party began. I wish I had taken pictures of all the food. It was quite the site. All of us were put to work with our own little jobs, we were like a well oiled machine by the end. Here are a few pictures from the first couple of days. The sunsets were amazing all weekend.

The sunset our first night.

Tim and Shara's first Taos sunset.

Dad and Tim.

Thea, Django, Ang and Bernd at the tequila party.

Mark, Shara and Tim.

Django and Ang.

Grandma and Brody.

Mommy and Brody.

The sunset our second night on the way to the tequila party.

Mowing the Lawn with Daddy

So Brody got this really cute lawn mower for his birthday. Mark was mowing the lawn last weekend and Brody wanted to go outside and watch. At first he just kept running from side to side watching Mark mow, then he found his mower and decided to do what daddy was doing. It was so cute he kept going back and forth on the patio just like Mark.

He had his little shoes on with his pajamas, I thought it was so cute.

Again he took it so seriously.

Daddy stopped to watch him working hard.

Naked Mopping

This was so funny. Brody wanted to go outside and were in the middle of changing his diaper so we let him go outside naked. I figured that was the best place in case he peed. The mop was outside drying by the fireplace and Brody ran right over to it and picked it up and started pushing it all around the patio. It was cracking me up. He had seen grandma Judy mop the patio a few days earlier so I think he was copying her. Of course when she did it she had her clothes on :o) I also got a video that I will try to add to the post later.

He was so serious about it.

Back and Forth.

Look at that cute tooshie!

Pineapple Party

We had a really nice weekend. Friday we stayed home and watched a movie. On Saturday we had Ashley and Justin over for dinner and played cranium. Then on Sunday we headed down to Matt and Abbey's for a pineapple party. I guess they started the traditions a few years ago but basically it's just a fun party where everyone brings there own pineapple and they core it for you and you get to drink yummy drinks from a pineapple. Of course my pineapple was faulty and started leaking all over the place but it was still a lot of fun and I just drank my yummy drink out of a cup instead. I forgot to take pictures until the very end of the party but I did manage to get a few.

My leaky pineapple.

Matt, Abbey and Kinsey.

Christa, Abbey (Kinsey), Mark, Brody and Matt

Christa and Dusty

Chillen on Dusty haven a bottle.

Brody played hard!

This lawn chair was just his size.

Brody was so dirty, Abbey let us use Kinsey cool bath tub. I think Brody liked it!

In Loving Memory

We have recently lost two family members. Mark's great grandmother Margaret and his grandmother Toots. I wanted to do a post in memory of them. They were both deeply loved and will be greatly missed.

Margaret Sibley Gradwohl

San Leandro, California

May 19, 1908 - July 14, 2008

A native of Benton Harbor, Michigan, lived most of her life in San Leandro. She died peacefully in her home on July 14, 2008. Born in May 1908, she recently celebrated her 100th birthday. A 1929 graduate of San Francisco State Teachers College, she was a homemaker with many friends and interests. She was active in the First United Methodist Church and enjoyed gardening, quilting, sewing, crafts, walking, and her 9 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandson. Here is a great picture we took the last time we saw her and a couple from her 100th birthday party.

Judy, Ginger, me, Mark, Brody and Margaret.

100 years!

Surrounded by her family.

EUNICE J. BORISKIN

Benicia, California

December 15, 1915 - August 1, 2008

Eunice J. Boriskin died August 1, 2008 at the age of 92. She is survived by her three sons, nine grandchildren and one great-grandson. She passed peacefully with family at her bedside. Eunice was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to parents Ichel Meyer and Lieba Bryna Kowalsky. Her father was an orthodox Rabbi who distinguished himself assisting in the relocation of Jews displaced in Europe. Devoted to the service of others, Eunice worked many years in Child Protective Services, and earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work at age 62. She was far ahead of her time in health consciousness, and was an early and avid believer in diet and exercise. This served her well as she enjoyed perfect health into her late 80’s. She will be remembered for her beauty, her generosity, her graciousness, her wonderful sense of humor and her loving and caring concern for all who were privileged to be in her presence. She was a picture of dignity, and a lofty example of the best that can be in all of us. Here are some pictures from our first visit with her after Brody was born.

Judy, Joel, me, Mark, Brody and Toots.

Toots, Brody and Judy.

Brody and his great grandma.

Holding hands with his great grandmother for the very first time.

Two amazing women who touched the lives of so many people. We love you both very much and you will truly be missed!

Last Weekend

So last weekend was pretty crazy. Mark left to go to a bachelor party on Thursday. His mom flew in the same day to come help me with Brody. Robin and I hosted Abbey's baby shower at my house on Saturday. I spent Thursday night making around 80 mini cupcakes. Friday I worked on the stork cake and then Saturday was the big day. It was a great shower. Robin and I worked really good as a team. The whole thing went really smooth and stress free. Abbey got a ton of stuff she needed and I think her and Matt are just about ready for baby Kinsey to get here. On Sunday I joined Abbey at Lake Austin Spa, her mom set up this great day so everyone could relax. I have to say that Lake Austin Spa is one of the nicest spas I have ever been too. It was amazing. I got there at 10 and had a full body massage and then joined everyone else by the pool. Abbey's mom had reserved a private cabana. There were snacks, comfy chairs and lavender wash clothes in an ice bucket. We had a really yummy lunch at their little cafe. It was such a great day. And it was so nice to have Marks mom here to help. She did so much while she was here. Everything from taking care of Brody so I could enjoy my spa day to helping me clean and get ready for the shower. I don't know what I would have done without her. THANK YOU JUDY! Mark came home Sunday night and Judy went home. It was a really nice weekend. Here are a few pictures from the spa that Abbey's sister Jamie took.

This was our cabana, it was so nice!

There was an indoor pool where people could do laps or get out of the sun and still enjoy a pool.

The entire place was so beautiful. It was such a quiet and tranquil place. They have rooms that look out onto the lake so you can stay there and make a weekend out of it if you want to. They do yoga and other exercise classes all over the grounds, including out on docks on the lake. I can't wait for Judy and my mom to come for a girls weekend and I can take them here.

Cakes

I'm way behind on my blogging so I'm going to try and catch up in the next couple of days. Here are a few more cakes that I have done recently. I think all of them came out pretty good no disasters to report.

I did a half baseball for Brody's birthday, this is what he got to put his face in.

This is the cake I made for Judy's birthday.

Here is the one I made for Abbey's shower.

Close up.

The cupcakes for the shower.

Close up.

And I also made Abbey a diaper cake. It's still a cake so I figured it counts :o)