Whidbey Island, girls weekend

Third times the charm...isn't that what they say? Well 2 years ago for Shelley's birthday for a gift we gave her a girls weekend on Whidbey Island to stay at Aunt Diane's beach cabin. We have planned this trip three times and for various reasons the first two times we didn't get to go. Finally we made it this weekend and it was well worth the wait! Stephanie drove over from Vancouver and met us at the Cabin. We had good movies, good food, and lots of fun.

Here we are on the Ferry!

Don't ask....

Here is Aunt Diane's cute little cabin. Love this place.

Shelley gave us all manicures, complete with hand massages.

We drove over Deception Pass, what a cool bridge.

Cathy watched Anika, while Shelley, Stephanie, and I went on a little adventure to Fort Casey. Can you see them in the lighthouse?

Shelley being blown out of the canon.

Don't ask...

So it was extremely windy the entire trip, as you can see from the hair....but we managed to have fun anyway....

No Reason

This is exactly how I am feeling today, wishing I was riding in the backseat of the station wagon with my head out the window, the wind blowing in the my face...it's friday. What can I say?

I had to dig through some old pictures for something for Brian's work, as I was scanning them, I was wishing I could go back in time....but for now, I will leave you with these images.

I'm not sure who Brian is pulling here, but I love his little chicken legs...hahahaha!

Working Fool

Brian has been working his little tail off cleaning up around the yard and what not. His most recent project has been cleaning out the "butt-huts" as they have been termed. The owners before us has Alpaca's, so they had lots of little pens here and there with feeders and what not. Brian has been removing random fence posts for quite some time. I think this was the last of it.

Mad-Dog supervising.

Addy Lou Hoo's Visit

Jolene and Addy Lou Hoo came up early on Friday to help me make Boss' birthday dinner. Not sure what we are doing in this picture, but there must be something cool over there!

We went on a little 4-wheeler ride. Addy Lou loves the speed!

Boss Turns 29!

Friday the 19th was Brian's 29th Birthday! Sheesh, he is getting old! We had a birthday feast in true Brian fashion, prime rib, salmon, corn, asparagus, twiced baked potatoes, and to finish off the feast we had angel food cake with berries and lemon curd, and Jolene made an awesome key lime pie! The fam came over (Jolene, Eric, and Addy, Shelley and Jared, Russ and Cathy, Mike and Terri, and Grandma and Aunt Diane) for our little celebration!

His new 'fast' shoes....

Jolene and Eric got him this awesome life vest, now he can look good on the water!

Angel Food Cake (his birthday tradition)

Grandma Faw

Bosom Buddies

Bosom Buddies...I wish I had all of my pictures from high school on a disk...I would love to share some of the images of Alicia and I...we used to go out and do photoshoots and take crazy random pictures of eachother. Alicia is one of those friends that no matter how much time passes between when we talk to or see eachother it is always like it used to be when we would see each other 24-7 and 'cruise' the streets, talking about boys, laughing at stupid jokes, and singing to Destiny's Child, or the time we were going to road trip it California and made it as far as The Dalles, Oregon and the clutch went out in her car and we had to stay in a creepy hotel all by ourselves, needless to say we have countless memories and we've been through it all, thick and thin, that's why I call her my Bosom Buddy.... Alicia is my funky inspiration....she has a great sense of humor and a personality like no-one else...love her to death. She has been in Seattle for the last few years is moving to LA on a new adventure and so we got to have coffee and catch up before she heads out.

Yes I really did take a picture of my bagel.....I couldn't resist taking a picture, gotta love the Bookery, our little coffee shop/book store. What a cute presentation. And Yes, I really do carry my camera everywhere, don't wanna miss a moment...

Whoopie Pies!

* NOTE: if you already wrote the recipe down, my mom informed me she had the filling written down wrong....so its now fixed....

As Promised here is the recipe for the o-so-tasty Whoopie Pies...as I was tryping the recipe in I was wondering about their history so I WIKIPEDIA'D them and here is what they say:

"A whoopie pie (alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, bob, or "BFO" for Big Fat Oreo) is a baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition, they are increasingly sold throughout the United States. According to food historians, Amish women would bake these (known as hucklebucks at the time) and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!"

Whoopie Pie's

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk (or buttermilk)
Whoopie Pie Filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.

In a large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, and egg. In another bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the milk. Add the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, alternating with the milk mixture; beating until smooth.

Drop batter by the 1/4 cup (to make 18 cakes) onto prepared baking sheets. With the back of a spoon spread batter into 4-inch circles, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cake.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until they are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Whoopie Pie Filling- cream together 3/4 cup butter, 1 1/2 cup powder sugar, 1 cup marshmallow cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla.

When the cakes are completely cool, spread the flat side (bottom) of one chocolate cake with a generous amount of filling. Top with another cake, pressing down gently to distribute the filling evenly. Repeat with all cookies to make 9 pies. Let finished whoopie pies completely cool before wrapping.

ENJOY!

Crab Feed

Saturday night Brian, myself, Russ and Cathy, and Shelley and Jared went to the all you can eat Crab and Prime Rib Feed in Moses Lake, it was a benefit dinner for the Moses Lake Christian Academy (where Shelley teaches). Michael's on the Lake catered the food and it was awesome!

Brian, Jared, and Russ ate their fair share of Prime Rib (go figure) and I ate enough crab for all three of them! I even took home a huge plate of leftover crab that we didn't eat, and guess what I made? MY FAVORITE.....Crab Cakes! They were so good with a little lemon juice over the top! Oh man, what a treat for me! Brian even like them.

Remembering Grandpa Faw

What a week. On Saturday of last week Grandpa Faw went home to Heaven. Brian and I were able to visit him and say good bye Thursday night. He will be missed dearly...his witty sense of humor, his generosity, his big heart, and his patience. Brian's birthday is coming up and it just wont be the same without him there at the birthday dinner. As all of these pictures were taken at birthday celebrations...it was always the thing, we took a picture with grandma and grandpa and I am sure glad we always did. Tomorrow is his memorial and celebration of life service, I am sure it will be a packed house as he was a well respected and honored man, even though he wouldn't want to be recognized...we love you Grandpa Faw and miss you.

Bowling for Shaun's Birthday

We love when Shaun's birthday rolls around because its a good excuse to get together with friends and hang out. Shaun likes bowling (and is quite good at it) so we all met up at the bowling alley for a little fun! Emily even made it down from Canada for the bash and the honeymooners Josh and Lyndenn! Brian managed to bowl left handed and still beat me...im awesome at bowling! I couldn't help but take a picture of these awesome shoes!

All the guys. Brian, Josh, Shaun, Matt M., and Matt N.

Andrea, Emily, Lyndenn, Trisha and Ru, and Me!

The boys cheering on Shaun's behalf!

Shaun and Brian harassing Desiree the waitress.

Fun with the Fam

Jolene and Eric made the trek up this last weekend for a little visit with the fam. On Saturday Eric, Dad, and Boss went for a four-wheeler ride, that was cut short from a flat tire, we ate lots of yummy food as usual, and had a nice little visit.

This is me trying to entertain the small child.

Mom made Whoopie Pies, a childhood favorite of Jolene and I...recipe will have to follow....they are amazing.

Addy Lou Hoo has great taste in shoes.....she really enjoyed my orange flats.

BROKEN

My husband has an insane pain tolerance. 2 weeks ago Tuesday Brian was working in the shop using his drill. Well I came out of the house to go ask him a question and he was walking around holding his hand...I asked what was wrong, well the drill had come back and hit his hand. It hurt really bad he had said, I suggested coming inside and icing it, he went back to work for a few more hours. A few days goes by and it's now Friday. The hand is still swollen and hurts....he finally decides to go to the doctor, yep the doctor confirms the break, but can't cast it, because it is too swollen. So Brian decides to go snowmobiling in McCall Idaho for a few days, I am sure that was helpful. He went to the doctor on Friday of last week and finally got a cast. I wanted to sign it...I am not sure he thought that was the coolest idea. This is his first broken bone!

This picture is gross...where did his knuckle go?

I am sure he hates me taking his picture all the time, what a good sport!

Birthday Bash

Busy weekend, many posts to follow.....

Friday night we got to have dinner at Ma and Pa Faw's for Russ Birthday!

Yummy dinner, yummy carrot cake!