Happy Birthday Maci!

My friend's baby girl, Maci, turned 1 on may 6th. She's an adorable little girl. I just love her to pieces!! I was privileged enough to make her very first birthday cake. For first birthdays I always make a small cake just for the birthday kid. That way they can smash, smear, drool and eat all they want withouth sharing. I try to be kind to the parents though...white or light colored frosting :). I think she enjoyed her cake...

 I wasn't sure how the cow print and the "Cow Jumped Over the Moon" theme would work together. Sometimes you just have to jump in, do it and hope for the best. I actually really love how the cake turned out. One of my favorites.

My fondant animals need some work. He's quirky cute.

Tyler is 2!

My youngest nephew turned 2 on April 22nd. I love his cheesy little smile and that he's figured out how to say my nickname "tee tee".

He's such a sweet little guy and always ready with hug. Unless he's in the mood to tease you. Then he gets a big smile and shakes his head no when you ask " can I have a hug?".

The day of his party was seriously the hottest day in April. The older kids had a great time shooting each other with squirt guns. They had even more fun shooting the adults and surprising them.

 And of course i had the honor of making his birthday cake...

Our Easter Celebration

I am not sure where the month of April  went!!! Easter was almost a month ago? How is that even possible?

We gathered at Jimmy and Jessica's house for a massive feast, gigantic Easter Egg Hunt and to Celebrate Jimmy turning... older... and my niece, Alissa turning 14.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

It was a beautiful day full of family and friends. The kiddos went crazy over the 250 eggs we hid for them. making them Easter Baskets and stuffing Easter Eggs for them never gets old.

Ducks Vs. Sharks Hockey Game

Back in March Jared and I gifted my brother, Jimmy, with a ticket to the Anaheim Ducks vs San Jose Sharks hockey game. Jared and I are Ducks fans and well... Jimmy is a Sharks fan. Have no fear, we are still praying for him!

Jimmy, my sister in law Jessica, Jared and I went to Bucca Di Beppo for dinner before the game. We told them it was Jimmy's birthday (because we were up there celebrating it). Jimmy thought he'd got off scott free when the waiters brought over a huge candle stick and started singing...

Usually this type of embarrassment is followed by a free dessert. Cannoli? Tiramasu? We were excited. Until no dessert came. Oh well.It was a delicious dinner. The game was great. Especially because the Ducks beat the Sharks. Again. For the 4th or 5th time in the season. Jimmy and Jessica enjoyed their first live NHL Hockey game and we are definitely going to do it again next season!

Happy 80th Birthday Nana!!

On Februrary 13th, Jared's Nana officially turned 80 years young. We had a small party for her on the 11th and she had a wonderful time. I cherish Ariel and Loretta (Jared's Grandmas). I miss mine desperately and I soak up every moment I can with these two.

Nana cracks me up. Everthing and everyone is "darling" and "precious". Nana will be your biggest fan, no matter what. She constantly tells me how cute I look in my work uniform. Only a Grandma could love you in head to toe Navy Blue :)

I think my favorite part of the day was watching Nana interact with her friends. She joked, laughed and talked about all sorts of things. Jared and I had the best time sitting back and watching her enjoy every minute of her day.

 There was lots of family to go around, including my parents. I love that my family and Jared's family have become close. It was a wonderful day celebrating a beautiful and loving woman!

Ali's Surprise

Ali is my partner at work and a dear friend. She started with Cal Fire in 2008. She became my partner in 2009 when she was permanently moved to night shift. From the moment we met (about 6 months before she started w/ the department), we were instant friends.

Our working relationship is unique. We help each other without even talking. She will answer my radio when needed, I will call someone for her when she needs me to. All without asking the other person to do it. It is pretty amazing.

We work 12 hour shifts so we spend half of our week together. During that time you are most likely going to get to know the other person quite well.

We've celebrated birthdays, her wedding, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and all of the holidays in between. We've talked about relationships and counseled each other. We've cried tears when she filed for divorce and we've stood by each other through it all.

Ali has had a rough couple of years. She's faced a marriage that lacked love and respect. She's had medical problems and gone through a divorce. Through it all she put on her brave face and road the roller coaster of life. She is one of the most loving, caring, giving and kindest people I know. She will put others before herself. Even if that means she must go without. She's hugged me when I cried and squealed with me during the good times. We make dinner once a week for our work crew, watch the Bachelor, Lifetime movies, Biggest Loser etc.

Ali has never really had good birthdays. Her ex-Husband forgot every year. It made her sad but she would just go with it. This year I wanted it to be different for her. She's been through so much and deserved a good birthday. I got into my planning mode and planned a surprise birthday party for her. She thought she was going to our friend's house for a "House warming party".  I was terrified that she would figure it out but somehow we all kept the secret from her.

When she arrived, we all yelled "SURPRISE" and told her it was a birthday party for her. She was speechless and had tears in her eyes. That made all of the planning worth it. We laughed ( a lot!!), played Wii bowling (Ali kicked our butts) and had tons of food. It was a great night!

Happy Birthday, dear Ali. I hope you know how loved you are!

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes made by Becki!

A special signature drink for the birthday girl

Ice Cream Sundae bar for dessert!!!

The birthday girl and I

The "ladies of the night"... and clay

Happy Birthday, Love

For Jared's birthday I surprised him with a trip to the Discovery Center in Santa Ana to check out the Star Wars exhibit and get our nerd on. We didn't have a ton of time there but we were able to look around at all of the displays and read many of the placards.

Afterwards we went to Bucca Di Beppo for dinner and ended up sitting at the exact same table we did two years ago when we were in Anaheim. our waiter had a very thick hispanic accent and he was somewhat difficult to understand. His name? Billy.
We got all fancy and ordered dessert and everything. Neither one of us had tried Cannoli so we ordered their Chocolate Chip Cannoli... so.freaking.good! If you've never tried it, you should.

Dinner was enough to put un in a food coma until I took Jared's final gift out of my car. Wrapped in a small box he found an Anaheim Ducks authentic practive jersey and tickets to not one but THREE Anaheim Ducks hockey games! The Ducks had a great holiday bundle pack that I just couldn't pass up! We loved every minute of the game that night. Normally hockey is a low scoring game. Each team will usually bring home 1-3 points per game, max. The Ducks won that night 6-2. It seemed like we were jumping up and cheering more than we were sitting in our seats. The game was a blast. In fact, the whole day was!

Jared,

Three days ago you turned 29. Almost one week ago I took you on a surprise date to celebrate your birthday. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. From the smiles at the discovery center and the cheers at the Ducks game, I think you did. You make my life complete and you love me so fully. Happy 29th birthday my sweet sweet love. You deserve all you have and so much more!

Peyton turned 4!

On January 8th, 2012 my youngest niece , Peyton, turn 4 years old. I am just wondering how she went from this tiny little bundle on the day of her birth:

 To this hip one year old :

 To this angelic 2 year old:

 And this cheesy 3 yr old (who was so sick on the day of her birthday party but kept smiling anyway!):

 And has ended up this 4 yr old little lady:

How is this possible????

Peyton, Auntie Shannon loves you so much! You crack me up every time I am with you. You come up with the most random and funny things to say, you still like to dance around my living room to music and take naps on my "big bed". You love your brother the way I love my brothers and that makes my heart so so happy. I love your hugs and giggles more than anything. You really really love your uncle Jared and often ask where he is if he isn't with me when I visit. happy 4th birthday sweet girl! Quit getting so big! :)
Love,
You favorite Auntie Shannon

Birthday #31

In a word, yesterday was... perfect!

I started the day with a 90 minute massage at Massage Envy. Definitely wasn't regretting that membership yesterday! When the 90 minutes is up and all you want to do is roll over and go to sleep, you know it was a great massage.

I went to Kohls and bought a new purse, a pair of running capris and a running shirt... all for myself! That's a rare thing. I'm way better at buying stuff for other people.

I answered over 100 (!!!) Facebook "Happy Birthday" wishes.

I answered probably 25 (!!!) "Happy Birthday " text messages.

My best bud wrote a heart felt, touching blog about me and gave my blog page a face lift (check it out! so perty!) I read this one in the parking lot of Massage Envy. I cried like a baby and laughed hard in many places.

Another good friend wrote this very sweet blog about me too! I was smart enough to read this post after I got home. I figured one cry-fest in my car is enough for one day. I cried as i read her sweet words and laughed too!

I am really lucky to have those ladies in my life! Thank You Jessica and Melissa! I love you both!

My love gave me some of these:

He also made me a delicious meal of Tilapia, Asparagus and Roasted Red Potatoes

And he got us some gooood treats for dessert!

He also informed me that he got me a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch as a gift! The post office sent it back for whatever reason so he has to re-order. Im excited!

We watched Big Bang Theory and cuddled. I answered more facebook posts and texts, we laughed at my cats... It was an incredible day!

Thank You for the sweet memories and wonderful/touching birthday wishes! I am so blessed and very thankful.

Day 115 Thru Day 120

Day 115:

Captain Dan is retiring from Cal Fire. I made a cake for his party.

Day 116:

Apparently there's this "Man Rule" that states you must have a beer while BBQing. So Jared enjoyed a cold one while he made is some steaks.

Day 117:
April 27, 2011 was a bittersweet dsay for those of us that work in the ECC. Captain Dan has been my Captain for the last 4 and a half years. Today was his last day with Cal Fire. Though all of us are excited for him and his new adventures, we are so very sad to see him go. We had a huge party to send him off.

Day 118:

Uncle Jared and I took Tyler to Sea World while Mommy and Peyton went shopping for his "Little Slugger" Birthday party. He was squealing and laughing at the Walrus. Adorable!

Day 119:

I always have a great time putting together cake for my precious nieces and nephews.

Day 120:
Easter Baskets w/ removable liners on clearance for $2/ each? Yes please. 2 pretty white baskets are now resting comfortably in my hope chest waiting for that very special day.