"sadie hawkins dance 2012"

Sadie Hawkins. Girls ask boys. Can't believe it's time for another high school dance! Didn't we just have one of those? Nicole was excited because her and Tyler (the boyfriend...not her brother!) were going with 2 other couples. They were all meeting here for pics. Parents came. Friends came. Lots of people here and my house was packed! And of coarse about an hour before everyone got here and she was getting ready it started POURING DOWN RAIN!
But never fear!!
I had this cute black ruffled with zebra print umbrella in my arsenal! Doesn't everyone have a cute back up umbrella just laying around? I'm alway prepared for everything! They didn't like that I was using it as a prop. ha! I thinks it's adorable.

I like the getting ready process. And something always goes wrong. But I got it covered and by the time everyone gets here it looks effortless and under control. I don't think my daughter realizes how lucky she is to have a personal hairstylist that can do anything she asks for. In go the hair extensions and away we go.

I had printed off a pic from Pinterest and she loved it and wanted it. It turned out great an she wanted a sparkly flower. (bad lighting in this pic!)

She's growing up way to fast! We still have proms/dances next year and then what am I going to do?! No hair? No shopping for dresses? No getting ready? Tyler (my Tyler) will have to just get dressed and wait for his dates to get ready! I will miss these days when they are gone.....

All the girls looked so pretty (Hannah, Sara, Nicole)

Some more of their friends that weren't going to the dance came by to see them and take pics. Cute girls! They are all meeting up later after the dance to go bowling...........

Nicole and Tyler.

My tradition of taking a pic of her corsage.

So weird that they can all drive and they just leave..............................get in their cars and go.

Have fun!

The rain JUST let up about 5 minutes before they got ready to leave. Hope it holds out! They were all going to dinner and then the dance. Oh the fun days of high school.........

Be home by curfew!!!

"my baby girl turns 17!"

My baby girl turned 17 years old! I'm not sure WHEN that happened! It seems like yesterday she was still in elementary school. Time flies! She wanted to have an "old school" slumber party with her girlfriends like the good old days! I was excited because I love any excuse to plan a party and decorate! I made this banner for her on my getaway weekend with the girls.It was a birthday celebration the entire weekend! Friday night we went out to dinner with grandparents to celebrate.

Saturday was her "party". The weird thing is all I had to provide was cake and candy and decor. No games or prizes or even picking anyone up! They all can drive! So weird because a lot of these girls have stayed at our house since they were in the 6th grade.

All the decor turned out fab. And the cake! Oh the gorgeous cake! My friend Teresa is an excellent cake maker and she asked what kind of cake Nicole wanted for her birthday. I had this pic in a file for a very long time and Nicole loved it and wanted it. So she made it and did an awesome job.

This is the age I last remember of my sweet daughter. Age 2!

Nicole came home from school to all her decorations. She loved it!

Of coarse she needed new birthday shoes! (I'm a bad influence. ha!) So she planned a cute outfilt because she and all the girls were going out to Corino's for dinner. ( I was invited buy stayed home so they could go out without a "mom" there).

Sweet 17...............

All of her friends are very lovely and looked so cute. I've known them all since middle school. They didn't want to take 2 cars, so they ALL (8 of them!) piled into MY car and went to dinner. Eight 17 year old girls, dressed to go out, headed to dinner. Like grown ups.

I overheard their "later" plans (TPing and forking). I told them they had to be in by curfew and I didn't want to know anything about it! Lucky for me (and them) it started pouring down rain and they came home and rented a movie and got into their jammies.

They had cake (served by the handsome younger brother!)..........

Someone lost their cell phone in the couch..............you would have thought the world came to and end!

They finally settled in to watch a movie. I visited with them for awhile and was about to retreat to my bedroom...........when they asked if I was going to stay and watch a movie with them? Really?! I can't think of anything I would rather do. Made me so happy that then let me stay. ha! Once again the times I get to hang out and be part of their teenage world........I'm a happy momma.

Lots of silly. Lots of visiting. Lots of catching up on these girls! (look at my silly son in the background. He got kicked out!)

We watched the new edition of Footloose! LOVED IT! So reminecent of my teenage years! Movie was awesome. Loved that Nicole just wanted a chill and relaxed get together where all the girls could hang out. Some of them didn't even make it thru the movie before they fell asleep. Just like the good ole days........................Happy Birthday sweets!

"Girls weekend....Tollgate...departure day!"

How did the weekend go by so fast!? We had 3 1/2 days and seems like we just got here. Needed more time to relax and read. We did manage to watch a movie last night. Went to bed around 1:00 am every night. Maybe we needed more sleep too! Was nice to have snow when we arrived. Had hoped it would snow while we were here but it started to melt yesterday. Was pretty warm yesterday.

The house looked great after we picked up all of our stuff! We trashed the house while we were there and we didn't even have any kids to blame for it.

We put Angela to work....................because she decided to stay a few extra days because she has the week off! Her hubby and daughter were on their way over and she told me it started to snow after we left! Not fair!

Snow had started to melt. This was all that was left today when we headed out. House all cleaned up and in order...........

We hit snow before we even got to Hoodoo. Pass was snowy but we didn't have any trouble. Lots of traffic once we got to the top.

Lots of snow.

Just made it home. Rainy, dark and dreary here! Did see that we may have a little snow in our forcast tonight or in the morning. Fine by me. I love the snow!

We had a fantastic weekend. Very enjoyable. Didn't relax much but was nice to get away. Missed my family (hope they missed me too!). Had a great car ride home with my sis and auntie. We had great conversation about life. Appreciate being able to stay at the house and can't wait to go back. Now I have to gear up for work tomorrow. Out of town company on Wednesday. Nicole's birthday on Friday and party on Saturday...............my time off is OVER!

"Girls Weekend...Tollgate Day 3"

So today was supposed to be our "relax day". Not leave the house. Be crafty. Read and just hang out.

Not shower unless we felt like it. I had to shower.........couldn't stand it! We started out pretty good. Donna read.

We visited and drank coffee. Talked about going on a walk. Drank some more coffee. (nice-no make up.)

Angela started to be crafty. Then we somehow decided we "needed" to go to Micheal's craft store. Angela needed something? And I wanted to buy some scrapbook paper to make a birthday banner for Nicole's birthday. Angela has all the cool tools. A cricut. Seriously so cool!

Sherri made some baked kale. That was our attempt to eat healthy this weekend. Ha! Yeah right!

And I knew it wasn't a good idea to put a bottle of pink bubbly muscato in the freezer. I even commented that we better not forget it in the freezer last night.....I went to get it out this morning. No bueno........exploded!!!!! And we didn't even get to try it! What a mess. The carbonation was the culprit.......(it looks like pink cotton candy)

So we decided to go into Bend and get some scrapbook supplies and come right back and be crafy. I don't think Donna was too excited to leave the house and she hadn't had her walk yet. But off we go! Beautiful day today.

Ahhhhhhhh................the craft store................

Love the dollar section!

Those two were left unsupervised again! I can't leave them alone together for a minute.

Got all our fun supplies and back to the house!

Donna was kind of over it. Over us. Over the "leaving the house". We needed to feed her and take her on a walk.......ha!

We got back to the house around 4:30. Donna already was into the wine? And I was making snacks. What's wrong with this picture?

Angela and I got our craft on. (the house looks TRASHED in all of these pictures!) I finished my banner (it's fab and will make an appearance for Nicole's birthday.) We had fun playing with the cool supplies.

Donna got back to reading......................

Aunt Sherri was having hot flashes so she got out her fan. This made me laugh out loud! She said my mom would understand.

We didn't get our exercise/walk in this morning so about dusk tonight we decided to go on a walk! I decided to ride. My choice of bikes was the baby seat on the back.............or the double tandem.......didn't think I could handle that one on my own! I chose the baby seat.

Donna and Angela decided to walk..............was a beautiful night. Moon was out and bright. Was cold but not unbearable. Was dark and hard to see. I almost crashed once. We made it back alive.

And just in case we hadn't crammed enough into one day..................We decided to color Angela's "grey roots". That was the fast and furious trip to beauty supply yesterday. Who gets their hair done while on a "relaxing" girls weekend? And that means I was working!!!!! I don't ever quite get away from "work". But grey roots are gone.....................

And while we were gone to our retail therapy trip to Micheal's we get a text from Aunt Sherri that she was sitting out on the deck enjoying the sunshine with a glass of wine! By herself! Jealous!

As far as relaxing and doing nothing......................well that hasn't happened yet! ha! Busy as usual but so nice to get away. Donna was happy after we went on a walk and she had some wine. I haven't even opened my book. Haven't opened a magazine. Haven't slept in past 7:30 and haven't even been on Pinterest! What the heck have I been doing all weekend? Went by so fast. We come home tomorrow and then it's back to work and the crazy..............

Next time we need to come for a week! 3 1/2 days just wasn't enough! I think we are going to watch a movie tonight? Most of the snow is melting. We have eaten way too much. But had fun with all our running around and silly pics. We need to get out more!