An 80's Themed Birthday Party

Earlier this month I went to an entirely too fun 80's themed birthday party for my friend Kari. When I was getting ready, Travis came up to say goodbye as he and the boys were leaving and he stopped dead with a "whoa" when he saw me. "Well, I was coming to give you a kiss goodbye, but..."

"Well, now's the time, I was just about to put this on, so hurry up while the gettin's good! Unless you want hot pink lipstick too?" At least he didn't tell me I should wear a trench coat to get in the car when my ride got there like one of my friends' hubby's wanted his wife to!

And then when I came downstairs Avery was running toward me and seeing me brought him up short. Ususally, Avery is Mister Charm with his compliments. This time, I could see in his face he was not sure if this was a look he should compliment. I assured him it was a costume and his relief was obvious. SO funny.

So Travis took my picture with my camera phone just before leaving. This picture does NOT do justice to the extreme pink lips or masses of blue eyeshadow!


The decorations were great!




And the games were fun to play, but even more fun to watch!






Look, me too, except I didn't turn the flash on for the picture taker and it was still set for having the flash fire.


Way too much fun, amazing outfits, awesome food, outstanding decorations in an awe-inspiring lodge with the coolest ladies around equals a great night! Happy Birthday Kari!

Jane Eyre Giveaway

There's a super fun Jane Eyre giveaway over on the Reading For Sanity blog. If you want in, you'll have to hurry because it ends tomorrow! Or don't hurry, because there are already too many entries I'm up against! ;)

And because I hate posting without a picture...

An Embarrassing Story And A Cop Car

A slightly embarrassing story.

On the 8th I was on the Mall of the Oregon State Capitol Building to photograph a wedding couple. When I'm carrying my photography stuff, I don't carry my purse or big fat wallet, instead I put my drivers license and debit card in my photography bag. Except on the 8th I didn't. Apparently I only put them in the small, slick pocket of my slacks. No wonder they disappeared.



Later, after the wedding, I retraced my steps to no avail. So I had my debit card canceled and dreaded a trip to the DMV later on and possibilities of identity theft. But that afternoon I received a call from a state trooper.

"*GASP* Did you find my stuff!?!?"

Probably taken aback at my exuberance he started speaking with just a "...well..." and in that moment I had a terrible flash of conscience and leaping of my heart as I wondered if this state trooper was actually calling to tell me my husband had been smeared on the highway since he was out driving his motorcycle at the time...

"...well... I do have two cards here..."

*Oooohhh, thank goodness, be still my beating heart... and hallelujah he has my stuff!*

Turns out one of our state representative's wife was out strolling the lovely grounds and spotted my stuff. So the trooper arranged to stop by the house the following day to return them to me and give me the state rep's info.

The state trooper was great! He gave the boys a tour of his cruiser including showing them what all those buttons are for.


And when they sat in the back, we all reminded them that this ought to be the only time they're ever in the back of one of these rigs! Avery has his arms behind him testing out the arm space for a cuffed bad guy.


And before the trooper left, Emmett got to turn on all the lights.


So on Monday the boys and I took a trip down to the capitol building to deliver to the Good Samaritan herself a framed 8x10 of this cherry blossom picture that I had taken that fateful day. After all, it's because of the cherry blossoms that she was out on the grounds. How thankful I am for kind people! I would have liked to take pictures of the boys in and around the capitol building as it was very neat to go through and show to them, but Emmett was a complete pill and could not be let go of. I'll have to return sometime with just Avery and go for the tour.


Keep an eye out, I'm sure I'll have more blossom pictures on Laurie Marie Photography soon. In the meantime, the pictures of the couple I was photographing that day are up there now.

Carson's 4th Birthday

We had Carson's 4th birthday party the last weekend of March. All the family came over and we had dinner then it was time for Carson to open gifts.
We asked Carson for a smile and he gave us this cheesy grin. He showed zero curiosity about the blanket covered something.


Then the other two lined up with Carson.


"Two new puzzles!" (And those weren't all. He's such a good puzzler!)


Carson makes these funny faces and I managed to capture one.


This caused some definite excitement, but he was still oblivious to the blanket covered object...


This Mac opens up and lays out different scenes to play on.


A good laugh at the card Uncle Kevin and Aunt Katrina got Carson.


When he finished all the gifts he thought he was done. Still he was clueless about the blankets. With prompting he unveiled...










Then it was time for cake. Aunt Angela had been working on her cake decorating skills for a cousin's wedding with a cake for Julie, Avery and of course her own daughter Alli, and while the wedding has come and gone, she still wants to work on it. That's great for us since she volunteered to do Carson's cake and took that weight off my shoulders. I had wanted to make a Lightning McQueen cake and she took that and ran!






Time to blow out the candles! (With a little help from the sidelines)


Happy Birthday Carson!

Coast

During Spring Break we went out to the coast with all the family and this post is chock full of pictures from that day.

We started at Hatfield Marine Science Center which we love for being free and just the right amount of museum for the little kids.














Then we went out to the Yaquina Head tide pools










Avery is such a little man






urchins boring into the rock


Escargot anyone? These are everywhere.




Gettin' a li'l learnin' from the park ranger.


That's Carson saying "I'm Patrick Star..."




After a stop for lunch, we went to Road's End. I've never seen this beach all rocky like this. Avery enjoyed taunting the waves.




And throwing rocks at it. It was very choppy out.




There's the point that Travis and I climbed around to get to the hidden beach when we came out for my birthday. We couldn't walk down to the point because the tide was so high and honestly it seemed like a lot of the sand had been washed away. It seems like usually this beach is nice and wide .




What a gorgeous day it was!


Emmett rubbed sand all over his face and got it in his mouth...


...so naturally he was trying to spit it out. Watch out Dad!


Cute little Julie


One minute Avery's building in the sand...


...and the next he's washed out and we had to scramble back to the big rocks. So, it was about time to go.




Funny story: On the way home we got stuck in some really bad traffic due to a nasty collision. Just before getting to the jam, we stopped to change Emmett's diaper. The family carload in front of us didn't realize we weren't just behind them. When we got jammed, they loaded up a bag of snacks and Angela came trotting back to deliver it. Well, trotting isn't the right word. More like funky, crazy lady dance. What an embarrassing surprise when she realized the silver Odyssey she was entertaining a couple cars behind them wasn't us!

We also saw a gorgeous rainbow on the way home. I just saw a good rainbow less than a week before this one! We may get a lot of rain here, but these aren't that common! What a great day!