Cali's Birthday Celebration

So the main reason for my trip to Utah this last week was to celebrate Cali's BIG Birthday - she turned 21!!

We had fun shopping, eating, going to a show and driving around Provo in my rented mini -cooper.  It was a little bit of an adventure since the car was a manual.

When I asked the guy at the airport if it was a manual he told me it wasn't.  I got in the car out in the parking garage, looked down, and he was wrong!  It was a manual.  It was been MANY years since I had driven one.  After a few tries at starting the car and being unsuccessful I stopped a man walking by in the parking structure for help - you have to have both the clutch and the brake all the way down to start the car!

I was very proud of myself.  I only killed the car once the first day I drove it - not too bad!  I have decided that driving a manual is way too much work.

On Cali's brithday, Wednesday she skipped one of her classes so we could go to Zupa's, one of her favorite places for lunch.  She had her favorite - ultimate grilled cheese and cauliflower soup.

The day before we had gone shopping for her birthday present - a new Vera Bradley backpack.  Isn't it cute!

 While I was there we returned Scoot Scoot to it's rightful owner - glad to be rid of it!  Cali is now walking without assistance on her boot.  She is totally weight bearing - yeah!  She goes to the doctor again this next week and she is hoping to lose the boot too! 

 Tuesday night Logan got us tickets to go see Drowy Chaperone up in Salt Lake.  Clark couldn't go because he had a LSAT course to teach but he and his friend Lizzy were able to meet us for dinner beforehand.

Don't ask me what he's doing other than being annoying when I am trying to take a picure!

On Wednesday night we all went to LaJolla Groves for birthday dinner.

 In addition to her new backpack Cali got a cute jacket from Logan and a darling red hat from Clark.  I found this darling London print and fell in love with it.  Cali loved it too.  I could just see Cali kissing one of the Beefeaters - I love his red cheeks!

 After dinner we went back to Cali's apartment.  Her roommates had planned cake and a gathering of friends for her.  We left before the friends came but we got to see her cute pigeon cake.  For those of you who may not be aware of it - a pigeon is Cali's favorite animal.  Thus the pigeons on her blog and she even has a pigeon shirt!

 Here are two of Cali's roommates - Stephanie and Rachel.  The one on the left is not one of her roommates but the boyfriend of one of them although  I think he may be at the apartment more than the 4th actual roommate is!!

Happy Birthday Cali - glad I could be there to celebrate with you!

Happy 21st Birthday Cali

I've posted some of these photos on Your Homebased Mom and on Facebook but just in case you missed them there I had to share them here too!

My beautiful 21 year old daughter!  How could she possibly be that old and how could I be old enough to have three children in their twenties!!  It's also hard for me to believe I got married when I was 21!!!

We love you Cali and I am so glad I was able to be there to celebrate with you!!

 

Happy Birthday Girl - we love you!!

Neighborhood Halloweenie Roast

Our 4th and final party of the week - our annual Neighborhood Halloweenie Roast.

We had to have it on Thursday this year because the weekend was full of Homecoming football games and dances.

This year I did a candy bar for the kids and they made their own candy skewers - so fun!

 Of course there were hot dogs - all kinds of hot dogs thanks to Johnsonville who has sent me a bunch of free samples of all their different types of sausages!

 We made some mummy dogs too.

 It rained on and off but the kids still got to roast their hot dogs.

 And of course there was soda!

 Some of our party guests!

 And we bobbed for apples too

 The candy bar and skewers was a bit hit with the kids and the adults.

We love our neighbors!

Mummies Night Out

On Tuesday night I hosted a Mummies Night Out.  It was a fundraiser for Ryan and Megan Smith.  Megan is dealing with a very serious form of cancer right now.  She is 28 and was diagnosed the day she gave birth to her first baby.  Ryan grew up in our ward.

I wanted to do something to help so I decided to do what I do best - throw a party.  I invited my blog readers to attend for $30.00.  I had 30 people attend(which was my maximum, had to turn a few people away)

I didn't know 2/3 of the people who were coming but it turned out so great.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and really enjoy themselves.

I started cooking at 6a.m. the day of and didn't stop until the party started.  We also had two fun crafts for them to do. 

It was fun incorporating the mummy theme into the party decor.

 I dipped Oreos into white chocolate and added little eyes to make a mummy.  Everyone took one of these home with them.

 The wooden mummies I had painted years ago came in handy.

 My friend Karen made these amazing mummy cake pops - complete with red velvet cake inside!

 The dessert table - Oreo cupcakes,  Carrot muffins with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and caramel apple bundt cake.

 The savory treat table!

 The ladies getting crafty in the garage - they put together a cute fall burlap banner.

 And my friend Karen had a cute paper craft for them in the dining room.

 Still cooking....

 There was food throughout the house.

 And lots of candles for atmosphere.

All in all it was a lot of fun and a big success.  We raised $1,000 for the cause!

Thespian Halloween Bash

The Saturday before Halloween we hosted the Thespian Halloween Bash. We kept the food pretty simple with Papa Murphy's pizza, vege tray, chips and salsa and soda.  There were cookies for dessert and I did manage to make some homemade apple cider doughnuts!

One thing you are pretty well guaranteed when you host a Thespian Halloween party is some good costumes!

Here's a few of them!  Of course there was our cute or should I say creepy little garden gnome.

 O.K. so this gal was dressed up as a Target employee - guess it's from SNL skit??  She was pretty funny!

 I think this girl should get the award for the cleverest costume - she was a cereal killer!!  Ha ha !

 And of course there were the major Harry Potter fans who played our Harry Potter Scene It and knew everything!

 They played a few games - doughnuts on a string and of course bobbing for apples

 And then just some hanging out and visiting.  Jim and I went to bed!