Mex & Mel

My mom left for Africa on Friday for a “pilgrimage” with her church. I am sure she is having a challenging, fulfilling time right now. I can’t wait to hear all about her trip!

So this past weekend my dad and grandma came into town! It was a very relaxing weekend.

Caden playing cars with his Poppie.

Chris and my dad played a round of golf at Tour 18. Isn’t it beautiful!

We relaxed by the pool……

….while…..

Chris replaced the struts and shocks on our car! He is such a handy man….I’m so blessed to be married to a man that can save us hundreds, if not thousands, on car repair!

Silly Caden in Poppie’s hat

This past weekend we had Emily’s baby shower at our house. It turned out great! The theme was primary colors with wed wagons in as many places as possible! Baby Snelling is going to be one loved on little boy!

The Hostess' Amy, Diana, me, Mandy and Hillary

The gifts!

Emily opening her true 'Aussie' bib

The food, watermelon carriage & all

The preggos at the shower!

Another treat from this past weekend is our friend Mandi was in town from Australia! Her and her husband moved there 11 months ago. It was so great to see her, talk and go to movie together. Just like old times!

Mandi and I

Caden trying vegamite, not a big fan

This past week Grandma (chris’s mom) has been visiting us! She could not have come at better time. With Caden’s double ear infection, Chris being out of town, me being nauseous ALL the time AND a hot water leak that was found on tuesday underneath the slab in our living room…..Grandma’s timing was perfect! She was so helpful, I’m sure I would have had a break down if she wasn’t here to help.

Here are some fun pictures from the week. I really didn’t take too many at all, but some is better than none.

can you see the padding from under the carpet exposed in half the living room?? it looks a lot worse now! ugh!

Grandma and Caden

Caden's friends: Audrey and Braden

So a few weeks ago I came across this cupcake liner wreath tutorial through this wonderful friend. So after a week or two I still couldn’t get it out of my mind. A trip to JoAnne’s and 2 hours later…VIOLA!!

I changed it a bit because I wanted a wreath that would stay up longer than a week or so for Valentine’s day. So I went for a winter theme. What do you think? Gonna try it yourself?

Valentine’s day was very relaxing this year. The past two years I had volleyball tournaments that I was coaching at the weekend of Valentines day, so it was nice to wake up and not be rushed to get out the door and to enjoy the day at home. I woke up to breakfast in bed made by my wonderful hubby! I mean I literally woke up to the sound of Caden talking in his crib and when I turned around there was Chris with breakfast…doesn’t get any more breakfast in bed than that! haha!

Then we headed off to church, Caden was sporting a pink polo, Chris said he was GQ’in it for the day! haha

We had a great time at our small group at church and had just sat down in the big service and our number for Caden popped up on the screen! It was the first time in 15 months! So like any mother would I rushed to his room and found him with his jacket on, his backpack nearby and all ready to go! The lady that watches him on most Sunday mornings just politely said “he wasn’t our Caden today.” Poor little guy saw other kids leaving from the 9am service and wanted to leave too. He has an ear infection so I think he was just ready to sleep or maybe he knew it was valentines day and he wanted to love on his mom and dad! yeah…that’s it!

So we all went home after lunch and took a nice long nap. Then we headed to the grocery store to get all the fixings for our next kitchen adventure…sushi!! We found everything we needed even the yummy sauces that I like, eel and spicy sauce! It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Truth be told I was pretty intimidated at the thought of making sushi, I thought it was too complex to be made by me…but yet, another fear conquered! ha!

Here are some pictures of the conquest. Caden even brought a chair into the kitchen and helped a bit.

We had edamame and Chris fried chicken dumplings for an appetizer!

We had yummy chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

The day before valentines we went to our friends, The Shanks, house and had a yummy birthday dessert party for Lauren. Their little guy is 5 months old. Caden was so cute with him. I can’t wait until they are running around together!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s day! It may be a Hallmark created holiday that was meant for a company to get more money, but for a romantic girl like me it is another day…with chocolate covered strawberries, and candy hearts…. to cherish the one’s that I love and love me in return!