August Birthdays

So in August I have at least 10 friends/family
members who have birthday's.
So here is a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to you all!

Happy Birthday Kimmie!
Happy Birthday Rosemary!
Happy Birthday Bruce!
Happy Birthday Jackie!
Happy Birthday Gemma!
Happy Birthday Everett!
Happy Birthday Sarah!
Happy Birthday Caroline!
Happy Birthday Brenda!
Happy Birthday Karen!

If I missed you please accept my apologies
and this Happy Birthday wish!

I have a funny birthday story.
So I used to decorate cakes for a bakery and one day this woman came in and asked me to write "Happy Birthday Michael" on a birthday cake for her and she went off shopping. Well when she came back she looked at the cake and said, "Is that how you spell Birfday?" I got so scared because I really thought I spelled it wrong so I looked at it and said, "B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y (pheww) Yeah it's spelled right." Then she said, "Oh, my bad! I fhought it was wifh an F! But I believe you Sweetie." I was so glad that she was embarrassed because she hurried off and I just started busting up.

I also have a delicious new frosting recipe that I made up that I'd like to share with anyone who wants it. I made a cake for my friend at work and normally I don't like frosting because it's too sweet.
So I just started throwing stuff together and came up with the following recipe.

1 package of cream cheese
1 container of Cool Whip
1 small box of pudding
Just soften the cream cheese and mix all
together till pudding dissolves.

I tried it one day with lemon pudding and then the next day with chocolate pudding.
It was really good and everyone at work really enjoyed it.

Welcome to the World Baby Everett

Today I got to meet my first little nephew. Baby Everett Jackson Haring born to my beautiful sister Caroline and her handsome hubby Aaron. Baby Everett was born on the 13th and weighed 8lbs and was 20 inches long. He is so dang cute and we really got to enjoy spending a few hours with him. Ben is such a proud uncle and excited to finally have a nephew!
Congrats Aaron and Carrie!
We Love You!

Baby Everett Jackson Haring

Welcome to the World Baby Gemma

My beautiful "sister from another mister" Sarah Armes had a new baby girl. This is Sarah's 4th little bugger and she was born on Friday, August 8th at 7lbs and 3oz and 20 inches long.
Congrat's Gee and Sarah!
We Love You!

Baby Gemma Armes

Washington Vacation Photos

Homesick

Has anyone ever heard of being homesick for a vacation spot?

Man, ever since we got home I just can't stop thinking of Washington. I've even dreamed about it several nights since we've been home. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect (at least to my standards). It was around 72 degrees each day and everyday we were there it drizzled. Everything is so green and flowers grow like crazy. The sky is actually blue! We didn't really do the things that I thought we would but I still had so much fun.

My family was great! My aunt and uncle let us stay in their room which was like our own private little honeymoon suite. We had home cooked breakfasts and dinners everyday. That was a lot of fun and sooooo yummie! We even got to pick fresh blueberries that my aunt made into a delicious Lemon and Blueberry Flan. I will post the recipe as soon as she sends it.

My grandpa is so cute! It's been almost 15 years since the last time I really got to see him or spend time with him. It was really great. He spent one night sharing slides with us from when he and my grandma were young adults and when my dad, aunt's and uncle were just kids. It was really neat to be able to share their history and their memories.

My little cousins are just the cutest girlies. It was really fun spending time with them and getting to know them better too. We realized that we have the exact same smile and noses. Even our laugh lines. They were awesome.

Ben got along perfectly with my family so that was really great too. My Dad, Uncle Jon and Ben have the same type of sense of humor so it was really entertaining to watch and listen to them joke around. Eric, Nana and I just pretty much laughed at them the whole time.

We pretty much went on hikes everyday and I just couldn't stop taking pictures of all the beautiful nature all around me. Everything is green green GREEN! Moss grows on everything in Washington. The song "Your a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" kept popping in my head everywhere we went. We also went on a cool ferry ride to two other islands. Again it was really great! I didn't realize how close we were to Canada. It was only like a 30 minute ferry ride to Victoria. It would have been cool to go but we didn't bring our passports. Next Time!

We also got to see a ton of wildlife. We saw a family of deer just hanging out in someones backyard. We saw dolphins swimming in the wild, a seal, an otter, a tree frog, a bullfrog tadpole, squirrels, a snake and banana slugs. I grossed everyone out when I picked one up! The slime on that thing was so strange. It wouldn't come off no matter how much I scrubbed. My uncle sprayed my hands down with Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner and even that didn't work. We finally had to use some stuff called Dissolve It.

I hope that if you are reading this that you will enjoy the pictures that I took and that sometime in your lifetime that you will have the opportunity to visit the beautiful state of Washington. As soon as Ben is finished with school, I hope that he will want to move up there because I know I sure do.