San Diego 2014

I have never been to San Diego. Now that I have, I must say……I am in love. The place was so awesome. The beaches with white sand and the clear water was so gorgeous. I grew up in Houston with the Gulf of Mexico to look at and swim in, so for me San Diego was heavenly.

A friend that lives in California recommended Coronado Island.  We took a long bridge to get to the small, fun island. It was not as touristy as Hermosa beach or the beaches closer to LA.  The water was a bit on the cooler side at 65 degrees, but that did not stop Savannah and Jay from being in it.  It was a sight to see the Navy ships anchored way off in the waters and to watch the Navy helicopters fly overhead.  After nearly 5 hours of being on the beach, we decided to drive around and find a place to eat. _______ Rd that runs beside the beach had so many cute, unique stores and resturants.  There were  no fast food places cluttering up the area.  Most of the eating establishments were mom and pop places.  We decided on a Mexican place that had some kick ass margaritas. Even though I did not care for the twist they put on their fajitas (they served them with a spicy gravy sauce instead of sizzling on a skillet), it was the best Mexican food I have had in quite a while.

CenterPoint church Women’s ministry Spring Event

I cannot believe after nearly 3 months of planning, the Women’s ministry spring event is here.

I feel so blessed to be a part of something so huge. It has been an amazing ride. Back in February, I received a flyer on my door advertising the LDS church’s ladies day. Well I am not LDS, but I felt I could use their info. After meeting with my pastor and running the idea by him, the wheels were set in motion. The idea was to have one day with classes and lunch. It started off as an all day thing, but after not having enough speakers and dreaming too big, we decided to scale back and do a 4 hour event. I had a committee of 4 ladies. We came up with topics and presenters. We would have all 4 classes running at once and ladies would rotate through 3 classes. All the classes would be simultaneous, with the same material and the same presenter. At the beginning of the day, the ladies were given a rundown of how the day was going to go and where each class was. They were given 5 minutes to look at the schedule of the day with the class names and a brief description and to decide which classes they were interested in. We incorporated 15 breaks between classes to allow for bathroom, cell phone, checking on kids and getting a drink. After 3 hours, we met back in the gym to eat lunch and hear a message on priorities given by yours truly. Lunch was very simple. Costco sandwiches. chips, cookies and water and tea. It cost me $250 to feed 50 ladies. We did offer childcare to those moms who needed it. A few of the teenage girls are awesome and volunteered their Saturday and watched the kiddos. We fed the teens and kids Little Cesar’s pizza.

The classes were as follows:

Not so perfect parenting

Say Cheese (a lesson in photography)

Nourishing God’s temple (fitness and nutrition)

Feed my sheep ( cooking demo)

Enduring through hard times

We only had 45 ladies show up, which had me bummed at the beginning of the day. but God had bigger plans. The ladies He brought to the event were able to bond and fellowship with one another since it was a small crowd. As noted before I had to give a talk and I am not a public speaker, but only having a handful of ladies (most of which I knew pretty well) made me less nervous and more fluid at giving my talk.

Overall the event was a success and a hit. If asked, I would organize another one in a heartbeat. But I am not going to volunteer it 🙂

 

Savannah’s 7th Frozen Birthday party

Last weekend we celebrated Savannah’s 7th birthday. She fell in love with the Disney Frozen movie the first time we saw it in the theater last November. When her and I started planning her party in January (yes, we did start planning four months in advance) , there was never a question of what the theme would be. After many Sundays of watching football (me) and searching Pintrest (her), we had tons of Frozen ideas. 

I started by clearing a spot in my kitchen in the corner. I went to the Dollar Store and bought 6 plastic tablecloths. (2 tablecloths of three different colors). I chose purple, pink and blue. I opened up 3 tablecloths and laid them on top of each other on the floor. I cut about a quarter of the length off. I didn’t want them hanging all the way to the floor. I cut a straight line within 6 inches of the top. I cut 6 lines then made a knot in all three. I hung them on the wall close to the ceiling. It looked like a super cute drape hanging down. It made a great backdrop for the table and pictures (and covered up my bare white wall that is in dire need of painting.

I went very easy with the paper plates and utensils. I just bought Anna and Elsa plates online and some plain baby blue cups. Since Savannah has to eat gluten free, it was easier to make cupcakes. Which, turned out so good. All the other kids did not know or care that they were eating gluten free chocolate cupcakes (made from Bob;s Red Mill mix). I borrowed a good friend’s cupcake holder and put blue icing with silver sprinkles on the stand. We bought Savannah the small plastic Frozen characters and placed them on the cakestand with the cupcakes. 

Food was rather odd and did not go with the Frozen theme. One of Savannah’s favorite foods is tacos and beans so that is what she wanted. Works for me. Tacos are cheap, quick, easy and can feed a crowd.

That’s about enough about the party. Tomorrow I will post about the games and all the fun.