Let's Bake!

I love my new KitchenAid Mixer

It's so easy to bake when it does everything for you

I love my new apron...

Sugar cookies are messy to make

Let's knead the dough

Time to cut the cookies....

Bridal Shower by Mail Week #6

I can't believe we are on week 6 of the bridal shower by mail. The weeks are flying by. With just about 6 weeks until the wedding it's nice to come home from work to gifts from friends and family.

This week the gift was from Amie and Jay! They did a Date Night theme with both naughty and nice items. Since this is a public blog only the nice items are shown.

Enjoy!



Nice gift items shown, a Wii Smarty Pants game, tea, chocolate, Trader Joes gift card, Bath and Body works Aromatherapy gift package!

Easter weekend

Sean and I spent Easter weekend with his sister Amy and her family. Below are some of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Lucy is excited about the Easter Eggs

I was glad to see that Lucy got over her fear of her Uncle Sean. They had so much fun together.

Anna was an expert at the egg hunt. This photo makes it look like she's doing the egg hunt alone, but Scott (her dad) told her to run to the back and it ended up working to her advantage.

Lucy is excited to show her basket of eggs.

The eggs were filled with little toys. Anna and Lucy show off the awesome pirate eye patches. Anna even gives a little pirate face.

Back at the house we decide to get the wii out. Sean teaches Anna to play the Mario Kart driving game.

Time to die eggs!

After egg dying we head over to Yankee Candle. Our local Yankee Candle is huge! As Amy mentioned, it's like an exhibit at Disney World. The Easter Bunny and Santa Clause were out and visiting with the kids. Obviously Lucy isn't a big fan of the Easter Bunny.

Sean, Amy and Lucy show off their hats.

Sean doesn't even like stuffed snakes.

Taking a rest on the huge teddy bear.

Anna wanted to take a turn.

Show us your silly face!

After Yankee Candle we came back to the house for an Easter Egg hunt in our back yard. Lucy shows us her eggs.

Anna finds the eggs that were hiding.

Lucy examines what she has in her basket.

She loves Easter! Except for the Easter Bunny.

Sunday morning after mass. Look how cute the girls look in their matching dresses.

Sean and I with two of our favorite girls. They are growing too fast.

Fun with the wii

These videos were too cute not to share.

Sean shows Anna how to play Mario Kart on wii. He gets a little frustrated that she keeps messing up. She stays focused the entire time. Her face is priceless. So focused!

We got Anna to play wii boxing. Again she is ridiculously focused. She gets frustrated at the end because she doesn't think she's playing well.

Bridal Shower By Mail Week #5

Week # 5 started backwards. I came home from work yesterday to find a KitchenAid mixer at the front of our house. Unfortunately there is no hiding what is in the box when purchased directly from the manufacturer. I didn't take a picture opening it, although I do have a photo of it below.

After determining that the gift was from my mom she informed me that it was actually gift 2 of 2 and gift 1 was coming. We didn't have to wait long. Part 1 came today and we were able to capture on video below.

Yeah for my KitchenAid mixer. If you come visit I'll make you cookies!

Part 1 was fun decorating stuff for baking, plus a thermometer and kitchen towel.

Thanks mom! The gifts are awesome!

Bridal Shower by Mail Gift #4

We were excited to get home from work today and see our 4th Bridal Shower by Mail gift. This one was from our long time family friend Cindy. She grew up on the same street as my mom as a child, and then when they both got married and bought houses they ended up on the same street again.

Since the video montage seems to be a big hit we're keeping up with the video.

We ended up with a beer and cheese theme. Since the beer can't be shipped in the mail, we got a check to buy our own beer. This will definitely be cracked into this weekend. I'm excited to use everything.



Thanks again Cindy can't wait to see you and everyone else in just about 7 weeks! I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by.

Bachelorette Party

Saturday after my Triathlon I had to rush home so I could shower, nap and get ready for a night out on the town with my local girls.

My friend Sharon lives in Norfolk and she was kind enough to let us all stay at her place. We had such a fun time, dinner, cards/games, and a night at the bar.

I'm lucky to have such great friends!

The girls hanging outside of the restaurant Jami, me, Sharon, Audrey, Amanda and Cindy.

Enjoying a beer at the restaurant

me and Jami

Jami, Amanda, Audrey and Cindy in the back of Cindy's car

Back at Sharon's apartment

The girls decided I needed a wardrobe change. This is us out at the bar.

Jami had the brilliant idea of selling blow pop lollypops for $1 each. The money went to Sean and I. The girls raised $96! It was awesome.

Thanks so much girls!

Smithfield Sprint Triathlon

Two weeks after completing my 4th half marathon Sean and I set out to complete our first triathlon, the Smithfield Sprint. This would have been our 2nd triathlon had the swimming portion of our "Triathlon" last September not been canceled.

We lucked out with beautiful weather. Temperatures in the mid 70's, lots of sun, the only negative being the strong wind.

I was a little apprehensive since I had taken off so much time with my injury although I was able to swim more frequently since swimming is basically no impact.

The race itself was a sprint, 300 meter pool swim, 10 mile bike, and a 5K run. Being a pool swim we all started staggered, 15 seconds apart from one another. Randomly Sean ended up being the person directly behind me.

Sean and I pose near our bikes

Audrey and I are hoping it warms up a little before we strip down into our swimming stuff

Triduo took our race photos, I borrowed a few off of their website. If you're curious in seeing more, just follow the web link and check out the Smithfield Triathlon photos. You can search by last name.



Our friend Audrey started about 30 minutes before us, so we volunteered her to take our finish photos of us at the end of the race.

Glad to be done, I was tired

Yeah! I'm a triathlete!

Sean finishes close behind me. He passed me on the bike, and I caught up on the run and passed him


We enjoyed the nice weather and free pulled pork after the race

Audrey and Sean enjoying our Ferry ride back home

Sean and I