Cara's California Visit: Madison's 5th Birthday

This is a few weeks late, but I want to wish Madison a very happy 5th birthday!

My favorite picture from the birthday photo shoot we did with our new camera.

The birthday girl and her dad.

Madison is my oldest brother's 4th child and is a ray of sunshine. So happy I was able to be there for the big celebration! She is so much fun and extremely good natured. She even loved the trick candles on her cake!

Cara's California Visit: Girls Night Out

During the first week of my visit we decided that my sister-in-law Natalie and I would take all of my nieces up to Music Circus in Sacramento to see The Little Mermaid. Some of the little darlings were being sassy thinking they might not want to go (after all, who has ever had fun going to a musical?), but little did they know that my brother, Doug, had a very fancy surprise for them...

The girls meeting Alan, their driver for the evening. I like Ellie's clenched fists.

Life is pretty good in a limo.

Bottoms up with a little bubbly before the show.

Connected at the hip. Best friends and cousins.

After one limo ride, countless glasses of Martinelli's, a thousand giggles and laughs, and a great musical it was finally determined that everyone had a good time. 

A Southern Summer

After a lot of procrastination, I have finally decided to embrace our blog. I can't say that I have been too busy to keep it up, unless you count watching full seasons of shows on Netflix busy!

We have been living in lovely Knoxville, Tennessee for the summer months this year. Josh has been doing an internship with Scripps Networks Interactive (Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, etc.) and absolutely loving it. I have been... going to the pool almost daily. Needless to say it has been a relaxing summer. 

It's been a blast living in a different part of the country. We have visited Nashville where we both started successful country music careers, hiked around the Smokies where we fell in love with the majesty of the mountains, and went white water rafting where I wasn't sure how that feeble white helmet would save me if I fell out. 

My observations from my time here:

- It is suspiciously and wonderfully green here

- People are generally quite friendly

- It's hard to get anywhere by walking

- Southern accents aren't nearly as charming as I had originally thought

- 4th of July in Knoxville is wonderful (see below)

Cara's California Visit: Grace's Baptism

I'm planning on doing several posts about this trip because it is just too much for one little post! I went home to Lodi, CA for a couple weeks in order to help my mother prepare her house to sell. Why is she selling you ask? Well, that calls for an entirely different post on how my darling mother met a darling man and eloped a few months ago. I'll write their love story shortly :)

While I was home, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to my beautiful niece's baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was so honored that she asked me to give a talk on the meaning and importance of baptism. It was such a neat experience for me to be a part of.

This particular niece of mine is a total darling. She writes her own blog and has a fiery personality. I can't wait to see all the awesome things she will do in her lifetime!