Girls weekend/cultural trip

The entire group of ladies.

Last weekend I went on "cultural" trip (girls weekend) with our local chapter of AAUW . We had an amazing time. My sister Heather, Renae and I rode together and spent most of our time together. We shopped at a real mall, soaked in the hot tub at the hotel and I got coffee every chance I could. We ate wonderful sushi at Origami, supper at The Bank Saturday night and brunch at The St Paul Grill Sunday morning. We saw an amazing play Saturday afternoon, Little House on the Praire at the Guthrie Theatre in downtown Minneapolis and walked out on the Endless Bridge.

silly girls in bed.

Saturday morning at our hotel.

Farmers market outside the Guthrie theatre.

Renae, Heather and I at the play.

out on the endless bridge overlooking the city.

sushi at Origami-oh my it was delish!

a cool photo of the 3 of us.

On our way to supper in front of our hotel.

supper at The Bank, standing at the wine vault, it was beautiful.

outside the St Paul Grill and Hotel.

inside the St. Paul Hotel.

We all had such a wonderful time and wish these trips were more often.

Thanks ladies for a fabulous weekend!

Today marks the first day of FALL!

Today, September 22 marks the first day of Fall, my favorite season!

I love FALL!

I love everything about it. I am so glad it's finally here.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Fall's past.
trying to get a decent picture of them...
that's better :) 2007

Happy Birthday Dad!

I hope you have a wonderful day and many more birthdays to come! :)
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my dad.

Duluth 12/2006

When Abram was a baby Papa Lloyd was his best friend,

he preferred him over me most times.

Halloween 2007-what a good sport he is!

Off roadin'

Steven took the boys off roading the other day in the Jeep. Boy did they have FUN and the Jeep got nasty, dirty! This is a dream come true for all 3 of them...lol.

Fall and Apples!

Our church has an apple tree and lots of apples so I took a huge bag of apples from the church yesterday and made a Caramel Apple pie and Sour Cream Apple bars today. They both turned out FABULOUS! I took the pie to Bible study and the bars are for home. I am going to make another pie though for my family, it was that good!

Happy Grandparents Day!

Happy grandparents day to Grandpa Lloyd, Grandmom & Grandpop and Grammy from your Ness grandsons :) You are all so special in your own ways and we appreciate you all. Hope it was a great day!

ABC's of me :)

ABC's of Salena
A-Attached or Single: Attached
B-Best Friend: Heather
C-Cake or Pie: cake and pie :)
D-Day: Sundays
E-Essential Item: cell phone and computer
F-Favorite Color: RED!!!
G-Gummi bears or worms: gummi bears, covered in chocolate-YUM!
H-Hometown: Califofnia-a few different places there.
I-Indulgences: Dove dark chocolate, naps and People magazine.
J-January or July: July -January because it's my birthday month :)
K-Kids: 2 kiddos
L-Life is incomplete without: a few things...
M-Marriage Date: June 27, 1998
N-Number of Siblings: 4
O-Oranges or Apples: either
P-Phobias or Fears: my kids drowning or getting hit by a car.
Q-Quote: from Abram: "They want *ME* to buy the house?!?!?!"
R-Reason to Smile: I have many :)
S-Season: Fall, all the way!
T-Tag Three: Val, Samantha, Crystal (either one M or A)
U-Unknown fact about me: if I told you than it wouldn't be unknown...Ha!
V-Vacation destination of choice: anywhere with sand, sun and water
W-Worst Habit: yelling...Shhh dont tell anyone though.
X-X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I've had both, and I prefer neither
Y-your favorite food: Seafood...YUM! I miss CA seafood.
Z-Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Lesson learned!

So when we went to my friend Crystal's farm a few weeks ago Steven and I thought it would be funny to take pictures with her camera when she went inside to put Emily to bed. Little did I know she was going to BLOG them! So, yah...thanks Crystal! To see how silly we really are...check out her blog.
http://paulandcrystaladams.blogspot.com/2008/09/country-friend-city-friend.html

Mechanic maybe?

Steven didn't work yesterday, but instead worked on his Jeep. He had *my* usual side kick helping him out. Steven said he was a wonderful child and can't understand why he drives me crazy...hmmmm...maybe I need to start working on my van...lol?!?!?!

dirty boy needs a bath.

my dad and Goldy helped too.

What's for supper?

Tonight we had tostadas, refried beans and homemade spanish rice, YUM!

What did you have?

Abram

As much as he has been driving me crazy because Ethan is gone all day at school, he is still totally adorable. Last week I made brownies for Ethan's after school snack and of course Abram had to help. He *really* likes to help.

(disclaimer-he dresses himself...lol)

Red makes me smile :)

I LOVE RED!

Here are just a few things that make me smile

when I see them, because they are RED!

my little red bench my red picture frames
my red Fiesta ware dishes
and serving pieces

my red vacuum and broom

my red cake holder and pot my red cabinets
my new red watering can
my red barn star that hangs in my living room
my red (dirty) pillows
my red hand towel and candle holder and my most favorite red thing, my cell phone! :)

So, what color makes you smile?

bike trail round 3-SUCCESS!

Today was a gorgeous day. 72 degrees, breezy and sunny so we, I mean *I* decided we should try the bike trail again, all together. I made it clear that if we went Steven was going to pull both the boys in the bike trailer. So Steven loaded us all up and we headed out. It was awesome! We rode 8 miles round trip and it felt so good. I wish I could ride that trail everyday...that the weather permitted anyway. There won't be too many more nice days before our nasty winter hits so I'm hoping to head out there a few mores times before that. No pictures today because you've all seen the trail before...I just wanted you to know that the third time was a charm! :)

5 years ago today...

we bought our first home here in Minnesota. What an amazing experience it has been living here. Although it was hard to leave CA we feel so blessed to be here with our family and new friends.

And a view from the inside during winter in Minnesota,

actually this was in February.