Barney Butter, Wedding Bells, and Birthday Candles

My friend Sarah and I ran The Great Race of Agoura Hills last weekend. They have a great after-race party and had one vendor called Barney Butter. I told the woman manning it that that was my last name and she thought I was really cool (I've always thought Barney was a winning last name!) and gave me a shirt. It might not have made up for all of Chris' sacrifices for him to allow me to go to the race (we stayed in Agoura Hills the night before), but it is a pretty cool shirt. Check out barneybutter.com for more details. And yes, it's a gluten-free product and tastes great. I had a blast racing--thanks Sarah for the great trip and for always keeping track of me in the crowd!

Chris and I got away without kids for three whole days! Chris' old roommate finally (I'm kidding Pope!) joined the happily wedded masses and we got to attend. It's our second trip to Oakland for a wedding. Last year we went for his other roomate who finally got married (I'm not kidding, Trever). We reminisced, reconnected, and ate a lot of really good food. I felt like an adult eating tapas and traveling with a small purse. Chris and I basked in the quietude of a car without kids in it. If only Chris hadn't gotten the slide whistle from the wedding favor basket (the bride and groom gave out little games because they had gotten to know each other playing games)--it would really have been quiet the whole way home! And upon returning to the homestead, I seriously felt rejuvenated and prepared to better meet the challenges of the day-to-day. I spent the next three days playing a lot, cleaning a lot less, and generally enjoying my 3 blessings a bit more than before the trip. Thank you to Amy and Mom for holding down the fort. The kids had the time of their lives getting spoiled by Grandma. Ben clung to Aunt Amy (who he wouldn't stop clinging to when we got home-we confused him thoroughly about who his mom really is).

Lastly, we celebrated some birthdays this month. Lucy turned 3, Ben turned 1, his cousin Tommy turned 1 also, and my brothe Jaeson came out and had a birthday too! Look at the kids' personal blogs for more birthday party pictures soon, but I did want to include a couple of pictures from when my brother's family visited. We loved getting to know cousins Carter and Simon and having a house full of boys! And Sarah cooked some delicious mexican food. We miss you guys already! The picture of Carter demonstrates my favorite habit of his--if you ask him something he's unsure about, he'll decline respectfully with his hands forward saying "No thanks,"...and then some excuse. In this picture, I said "Smile Carter and Lucy!" And he said "No thanks, I can't really smile right now." The other two are pictures of Lucy and Ben on their birthdays.