WOO HOO, what a ride!

Was my weekend FUN? Oooooh yeah! Are you jealous?? I hope not - 'cause that would mean you had as much FUN as I did!!!

My good friend and cousin-through-marriage JOANNE came to visit for the weekend. She hopped in the car with her good friend who was also coming to visit HER friend, Penny, so I got to reap the benefits of her mooching a ride ;)

She arrived Friday, late afternoon - I was so giddy I was hopping up and down in the kitchen. Hmm... maybe a little too much information there.

We took her for a fun drive around town (didn't take long - LOL! Our town is gorgeous in the summer, but winter? Not so much). Then we headed back home to get her settled in. She surprised us with the most FABULOUS gifts. For the kiddos - these fun heart-shaped plates. Aren't they seriously the most adorable plates for Valentines? She brought one for each girl, different colors with different words on them. WAY cute. THANKS, JOANNE!

THEN do you remember that way cute box she altered on her blog entry HERE? The one that officially made me into a verb? (by the way - have you Bobbi-J'd anything lately? If not ... tsk tsk. I want to be worshipped loved, baby). Okay, I LOVED that she brought me that box - I mean, it's seriously a shrine in my craft room right now. BUT just LOOK what she put IN said box...


Da da da da! I HAVE WANTED THESE SPRINKLES FOR. EV. ER! I was so giddy about them. Have you seen the cute little Sesame Street creature cupcakes she (and Amy W.) has made with these sprinkles? Wow. I'm uber excited about making some with the kiddos.

Later Friday night, Joanne and I escaped from the kiddos (who were doing their best "most-annoying children EVER" impressions) and went out for dessert at BPs. YUMMO! It was great catching up!

But, obviously we didn't have enough catching up at the restaurant because we chatted the night away back at home afterwards. Too fun.

The next day was VALENTINES DAY!! I got up early to drive Hubby to school, then came home where we ate some breakfast, dressed the kiddos, and took off on a LOVERLY shopping adventure! First stop? Le Village! Joanne found some SAWEET deals, and my kids were still whining and acting like escaped convicts. And that's not far off, because Bayboo STOLE a watch from the store. WHAT?!?!?! That's a story for another time.

We headed to Sears outlet where there were more deals to be had! Then, it was off on an adventure to check out a new Scrapbooking store that had just opened here in town. We found it pretty easily and I could see from the minute we pulled up that it was FABULOUS!!!! YAY, YAY, YAY, YAY, YAY!!!! We have a cute scrapbooking store in our city, FINALLY!!! (okay, I'm calming down now). The best part was the prices were A-OK! EVEN BETTER!

At this point the kids are climbing the walls, so on our way to Michaels, we stopped off at Dollarama to let the kids pick out something fun. Well, Joanne and I found a few more fun deals! (love when that happens! - though, isn't EVERYTHING at a DOLLAR store a deal? Points to ponder...)

We stopped at Michaels, then came back home for some lunch. The kids now had their new trinkets to keep them busy, so Joanne and I got busy ourselves....making cards! I mean, come ON! We had to try out our new Heidi Swapp stamps! Joanne made 25 cards in like, what, an hour? Wow. She's a card making machine! But then again, that's just how we roll.

Joanne was nice enough to watch the kiddos (brave gal) while hubby and I went out for a Valentines dinner. Hubby took me to this GAWGEOUS Thai restaurant and ordered the BEST, SPICIEST food EVER. It was delish, even with my nose running and sweating from every pore from the heat. Mucho attractive. After 10.5 years of marriage we're more concerned about enjoying a meal with no kids mooching off of us, than if the food makes us sweat like hogs. Romantic, right?
This is Lyndon. I wanted to include the menu items if anyone has a Thai restaurant in their vicinity and wanted to experience the love!

Carrot Salad (probably my favorite, simple salad)
Yum Nuae Yang (spicy roast beef and vegetable dish)
Tom Yum Gai (very spicy chicken and mushroom soup)
Pad Thai Tofu (Bobbi's favorite, noodle-sprouts-sauce, really good)

Just thought you might like to know. Now back to your regularly scheduled world of Bobbi.



We exchanged gifts, which I'll have post about another day...

We stopped at the store to buy some gourmet hot chocolate and whipped cream for dessert to share with Joanne back at home. We enjoyed watching "Ironman" until I about fell asleep on the couch. No worries, I managed to drag my carcass up the stairs and into bead before losing consciousness.

Next day - CHURCH! I was excited to show off my friend, you know - like she was a new purse (which, by the way, I did NOT find at Le Village. Pshaw!) There were a lot of families away (which happens a lot on long weekends) but Joanne did run into one of her cousins, and several friends she knew from years ago! The Church makes the small world even smaller, am I right?

But let me back up. When we first woke up, what did we see on our snow covered front lawn? This:
We had been given a heart attack! I remember doing stuff like this when I was Young Women's President, but it's never done to US. I LOVED IT!!!! Seriously. loved. it. It made me feel SO cheerful. I have no idea who did it, but it was someone who LOVES US. It was the best.

After church, and after my meetings, we came home and vegged around a bit. We took some time to take some pics of us together in our saweet jammies. I saw Joannes FABULOUS jammie pants and LOVED THEM! I went to Wal-Mart to find similar ones, but they didn't have any. I settled to play second fiddle to Joanne's very chic fashion sense and opted for some lighter fabric, but still very hot and sexy jammie pants.

It was *sniff* our last day together... triple *sniff*. Oh Joanne, the things you have taught me.... how to literally look at every piece of clothing in Le Village, how to "just dance" any old time, how to react when I discover something is less expensive than I thought (yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about), how to cook a darn good pizza- even with the cardboard still stuck on there, and how to laugh, laugh, laugh! I'm so glad you came and we could catch up! Remember to always be prepared to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, camera in the other screaming "WOO HOO! What a ride!!!" Oh, and never forget - big girls are beautiful! ;)