AZ, Food, and My Mom!

The weekend is almost over (BOO!!), it went by so fast! BUT good news...I have Friday off. Yay for a three day weekend to celebrate Emily's college graduation!! I am heading to AZ on Thursday evening for the weekend :) Originally just I was going to go...then we were able to get an inexpensive flight for George...and NOW George can't go due to a lack of vacation time (saving it for our week long trip to ROCHESTER!! :)) and a possible store transfer. Poor George will have to stay home. Thankfully he takes it much, MUCH better than I would. It's been a couple of months since we have been back to Arizona and it feels like forever to me.

Yesterday I decided that I would like to try some new places in our area...no more chain restaurants! So today, George and I had a fun time trying out some new spots around Irvine. We like to look at online reviews at yelp.com for recommendations. We actually tried three new places - haha, I think we got carried away! The first place was Mag's Bakery. They are known for their breakfast baked goods - specifically, ham & cheese croissants and donuts. We aren't big croissant fans so we were forced to stick with the donuts. I managed to just eat 1/2 of a donut...but let's just say George indulged. For lunch/dinner we went to a place near the UCI campus called Le Diplomate Cafe. They have very tasty sandwiches for $3 or so each...you can see why they do so well next to a college campus - cheap and tasty! And since we were in the neighborhood, we had to check out a frozen custard place down the street. We split a vanilla custard with rainbow sprinkles. Yep, we're now full!

Today, of course, is Mother's Day! A big shout out to my mom for being so stinking AMAZING!! Here are just a few of the reasons why I love my mom:

1. She spends tons of time doing stuff for her kids, seriously TONS OF TIME - I can't remember my mom ever missing a band concert (multiply that by 4 kids), sporting event, school event, etc. for my siblings or me. BUT my mom doesn't stop there...nope! She has chaperoned and organized lots of those events too. Last summer, when I moved out to Southern California, my mom drove me out here. She made multiple trips to Costco and Target with me until I was all set.

2. She has a passion for helping out other kids too. My mom works in the college/career center at Hannah's high school and she is so good at it! She has helped several kids navigate the confusing world of college applications and scholarships. I have met a few of the students that she has worked with (I use to run into some of them when I recruited for ASU). I would tell them that my mom works at Mountain View and they would say, "I LOVE Mrs. Warren...she is the best!!!" Definitely a testament to her great work!

3. She (and my Dad) have taken us on some awesome trips over the years - lots of ski trips, New York City, Washington, DC, Europe, Disney World, Florida, Canada, a cruise, a cross country trip. And they have always made sure to get all six of us back to Rochester at least once a year to see our extended family. All the travel that I've done has definitely shaped me and given me an adventurous spirit and love for traveling!

4. George ask that I throw this one in here too - she is an amazing baker...specifically, he loves her Coconut Squares! Haha, they are pretty delicious!

Quick funny story...when I went to Bakersfield for the tour, they ask that you put down an emergency contact, just in case. So, just like I've done for the past 24 years, I wrote down my mom's name and number. Then I realized, oh wait...I have a husband, I should put George's info down! Anyway, I told my coworkers how I thought it was funny that I defaulted to putting my mom down (how grown-up of me!) and turns out that 4/5 of us did the same thing!

Anyway, there's a bit about my mom! I hope that the rest of you moms out there had a relaxing day!

And one more thing before I go, I wanted to share these two pictures from the weekend!

Paisley looking super cool with her sunglasses :)

My baby sister had prom last night...doesn't she look STUNNING?!