Cousins with their ice cream

I saw on Alyssa's blog the pictures that she edited using photoshop, so I decided to try it too. It's really cool looking and really easy actually!

Funny Faces on the Slide

My sister Monica has a kid heaven for a backyard and we went over there for a BBQ and water slide party one day. The slide was really fun until I kept going through the "barrier" and flew off onto the ground. It all happened so fast I didn't know what was going on! It actually didn't hurt at all, I was just surprised that it happened and that's what scared me...but I did keep going on it. When I wasn't, I was taking pictures of people on it and my family makes some pretty funny faces going down slides.

These two are from a different day and month and year, obviously, but just thought I would throw these in so almost the whole family can showcase their funny face talent.

The two little Mexicans...

They were both getting in touch with their heritage:

Music at the Mall

The mall that has the free movies also has music on certain nights, so we went and it was island music. Here are my parents dancing with Breanna and just themselves:

Here is Breanna walking back from the candy store with the candy Aunt Monica bought her. She was thrilled and stuffed them all into her mouth way fast:

This is one of my favorite pictures

I love pictures of little kids holding people's hands and I LOVE this picture...I hope to get one like this when I have kids also.

How funny is this!!

When I was searching on google images for someone peeking out a window I ran across this:
"It must get pretty boring without any view, and dogs are naturally nosy, pun intended. You can add this clever 'window to the world'."

They just have great advertisers full of puns! This seems kind of like a good idea, but also kid of mean because it just shows the dog what they are missing out on.

Today

Today I was, as Todd would put it, "ornery" (pronounced awnry...I never knew it was spelled like that!). I was not in the best mood today because I feel stuck in Hawaii and today was one of those days where I would have rather been anywhere but here. However, three things made me feel a little bit better. 1. I smelled my pillow and it smelled like my perfume that my mom & dad got me for my birthday and I love the smell of it. 2. Todd was trying to be kind to me (it kind of annoyed me because I was being ornery and didn't want to talk to anyone though). But it makes me feel better that he still tries even when I don't seem grateful. 3. People near us are moving out and keep putting things outside their door for people to take. They have a sign there saying it's free...don't worry I am not just stealing their stuff. I keep peaking out the window to see if there is new stuff out there. There was a big No. 10 can of dehydrated apples that I took and I made apple crisp with less than half of it. I was amazed at how well it turned out. I couldn't even tell that they were dehydrated apples. I also snatched some car wash liquid and a good scrubber since we don't have any of those things. We have only washed the car one time since it has been over here in Hawaii though, so those probably won't get much use.

Speaking of free/cheap things, the other day I was browsing craigslist and came across a quesadilla maker and George Foreman grill for $5 each. I was so pleased with my purchase! The lady was moving the next day and gave us a whole pack of corn tortillas from costco and some good bbq sauce and such for free. I like spending money, but it is much more rewarding when you find great deals.

Last thing for tonight is that my birthday is in 9 days. I will be the big 21! I received a box from my parents today (even though I already got a ton of birthday presents when I went home) and I am very anxious to open it! My mom said it was not allowed though. I have never been good at waiting to open presents. My grandma used to let me open her presents early then we would wrap them back up so that no one would know!! Well, Todd doesn't know what to get me for my birthday, and I can't come up with any ideas because I feel like I have everything already! If anyone has some good ideas please pass them this way!!

I still have more to blog about from when I went home...

I took SO many pictures and we did SO many fun things, that I still haven't been able to finish it all. So next on my list was playing at the fountains outside of the movie theater. There were a crazy amount of kids there, and it was fun watching Brendan play. Breanna wasn't in the mood to go in after sitting through (almost) her first movie.

Movie Time

The movie theaters nearby have a free movie during the day for people to come watch. They are older movies though, but we went and watched Shrek 3 there. It was Mom, Dad, Brooke, Breanna, Brendan, and I that went. My Dad splurged and bought two large drinks and a large soda. It was funny seeing Breanna with the huge bag of popcorn that was almost her same size.Grampie and Brendan before the movie begins. Cute cousins. Brendan is so good with Breanna and loves her a ton.

Pretty Sunset

I love watching sunsets, and Colorado seems to always have the best sunsets when I am there. Here are some pictures I took from our porch one night. In the last picture I was trying to capture the lightning that was going on, but I got a moth instead {in the upper right hand corner}.

Pool time

The city I live in recently {probably a couple years ago actually} rebuilt the pool and made one with water slides and a really cool area for kids to play in. My Mom, Brooke, & I took Mikey and Breanna there one day to play. Mikey is so scared of the water sometimes and he was that day also. By the end though, he was going down water slides, hanging on to us in the pool, and even trying to swim some {of course never letting go though}. Here are some pictures. We ended up leaving because the kids' teeth were chattering they were so cold.

Brooke & Breanna arrive

Brooke & Breanna got there 6 days after I had arrived. She is getting soo cute [and chubby!] and it is fun seeing her walk now actually. She waddles around, and it was just a ton of fun hanging out with her. We kind of have a love/hate relationship. She would LOVE hanging out with me a lot of the time and be all smiles, but sometimes if I would touch her she would kind of yell at me trying to tell me to leave her alone. I would try to hand food to her and she would snatch it from me and yell at me like I had stolen it from her or something. Other times though she would rub my hand or my leg and put her head down to just rest on me. I think she was confused on if she liked me or not. It was fun hanging out with Brooke too and I am so glad she was able to come at the same time as me!
We weren't sure how Mikey and Breanna would get along, but they did ok until Breanna was playing with Mikey's trains. He is very possessive of them and his bike. Here they are within the first hour of reacquainting themselves with each other and playing.
I love this picture of M & B with my Mom...I just wish it was centered better, but I was hurrying because it is hard to get everyone to look at the same time!

Fun stuff

The first night I got home I went to my sister's house, Monica, to see her and Brendan my 5.5 year old nephew. I told Brendan that if I wasn't doing anything the next day then I would pick him up from school [his daycare] early. He energetically said while jumping, "Don't do anything tomorrow!!!!" He obviously wanted me to pick him up and hang out. We went to the park and played on the playset and played frisbee then went back to Grammie and Grampies house. This is him getting our shoes from the park. I am absolutely in love with this child and would kidnap him in a heartbeat if I could. Here he is after a big night on the town. Monica, Brendan, and I went out to dinner and went to a work going away party for one of her friends. We got home from dinner at like 10 and Brendan just crashed. When he was getting ready for bed he came running over to us and was like, "I just hear an ooh oooh ahh ahh sound," and we were like, "Like a monkey?" haha. He was just tired we think and that's what caused the monkey sounds.
Here is Mikey my 2.5 year old nephew [yes he does weigh more than Brendan...he's a big boy]. He love his choos [trains]. It was really fun getting to hear him start talking. He will repeat everything that people say and when he plays with his trains he would say, "Oh no, cash, cash, hoowie pwease, cash!!!" in a really high pitched voice. He for some reason thought I was his uncle and insisted on calling me Uncle Shell, which none of us understood because he doesn't have any Uncles close to him where he would have learned to call them Uncle.
My sister Deanne and my mom always say oh he just said such and such, and I swear they just make things up that he says sometimes because he speaks gibberish occasionally, so one night at the dinner table he was mumbling and I was like, "Oh what's that Mikey? You want a horse?" It was really funny. Because I am funny.

Out Shooting

My dad took my mom and I to this guy in our ward's property to teach us how to shoot because he got two new guns. So here are some pictures of us doing that. He was very surprised at how well we did. My mom had a few funny things. The first was my dad asked her what she was aiming for and she was like oh the target...but the "target" she was talking about had like 16 little targets on there, so my dad told her she had to choose one. The other thing that happened was she shot and then right after that shot again, and she was like "Woah I wasn't ready." It's a good thing she didn't turn towards us when she "wasn't ready!"


Thanks Dad! We had lots of fun with you...

Before I start on my vacation blogging...

...let me share this salad with you: Applebee's Blackened Chicken Salad

Dressing
1/4 cup fat free mayonnaise
1/4 cup Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon paprika
[The dressing did not turn out that great, so it would be fine if you just bought honey mustard dressing.]

Chicken Marinade
1 cup water
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire

Cajun Spice Blend
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons light butter

Salad
8 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup fat free shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese
1 large tomato, diced
1 hardboiled egg white, diced


1. Combine water, lime juice, soy sauce, and Worcestershire
in a medium bowl, and stir. Add the chicken breasts to the
marinade, cover bowl and keep in refrigerator for several hours.
Overnight is even better.
2. When chicken is marinated, preheat a frying pan or skillet
(an iron skillet, if you’ve got it) over medium/high heat. Also,
preheat your barbecue grill to medium/high heat.
3. Combine the spices for the Cajun spice blend in a small bowl.
Sprinkle a teaspoon of the spice blend over one side of each of
the chicken breasts. Cover the entire surface of the chicken
with spice.
4. Melt the butter in the hot pan, then sear the chicken breasts
for 2-3 minutes on the side with the spices. While first side
cooks, sprinkle another teaspoon of spice over the top of each
chicken breast, coating that side as you did the other. Flip the
chicken over, and sear for another 2-3 minutes. The surface of
the chicken will be coated with a charred, black layer of flavor.
This is exactly what you are shooting for.
5. Finish the chicken off on your barbecue grill. Grill each breast
on both sides for 2-3 minutes, or until they are done.
6. While chicken is cooking prepare the salads by splitting the
lettuce into two large bowls. Toss in the red cabbage and carrots.
Mix the cheeses together, then top the salad with the cheeses
and hardboiled egg. Sprinkle the diced tomato on each salad.
7. Slice the chicken breast, across each breast in 1/2-inch-thick
slices. Spread the chicken over the top of the salad and serve
immediately with dressing on the side. Serves 2 as an entree.

I did not have a lot of the ingredients for the cajun spice, so I just used a chicken rub. Next time I make it I really want to try it exactly as written. This is how it ended up looking:
I added things like croutons and avocados to the salad also. It was delicious!

I am at work right now.

I don't have my pictures with me, but I took about 350 pictures at home so I am going to go get those then start posting away!!

I am a blog binger.

What is that you might ask? Well I don't blog for a couple weeks and then I "binge" and post a lot in a very short amount of time. Well that is what I will be doing very shortly again. I went home by myself for two weeks right after school got out. Todd was not able to come because A) He was starting work, B) He is going to summer school, and C) he had his appointment with the hand specialist (where he found out that it is only cracked in the top part but not chipped, and that it will heal just fine without surgery!!) So I flew standby and it was quite the ordeal. Getting home I missed the nonstop to Denver so I got on the flight to San Francisco. As we were almost leaving I got a message from my dad saying that it looked really bad out of SFO to Denver, but there was nothing I could to because the doors were already closed. So I landed in SFO and checked my messages and did what my dad told me to do: I hopped on BART to get to Oakland to take the first flight from there to Denver! Coming back was worse though. I was going to miss the Den-Hnl flight, so I flew to LA, and as soon as I got there we found out that an earlier flight with 230 people on it got cancelled going to Hawaii. So once again, I thought I was going to be spending hours and hours, and possibly overnight in LA. My dad sure does think out of the box though, and he told me to try for a flight to Maui which I made, then they bought me a ticket to Hnl. So I made it everywhere I wanted and more! I was even lucky enough to get first class everywhere besides Maui-Hnl.