Cuteness Explosion

It's already the weekend,

are you kidding me?

 

via

 

Where does time go?

 

I have no big plans this weekend..

only plan is to stay cool while the

weather out here in Northern California

hits the triple digits.

 

I'm

so

NOT

excited.

 

Have a great one and we'll talk again on Monday.

Sometimes I'm Dense

I totally thought that I posted about Lexxa's 

birthday party at my parents.

We celebrated back in May, and guess what -

I didn't post about it.

It was an intimate little get together,

just my parents and Todd, Aust, Lexx & myself.

The kids had to work all day, 

so they headed over to their Nana and Papa's 

house that evening.

My mom made a delicious meal,

and then it was time for cake

and presents! 

My parents had a shirt made for her with her picture on it.

Look a little closer -

Isn't she adorable! Bwahahaha.

Lexx used to run around with her bathing suit, bike helmet and goggles on.

She thought she was stylin'.

She didn't want me to bother her playing

in order to take this picture.

Can you tell by the expression on her face

 that she was unhappy with me?

(Any yes, that is a younger, skinnier me -shush!).

My dad was the entertainment for the night.

He was telling us about how his hip surgery 

was coming up and how he was going to get around.

Todd and I suggested he buy a walker -

Pish, posh!

He said, "I don't need a walker, I already have one."

What do you think, would you want to be seen with him?

I'm casting my vote as a big

NO!

Apparently the kids couldn't handle all the excitement,

because when I went to the living room this is what I found.

When all was said and done, we were home 

by 9 PM and asleep by 10 PM.

Bellies full and totally content.

Strawberry Bars

I found this recipe on one of the blogs that I follow.
It looked easy enough, so I thought I would give it a try.
I'm not really fond of strawberry cake, but my brother-in-law is,
so I thought this might be a recipe that he would like
(or maybe it's cherry chip that he likes - not sure).

Here are the deets.

STRAWBERRY BARS
by
Lil Luna
 

 INGREDIENTS:
- 1 box strawberry cake mix
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup butter (melted)
- 8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (1 bar)
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Sliced strawberries

Directions:

1. Grease a 9×13 pan and turn oven to 325.

2. Blend your cake mix, 1 egg and butter until smooth. Press mixture into your greased 9×13 pan.

3. Blend cream cheese, 2 eggs, and powdered sugar until creamy and smooth (I blended with my mixer).
    Spread over your first mixture in your pan.

4. Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes or until edges are golden brown (middle may sink - it's okay).

5. Top with powdered sugar and lots of sliced strawberries.
6. Eat!

Mixture pressed into the pan.

Cream cheese mixture - mostly smooth.

Mixtures layered.

Strawberry bars right out of the oven.

Voila!

Finished product.

Todd gives this recipe a 5 out of 5.

I give it a 3 out of 5

(mostly because of the strawberry thing and it's a little sweet for me).

Why don't you make it and let me know what you think.

Summer Yard Tour 2013

The weather was so beautiful this weekend,

I couldn't force myself to do any inside projects.

 

I was on my patio this weekend, admiring all my

colorful flowers when I thought

 I need to do a photo yard tour for you.

Enjoy!

 

Look at what flew up right in front of me.

Isn't he adorable.

I love the contrast of the colors.

This flower has a crimson stem and leaves,

and a bright red flower.

Aren't the water drops amazing.

Mr. Spider was hanging out on this flower.

 

I also had a picture of bee pollinating a flower,

but it turned out blurry - bummer.

 

I really enjoy our yard this time of year.

 

How many different color flowers are you

enjoying in your yard?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mine's growing pretty well, thanks.

I think that our problems was that it was

out of sight, out of mind.

 

I actually check on this garden twice a day.

It's amazing to see how much the plants

grow in just a couple of days.

 

Take a look.

 

Yellow squash.

Raspberries

Yellow tomatoes

Cucumber

Green beans

Cherry tomatoes

This is one of our gigantic tomato plants.

Todd checking out the bounty.

I believe this is a squash plant attacking our tomato plant.

Some green beans that we missed.

They were hidden towards the back.

I don't think the huge ones are edible,

but they sure do look impressive.

 

I can't wait until the garden really starts producing.

I'm guessing it will be another couple weeks.

 

Are you having success with your garden?

Weekend!

So we're thinking we might make a quick trip out of town

this weekend since we didn't do it Father's Day weekend.

It's still kind of up in the air -

but I'm crossing my fingers.

If we don't leave Dodge, I have big plans to purge the house

of all of my sweet daughter's clothes that are everywhere!

There may even be some yard work thrown in there somewhere.

Here's crossing my fingers NOT.

Some raspberries - and my little gecko trying to eat them.

Have a great weekend!

Yard Update

Very little progress has been made since 

I last updated you about the yard.

We've either been sick or busy 

(or sick of being busy), 

for the past couple weeks.

We had a couple casualties.

If you remember, Todd had planted some

carpet roses and lilies for the border of the wall.

See here.

Fast forward a couple weeks and this is what

 the roses look like now.

If you look close, you can see where the deer

nibbled all the flowers off the plant.

This is what is looks like from an aerial view.

On a higher note,

Todd bought some little pea gravel and covered 

the little area he had cleared out.

Ohhhh!  So clean and pretty.

This is where we are going to put pavers/bricks/something.

After we complete this area,

Todd has plans to build some furniture

that will have a home in this part of our yard.

Eeeks!

I can't wait.

Sindy photo bomb.

Won't it look fabulous once it all comes together?

So what projects are you currently working on?

Padre Day

Father's Day originally looked like it was going to be a bust.

My dad had hip surgery, so he was at home recuperating.

Todd's dad wanted to stay home and relax.

Todd's middle brother was camping with his family,

We thought that his youngest brother was camping as well

(Come to find out they weren't camping until this upcoming weekend).

AND Todd's uncle was doing something with his family.

So Todd and I decided, heck with it, we're going out of town.

Saturday evening rolls around, and we get a phone call 

from Todd's mom saying that we are all meeting for dinner -

 

Ends up that we did go out to dinner for Father's Day,
and we didn't end up going out of town.
Austin and Lexx were even able to make it
to the celebration after they got off work.
 

It was a great meal, and we sat around
and talked for about two hours.

My dad and Todd's uncle didn't end up making it,

but we ate enough for both of them.

Dickey's Barbecue is where it's at!

YUMMY turkey and butter rolls.

I'm having dreams about them.

Two of the three dad's that were there.

Dennis is on the left and Todd in the middle.

Robb flashing that great big smile.

Amber was keeping him company.

Anne enjoyed the baseball game that was going on.

 

Anne was nice enough to pay for all of us.

What a nice treat -

very thoughtful!

 

Although our original plans didn't work out,

we still had a wonderful time.

 

Any chance you have to spend with family -

you should do it!

 

County Fair

I volunteer to work at our local county fair every year.

This year was no different.

The kids were busy, so Todd and I decided

to enjoy the fair by ourselves.

 

We love the 20/30 tacos, so that was the first

thing we did after I worked my shift.

I don't know what it is about these tacos, seasoning perhaps,

but they instantly put a smile on your face.

 

After we finished eating,

we decided to see what was up at the fair.

There was a little guy riding the bucking bronco.

They also had a wallaby presentation.

Last year they had seals, this year wallabies.

So cute!

 

This was pretty cool...kid in a bubble. 

They zip a kid in the bubble, blow it up and send them off.

Wouldn't it be fun to roll around on the pool.

This little piggy (hehehe) had me cracking up.

He was a 4-h swine, and I don't think he

was very impressed with his food.

Mohawk bunny!

Isn't it adorable.

I know there is a name for this type of rabbit,

but I don't remember.

Then I went snap happy in the chicken section.

I don't know why, but for some reason I was

infatuated with some of these guys.

Are you lookin' at me?

This little pygmy goat decided to rest in its food bowl.

 

We walked around for a bit, and tried to watch

they hay bucking contest, but my feet were screaming,

so we decided to call it a night and left around 7:30 PM.

What a great time with my honey!

 

I can't wait till next year.