Halfway there....

...to my 4 day weekend that is.  Work is busy this week.  Internal audit is visiting and our air conditioning went out (again) yesterday.  We had to sleep on the couch in the basement last night to keep cool.  Our bedroom was a stifling 85 degrees with the fan blowing full blast.  That doesn't make me happy, it makes me cranky...those poor auditors. :).

Air was fixed today so back in my own bed and a comfy weekend at home is planned trying out some new recipes.  Saturday we made this Smoked Salmon Pizza it was so yummy....

Nicholas and Jackson are playing pretty well together now....well maybe too well.  On sunday, after several minutes of very loud noise and a closed bedroom door we walked into Jackson's room and found this....

Trouble with a big fat capital T, I tell you...

Also on Sunday, Mike pointed out I had not updated our family room banner.  It still said Spring from one I made a couple of months ago.  We were having the family over for dinner Sunday evening, so I had an hour or so and whipped this one out.  Not super fancy but I love the colors of the Echo Park Paper Sweet Summertime line.  Mixed with some Sassafras whimsies and banner stickers, a few Making Memories glitter stars, ribbon from Michaels, a few punches and Studio Calico Carter and Storytime alphabet stamps and Stamps of Life  stamps I whipped this up in no time. We now have a Summer banner....

Love Saturdays....

We got up a little after 5:00 this morning so Mike could do some cleaning up outside (you have to when it is going to be well over 100 degrees).  So I was able to get up and have a quiet Saturday morning with my coffee and computer before the kiddos got up.

I worked on Operation Organize the House and cleaned out my bedroom drawers and bathroom cabinets, stuffing a huge bag full of clothes to give away and another with expired stuff to throw out.  The rest of the day was spent doing exactly what I hoped...relaxing.  I took a nap (a rarity for me anymore), scrapped a bit and planned my shopping list for the Studio Calico reveal tomorrow.

I did this layout using the Studio Calico Partly Sunny June kit/add-on's plus an additional coordinating We R Memory Keepers paper.  I had done a similar page about Nicholas a little while ago so I wanted to do an "alphabet journaling" page for Jackson, too. It worked great to do an 18 month page for him.  I found this 6x6 alphabet section on the backside of the polka-dot WRMK paper and the page was born.  And I love, love, love the stamps from this SC kit too.

Jackson is...

Salmon Pizza is baking in the oven and the boys are eating bagel cheese pizzas (because no matter what time we plan dinner they want to eat earlier.)  Looking forward to some more scrapping tonight after the kiddos are in bed.

Can't wait for the weekend....and weekend plans

After being gone last weekend, I can't wait to be home this weekend and get some relaxation and scrap time.  This morning I had to whip up a birthday card for a friend, the leftover scraps from the May Mosh-Posh kit were perfect:

This weekend I'm looking forward to:

Starting Camp Scrap at Big Picture Scrapbooking and digging into that this weekend.  

Ordering my Studio Calico July kit add-on's (OMG the add on's this month are unbelievable)

Dinner to celebrate the Arizona dad's on Sunday night.

My light potato salad for said dinner.

A quiet Saturday morning before the kiddos wake up drinking coffee from the new Kreuig coffee maker

Hoping the Kindle I ordered today (at the new lower price) gets here this weekend so I can get it set up for some books I want to read.

Working on my 1st challenge for ScrapTiffany that will debut the first week of July.

Happy Friday!

The good old days....

I love Facebook.

I had been looking at old pictures from high school this past weekend and I came across pictures of me with one of my best high school friends that I have lost touch with.  We were pretty inseparable during the last couple of years of high school.

She moved away to live with her mom before we finished high school  We saw each other when we could for a while, but back in those days we didn't have e-mail, internet or free long distance on cell phones (we didn't have cell phones!) so it was good old fashioned letters that we had to write to keep in touch.  We did that for a while, but I am sure life got us busy and we lost touch.

Every time I came across these pictures over the years I wondered where she was and what happened to her.  And along comes Facebook and there she is.  The thing I love about Facebook is we are all busy in our everyday lives but it only takes a little bit of time throughout the week to keep in touch.

Some random Friday night during football season....1987

Probably during a water polo game.  Our high school team was great and the cheerleaders didn't miss a match.

And I have to love the 80's hair here (especially mine, what was UP with that?)  I think this was after high school when I went down to visit Holly at her mom's house and we went out dancing at a club.

Nice to reconnect with old friends.

Father's Day Weekend, Old Family Photos & Cards

We spent the weekend in California at my Dad and Evelyn's house for Father's Day.  It was a fun filled weekend, my brother and sister were able to be around a lot, which was great since we haven't seen them much in the past couple of years.

Friday started off early so we could hit the road, but it was derailed a bit by this munchkin' who ended up in our bed at about 2 a.m. and was up for about an hour.  Nicholas never does this, so it was perfect timing since we planned to get up at 4 and be on the road by 6. :)

He does look cute in that big old bed. The drives both way were pretty uneventful. It was best when they looked like this....

Saturday we met Mike's brother Scott and his family for lunch between our nieces softball tournament games.  Then we headed back to my Dad's house for swimming and celebrating birthdays for my 2 nephews, Christian and Andrew. 

Sunday Dad made brunch and we hung out all day.  We took some updated family photos...

Mike got spoiled for Father's Day....

My sister and I spent time with our Dad, looking at old family pictures and finding out who the people we didn't recognize were.

We found great ones like this favorite of both my sister and I of our grandma and dad when he was probably about 2.  She was so pretty and young and he was adorable.  We think every one of my brother's and my boy's have looked like our Dad in this picture at some point.

My Dad and his brothers...(or a picture from The Outsiders.)

Our Dad sometime in the later 60's, we think.

My sister found this great one of our Grandma, it looks like someone is not behaving and getting that look....

Dad racing his cars that our Grandpa used to build. We know there has to be more of these pictures.

Earl, a great uncle, he was lost at sea in a submarine while in the Navy.  This was one of the last pictures of him.

Our great great grandparents (I think it was on my Grandfather's side)

A slice of Americana...my Uncle Jim and Aunt Noreen.

And a little scrappy stuff...I used Girls Paperie to make Father's Day cards for the Dad's in our life.

Have a great week!

I'm so excited!

Now that I have been away from Color Me Daisy for a while I decided to throw my hat in the ring for a couple of design teams.  I was pretty selective on what I chose to apply to,  I was trying to find a fit for me and something I felt good about committing too.  Having been on the other side of choosing a design team I know the excitement.  But it felt really good to get that e-mail this week inviting me to be part of the ScrapTiffany Team. I am very excited to be scrapping for fun again and I can't wait to start showing you all of the great stuff Tiffany has planned over the next several months!

So if you want great inspiration or a weekly challenge check us out at ScrapTiffany!

Adventures in Cooking - Volume One

Earlier this year we bought a TV and Direct TV DVR for the kitchen. Little did I know that would take Mike's cooking adventures to a whole new level.  

Ever since he started staying home with the boys he started taking on more of the cooking.  He was definitely inspired by my Dad who has been cooking great things for years. This past Christmas when Dad and Evelyn came to visit, Mike even asked my dad to supervise his first turkey on the grill.  They had fun and the turkey was great (almost as good as mine) Ha!

After the TV purchase Mike started recording several shows on the Food Network and we have been eating wonderfully,  At times we have to get creative with recipe modification. We started Weight Watchers in the middle of April, and I have managed to still lose about 2 pounds a week while eating all this yummy food.  I am really learning portion control. 

Sometimes I send him recipes I find like this one from Zesty Cook for Garlic Basil Cheeseburgers

Or maybe an idea from Cooking Light Magazine for pizza on the grill.  This one was for the kiddos, I guess I forgot to take one of the salmon pizza we had that night.

But the cheese pizza was a hit for Nicholas, who loves to be served milk and food at the BBQ bar.

Then there was Mother's Day when I requested fajitas.

And I made this Mojito Melon and Mango Salad to go with the fajitas.  I was trying to replicate something similar I had eaten at Chelsea's Kitchen in Phoenix )while seated a table away from Danica Patrick, who is quite tiny by the way).

Then there was the weekend we went out to Schnepf Farms and picked peaches and Nicholas had a ball.

And Jackson, my wild boy was a bit shy

But all was good because we had a ball that day and went on the train...

and then we had peaches to make this delicious peach and tomato salad (that is now a favorite).

that went perfectly with Jamaican Jerk Chicken, corn on the cob and a bit of wine.

Then Mike decided that the grill wasn't just for dinner.  And he made breakfast.  Bacon on the pizza stone, an idea from Becky Higgins blog, I figured if it worked in the oven, it would work on the grill.  And we finally figured out that the flat part of our grill could really be used for something...pancakes.

And I do think the scrambled eggs are better when cooked over the grill then on the stove.

We still had peaches so the next weekend we made, grilled chicken tacos with peach avocado salsa. 

So now that you are probably hungry for some yummy food, I will end this installment of Adventures in Cooking.  I have lots more to come, since Mike comes up with at least one new thing every week.