American Idol

Well it only took ten years but finally the person I wanted to win American Idol from the very start actually won! Scotty won! And my second favorite got 2nd. And did anyone else notice a kiss? Taylor and I rewound it about 20 times to see. I've taken to twitter to find out anything. I'm so excited! I'll keep you all updated don't worry.

I Survived, but I'm Crazy?

I survived flip flop frenzy today. My legs ache and my necks sore, but I survived.  No fights this year and they didn't break the door in this time either (yes both those things have happened in the past).  

I found this receipie the other day and was so excited.  It looks so yummy.  But no one else seems to be as excited as me.  Am i crazy?

Lemon Buddies from Come Together Kids

INGREDIENTS:

9 cups Rice Chex

1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

4 tsp. grated lemon peel

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS: 

Measure your cereal into a large bowl and set aside.

Grate your lemon and squeeze out your fresh lemon juice.

Put your lemon peel, lemon juice, white chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir, then microwave another 30 seconds or so until it's all melted and well combined when you stir.

Pour the lemon mixture over your cereal and stir gently to coat the cereal.

Put about half the cereal mixture in a gallon size Ziploc bag, add one cup of powdered sugar, then add the rest of the cereal and the other cup of powdered sugar.

Tightly seal up the bag and shake to coat the cereal with sugar.

Spread on waxed paper to cool, then store in an air-tight container.

Flip. Flop. Frenzy.

I work at Old Navy once a month or so.  It's a pretty good gig.  The second craziest day of the year at Old Navy is tomorrow.  I guess $1 flip flops are worth getting out of bed at 4am to stand in line for 3 hours for.  I'm praying for patience.  

Time on my hands

Taylor is off with his brother tonight.  They are up in Payson opening up the Cotter cabin for the season.  I got to stay here alone, which I'm not complaining about, but I am getting a bit bored already.  

I thought I would post some pictures of the Diamondbacks game Marcus took Todd, Taylor and I to last night.  We all rooted for the Braves, except Marcus.  Braves lost:(

Thanks for the fun time Marcus!

I love this!

The weekend

Friday Taylor and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary, a small milestone for some, but for us we wanted to celebrate.  Taylor picked me up from work that afternoon with a suitcase.  He had packed us everything for a nights stay at the Talking Stick Resort and Casino in Scottsdale.  I was so excited, because I've been so bored lately and it was something different to do.  Unfortunately he forgot to pack me pants, but fortunately that meant I got to go buy new ones!  Anything that begins with shopping is good in my mind.

After that we went to dinner at Brio, where we had our first date and then we went out to the casino.  Taylor has been collecting change for over 3 years and he brought it all with him, finally ready to spend it.  Little did we know, slot machines actually don't take coins anymore! I think we stuck out like a sore thumb, we definitely felt very different then everyone else.  Taylor had never been to a casino and was quite excited, but he soon lost his enthusiasm.  We couldn't even figure out how to use the machines! We wasted about $20 before we gave up.  But we still had a great time and enjoyed spending time together.

On Saturday Taylor even agreed to go to the nice mall in Scottsdale and shop! This is a big deal, if you didn't know.  So we cashed in all his change and shopped!

It was a great weekend and I felt lucky that I have such a sweet husband who likes to celebrate the small things in life with me.  Thanks Tay!

Happy Cinco de Mustache...

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we all grew mustaches to be true gringos... Here's Taylor

And even I grew one...

I even brought mustache for everyone at work.  They don't think I'm weird at all.

Here's a breakdown...

i don't have anything to post about...

nothings new.  nothing exciting happened.  no news to share.  nope. nothing.

We went to Kauai

We're back now... I was totally depressed the first day about it too.  Every time I get back from a long awaited trip, I'm depressed afterwards.  I guess I look forward to it so much, and then its just...over.  Oh well, we did have the best time ever!  We loved every minute of being there... even when I broke down in hives.

Our first day there, we went straight to the hotel, where my mother-in-law and father-in-law gave us leis and a huge beach bug full of lotions, candy, clothes, sunscreen, and other goodies.  Nice start if you ask me!  We went down to the lobby and found this huge garden area, with huge ponds of koi.

(Tay and I are way up there, can you see us?)

Then we basically ran to the pool.  After 7 hours on a plane, you would too.  The pool was beautiful and amazing.  We ordered Pina Coladas (virgin of course), swam and laid in the sun (with jimmy buffet playing in my head, duh).  

Each night we went to dinner with everyone, which was always entertaining.  Taylor's family is very much like mine... Loud and Fun.  I think that just happens with so many people!  This is the only picture I have from a dinner.... this was easily the weirdest place we ate...but a local favorite!

On Friday we went Jeeping... of which I have no picture of.  But I do have pictures of the great things we saw while in the jeep.  Honestly, Kauai is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  It takes your breath away, literally.  We drove all the way up the coast until the road just ends (the coastline is cliffs on half of the island, so there is no road all the way around Kauai).  We found the huge dry cave, which completely freaked me out and snorkeled at a bay which I cannot even begin to remember how to say, let alone spell.  It was so fun! 

Oh yea, afterwards, we went to lunch at Tropical Taco.  I was being adventurous and tried the fish and if you know me, that's big because I don't like fish.  But in Kauai, I love fish.  It was so good. I wish I took a picture of that.

Saturday was the ATV waterfall excursion in the mountains.  It was so much fun.  I was an idiot and wore a white shirt, but we loved it.  We drove down to a river and found out Indiana Jones, himself, was chased down the same mountainside and used the rope (which is still there) to jump into the river to the plane waiting for him.  This got us very excited, so we of course had to reenact it, by jumping off the rope into the river.  (FYI, me and tays kids may not be the most athletic...we basically were the laughing stock of the group when we did our reenactment. But tell me something I didn't already know).  We ventured on and saw tons of pretty spots and lots of waterfalls.  

 (white shirt before)

(white shirt after)

Sunday = leisure day.  We swam in the ocean, or for me, rolled in the ocean.  I had a bit of an episode in which the entire beach saw me get toppled by 3 huge waves and rolled all over the beach.  Everyone said it was the best part of the trip... glad I could provide such awesome entertainment.  Everyone played sand volleyball, slept in the cabana, ate too much chocolate covered macadamia nuts and Taylor even surprised me with an hour massage at the spa, an early birthday present.  It was the best, thanks Tay. 

Monday we jumped on a huge yacht and went up the Napali Coastline.  Ok seriously people that place is ridiculous.  It is unlike anything you have ever seen.  Unbelievable views.  We found a huge school of spinner dolphins, a monk seal, and followed 5 humpback whales around for good hour.  We jumped in and snorkeled and found a huge sea turtle too.  

Then we flew to AZ... and I suffered the worst case of jet lag, followed by the itchiest skin in the world, followed by a doctors appointment for the itchiest skin in the world.  But we're back to normal now.  We loved Kauai.  I don't see ever going to a different island in Hawaii.  It's the best one.

We're All Ready....

My beach bag is ready (which I made last weekend especially for our trip)

 and filled with goodies for the plane...

My toes are glittered and ready for the beach....

 Our bags are packed and ready to go....

So we're outta here and on our way to here....

See ya in a while....