Fall Break 2013

I prefer to be on the beach soaking up the last of summer's rays during Fall break,

but this year we decided to go up North to the chilly pines.

We thoroughly enjoyed spending the week in this lake front cabin.

There's 3 boats, a fire pit, huge deck, plenty of seating inside and out,

and sleeps up to 12 people!

Morning view from the deck

Loving the fall colors <3

Everything looked so blue and the reflections were beautiful!

It was peaceful in every way even though 9 of us were sharing only 1500 sq.ft. of indoor space.

I actually liked the fact that we were all "squished together".

I think we tend to get lost in our huge homes.

A lady once told me that she felt she lived a richer life with her family when they had much less.

My life definitely feels richer when I share it with my loved ones.

Materialistic things come and go...

I never realized how incredibly loud ducks are!

Beautiful, blue reflection <3

We had lots of game time, laughing time, eating time, drinking time...

and...

 I had a lot of time to reflect on my life...

Things from the past, things I've learned, things I still need to do...

I had time to think about the people in my life...

Who brings out the best in me, who brings out the worst...

Being disconnected from everyone for a while can sometimes be healing :)

Spending some quality time together...

You'd think that Dale and I spend loads of time together now that he works from home but I actually feel it's quite the opposite.  He works so hard all the time.  Being self-employed means, much.more.work.

It was nice to go on a little boat ride with him. :)

Papa took four of the kids on a boat ride.

Most of the days there were very cold.

By cold I mean mid 50's.

That's freezing to me!

It rained and hailed one of the days which was okay cause we stayed inside and made yummy hot chocolate and worked on two puzzles together :)

Everything was perfect... the only thing missing was my mom and dad.

Really, really wished they could have come. <3

We usually don't take Wilson with us on vacation.

I was really happy to know that we could bring him along on this trip.

He was crazy in love with all the different smells and I'm sure the cooler weather was a real treat for him!  He played hard all day and slept like a rock at night :)

Austin running off with Wilson's new favorite stick!

Happy dog and his stick :)

He is quite the little blessing to our family... love this little guy <3

Making memories is what it's all about.

I want my sons to have cherished memories when they grow up.

Family time is GOLDEN.

  My Favorite childhood memories are from when we would go to the beach in Mexico every year.  They were the most peaceful and happy moments of my life.

Never miss the opportunity to capture a magical moment....

One of my nieces listening to her music and soaking up

the last bit of sun before sunset :)

Girls being girls.  My niece dancing around in the sun :)

If you're looking for a nice, cozy cabin to escape to, you must look up Jack's Cabin.  It gets fully booked in the summer and usually around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'll definitely think about going back but next time, when it's a weeeeeeeee bit warmer!!

http://www.jackscabin.com

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

I've driven past the Arboretum at least a zillion times.  I'm an Arizona Native and I'm so sad it took me this long to finally go but sooooooo happy that I finally went a few weeks ago!

I don't know if it always feels as magical as it felt that day but I'm absolutely in love with this place.  So much so, I've been wanting to go back every weekend.

William Boyce Thompson founded the arboretum in the 1920's.

It is the largest and oldest botanical garden in Arizona. 

I believe this is called the Queen Butterfly

Pipevine Swallowtail

The Pipevine Swallowtail's wings turn blue when the

suns hits them in certain ways.  So pretty :)

This is Drover's wool shed and it's surrounded

by huge Eucalyptus trees.

Drover's wool shed, one bedroom.

Love the hanging boots :)

Drover's wool shed kitchen and eating area.

Drover's wool shed - Love the different woods used

to build this little place :)

Love the details....

and I love this truck in Drover's yard.

Dodge Power Wagon 1957

I love playing with the sun :)

Found this cool maze made from stones.

It's amazing how the morning sun gives

this place such a magical feel <3

Here is the Clevenger home.  This tiny home was

built in 1915... and it's built right up against that rock.

It has a small living area in the front

and two small bedrooms in the back.

Mr. Clevenger, his wife and 5

children lived here.

This is one of the rooms in the Clevenger House.

I stood in there for about 5 minutes just trying to

imagine 5 children sleeping in this tiny room.

I can imagine it got real cold in the winter.

The rock wall has indentations in it.  Not

sure if they're natural or man made but you can

 tell that that is probably where they put their candles.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum is

really an amazing garden.  There is

so so sooooo much more to see than

what I pictured.  They have all kinds

of cool classes and guided tours as well.

If you live in Arizona and you haven't been there.... I suggest you pack a lunch and head over there for the day!  It's got to be even more beautiful right now with the cooler temps and changing leaves :)

Click to visit their site!

BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM

Beavers "ALMOST" Ruined My Coffee

Sometimes it's better not knowing. But since I know, I'm gonna let you know!  Apparently, a lot of companies use beaver butt secretions for "natural vanilla" flavoring and that is just wrong! And for two whole days, I've been moping around and I've been very tempted to throw out my Coffee-mate Vanilla Flavored creamer.

I know it's loaded with calories... so maybe this isn't such a bad thing but I look so forward to my coffee every morning that if I don't get me some good coffee, I get a bit grumpy!

My hubs can't bear to see me so moody sad so he got online to find out if Coffee-mate uses beaver poo... 

Drum roll please......

GOOD NEWS!!

My hubs found this Facebook post on Coffee-mate's page.  Thanks to this bearded dude for saving my family a lot of grouchy mornings!! :)

READ ON:

THANK YA! THANK YA!

Have a wonderful weekend!  Fall Break! YAY!!! :) xo

Random Thoughts For Friday

Sometimes a photograph will show exactly what I see... But the other morning, I saw beautiful, misty, rays of light shining through some trees and onto the sidewalk in my neighborhood... and in the misty light you could see little wings fluttering around... It was so pretty and magical.  I just had to pull over and take pictures of it but I could not get any of the photos to duplicate what I was looking at. It was quite frustrating because I wanted to share it with you.  I'm grateful to have been able to see it and I will definitely try again, with my Nikon though... instead of my iPhone :)

I'm so glad that "PRIDE" aka "TOOLS FOR SUCCESS" aka **detention** at my son's school has been cancelled.  Apparently, they realized "It wasn't helping the kids learn anything".  So sad for my other son that got PRIDE detention at least once a month for the past 3 years for the most RIDONKULOUS reasons!  Because of this, he was never able to participate in "PERFECT PRIDE FIELD TRIPS".  We talked to the principal about giving those students a chance to "work it off" so they could still go on the field trips at the end of the quarter...  but, no-go. And now, all-gone.  

PRIDE stands for "Personal Responsibility In Daily Efforts" 

So why would anyone name detention > PRIDE? Detention is a negative thing.  Pride is suppose to be a positive thing.  They should've given PRIDE to those that did not get detention... Well, doesn't matter now I guess...

Can I just say:  i. love. Love. LoVe. LOVE.... iTunes Radio!

PANDORA WHO?

TRUE STORY:

Wednesday night's dinner was Subway!

not.my.choice.... BUT...

My son's school was having a fundraiser (or sumpin).  I guess the class who had the most students who ate at Subway wins some prize today.  So of course he begged us to go.  The line was out the front door!  As you may know, Subway's are usually kinda teeny inside.  Amazingly, we were able to get a table by the front window, and there, is where I had the pleasure of watching parents buy their little cookie monsters, cookies, from the women who set up a cookie stand right outside the Subway door...

Can I just say that   SUBWAY  is not an easy word to type fast...

Okay let me just tell you what I witnessed and how hard it was for me to not say anything...  It was a great thing that the woman that was handling the cookies was wearing gloves, right?  BUT my dear friends... she was also handling the money and opening the front door for the guests and then back to the cookies... 

yes... with.her.gloves.ON.

I mean really... why bother putting on the gloves then?  My family and I joked about how she's probably setting the zombie apocalypse into motion.  The crazy thing is, it's that easy to spread those nasty, little germs...

Ok... I feel super guilty now thinking about it... I probably should have said something.  I kept imagining myself going up to her and telling her but I didn't because, stupid me, I was embarrassed and scared and I was afraid to embarrass her and make her mad at me... I know...  'tupid, 'tupid, me. :(

Anyway, it's too late now.

But if we all end up looking like this...

You know where it started!

Last but not least...

Do you require a little motivation when it comes to getting started on eating healthier and working out? I have a solution and it's totally free...

Go.try.on.clothes.in.TARGET!

The dressing rooms have two mirrors that show you your front and back view! Most dressing rooms only show us the front view and we can only see as far back as our heads can turn so many times we don't get a "true view" of what we look like from behind.  ...and that's all I'm going to say about that!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Movie Monday: 2 Guns

So last Tuesday, Dale and I finally went to see 2 Guns!  It was Dale's idea and totally last minute but when he told me who was starring in it, I was in the car before he could finish saying "And the Funky Bunch"  (Some of you youngins may not know what that means, ask your parents).  Well, I sure love me some Denzel Washington and who can resist the cutie patootie Marky-Mark??  Put them together and you've got magic.  I really thought these guys worked really well together!  Action packed, funny and twists left an right... There were some parts that I thought might get a bit too gruesome but I toughed it out and loved every minute of it.  If you haven't seen it... check it out! It's been out a couple of weeks already!

Click this link to watch a 3min. preview :)

http://youtu.be/dVNe3RK2fgI

This week the plan is to see the Steve Jobs movie.  Although, I heard it's not getting good reviews.  Dale is still interested in seeing it of course cause he's a huge Apple fan.  I don't mind seeing it either cause I'm a big Kutcher fan <3

What movie are you looking forward to see?

Welp!  I spent another morning cooking again for my SIL and her roommate.  She'll be moving to TN with her aunt on the 2nd week of September (well, that's the plan) so I figured I'd cook another weeks worth of food for them.  The last batch of food lasted them about 10 days which was surprising to me.  I thought it'd last them 7-8 days... but not 10!  So it worked out well!

Click link for recipe: 

lasagna-rolls

What are they having for dinner?

1. Roast Beef with mashed spuds and veggies

2. Creamy chicken veggie soup with biscuits

3. Lasagna Rolls

4. Tamales

5. Chicken roll ups with green sauce

It's a lot of food to cook for one day but the nice thing is, is that it sets me up for the week as well.  The food that I'm cooking is for them and for us ;)

I'm really thankful that I am able to do this for them.  I have the time to do it and I enjoy cooking and I think I do it well! Thank goodness!  ....and we can afford to buy a few extra groceries to make larger batches of food.  Also, it feels great when she calls me after dinner to tell me how much she enjoyed the meal.  Yup! At least I can give them happy bellies for a while to help them forget about their other aches and pains. 

What's your best dish?

Snap Photo Challenge

At the beginning of 2012, I was remembering good ol' Myspace... I think some people still have a Myspace actually, but I cancelled my account over 5 years ago.  Well, I was remembering the photography contests I used to participate in.  I remember one was called Shutterbug.  Made me think about how I missed being "forced" to take photos...

Good ol' Instagram came along and gave me a reason to start taking more photos again.  It's exciting to share photos, getting "likes" and comments and I also love looking at all the other amazing photos that other photographers post.  I soon noticed that some people were creating "Photo-a-day" challenges.

how.fun.is.that?

I joined and tried to keep up with the totally random daily challenges.  It was fun but there was no satisfaction or recognition in it really.

so...

I thought I'd try my hand at creating my own contest... but, in Facebook instead...

On February 16th 2012, I created a page called "SNAP PHOTO CHALLENGE"

I rounded up a bunch of my snap happy friends and got them to join and little by little I've picked up a few more people here and there.

I have to say, if you don't already know, I have a short attention span when it come to little projects.  I jump from one thing to another in a matter of months.  I have actually stuck to this for 16 months! I post a new challenge every Tuesday and Friday and the members of Snap Photo Challenge vote for their favorite picture and the one with them most votes, wins.

wins what?

Well.... nothing.  Well yes... they win recognition.  I find that that is just enough to keep them motivated to continue participating.  That and well, I think they enjoy being competitive.

Here are some of my favorite photos that I used as an example for some of the challenges:

2012-02-21 Challenge: Automobile

2012-03-16 Challenge: Architecture

20132-03-20 Challenge: Macro

2012-03-23 Challenge: Texture

2012-04-24 Challenge: Book

2012-04-20 Challenge: Water Drop

2012-04-27 Challenge: Music

2012-05-01 Challenge: Things You Love

2012-05-11 Challenge: Mom

2012-06-05 Challenge: Black & White

2012-09-14 Challenge: Web

2012-10-12 Challenge: Orange

2012-10-19 Challenge: Candy

2012-11-09 Challenge: Reflection

2012-11-27 Challenge: Hand

2013-02-08 Challenge: Morning

2013-04-12 Challenge: Wings

2013-04-19 Challenge: Vanishing Point

2013-04-26 Challenge: Swing

2013-05-24 Challenge: Small

2013-07-26 Challenge: Night

2013-07-30 Challenge: Baby

I hope to continue on strong with this fun project of mine and I hope more people continue to join and participate! :)