Dinner With Danny

Wednesday was our 9th wedding anniversary and that morning I woke up to these on the dining room table. I was so shocked that scrapped to top of my foot on our metal baby gate (ouch!). As I looked closer I saw that Tim also got some pastries for us to share (Yum!) We had a very relaxed morning with Iz eating our goodies (I think she was more excited about the pastries than me) and watching a little Food network.

That night the three of us went to Bucca's for dinner (one of Tim's favorites) and when we walked in the door Danny was there to greet us! Izzie was so excited :)

After dinner we headed to the drive in theater! It was soooo much fun. We took the mustang so we could sit under the stars. It was the first time we've been together. We didn't know how Izzie would be sitting in her car seat for that long, but she was perfect! She absolutely loved the movie Up! She was laughing and screaming and having a great time. At this drive in, they show a kids movie first and then a movie for adults right afterwards, so It's two movies for the price of one, can't beat that.

In this picture she's getting mad at me for interrupting her movie with my bright flash, but you know me always have to get a picture! Tim just kept telling me, "that flash is really bright", "hey honey that flash is super bright".... oh well. MUST GET PICTURES! :)

We had so much fun, I think that a drive in movie with your family is a must this summer! Even if you have to drive a little bit further than you normally would, it is an experience that is just to good to pass up. Pack up a dinner and some snacks, load the kids in the car and head off to the movies you won't be sorry you did I promise!

Getting to know me...

I just got tagged on Facebook this morning and thought that I would post my responses here as my post for the day, lets call it a getting to know me day :)

1 What time did you get up this morning? 7:30 Izzie let me sleep in!!!

2. How do you like your steak? Medium rare

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I can't remember it's been that long

4.what is your favorite TV show? Bones, NCIS, Flipping Out (new season starts in August Yeah!) and the list goes on....

5.If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Europe would be fun for a bit, but I like Utah right now.

6. What did you have for breakfast today? egg beaters with spinach, ham, tomatoes and a little cheese thanks Tim :)

7. What is your favorite cuisine? CHEESEBURGER ( a good one!)

8. What foods do you dislike? Fish, celery raw onions.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Really depends on what I'm in the mood for..

10. Favorite salad dressing? A really good blue cheese or Ranch

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Ford Expedition 

12. What are your favorite clothes? Comfy jeans and a black shirt.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Ireland 

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Depends on what kinda day I'm having

15. Where would you want to retire? Somewhere with a beach!

16. Favorite time of day? Evening 

17. Where were you born? Whittier California 

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?  NONE!!!

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? ???

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? Don't know

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? All of them

22. Bird watcher? No I hate birds, I watch to make sure they won't peck me to death!!!

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning

24. Do you have any pets? Yes, 2 Boxers Stuart and Stella 

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? No (SAD)

26. What did you want to be when you were little? Teacher

27. What is your best childhood memory? Don't know that I have a favorite, but the one Christmas my mom hid our presents and sent us on a scavenger hunt christmas morning was fun. And camping at Camp James with the family growing up was nice, family picnics with the whole family, horseback riding with the cousins won't forget that, it's when I learned why the cowboys walk the way they do!!

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog

29. Are you married? Yes 9 years tomorrow!!!

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes!

Kickback, enjoy the ride!

I was having a little bit of trouble trying to decide what to write about tonight. Does anyone out there really want to hear that I went to another class on how to use my new and often complicated sewing machine? I am seriously intimidated by it, still! Or how I went to the the dermatologist this week and had some spots removed, 4 of them to be exact, and now I feel like a chicken has pecked tiny deep painful holes all over my body? No, I don't think so. Or maybe you would like to hear about how I think my body is trying to get sick, and my mind is saying I don't have time for this right now! I can't find the energy to do anything! Not even read a book, that would require me moving my eyes back and forth. Can't interest you in that either? 

Hum?

I came downstairs and started looking through my pictures in iphoto for some inspiration and found this.....

I started laughing as I remembered the day I took this picture on my cellphone. It was at the end of a very long day and I took Izzie out front to kill some time before it was time for her bath. She played for awhile but then, just ran out of steam! She kicked back on her bike and watched the other kids play. As a Mom I find that I push myself all day to get things done that "NEED" to be done. Sometimes I make myself, I'm going to say it CRAZY! And for what? Who says I have to get it ALL done NOW? I'm going to take a lesson for my daughter and kickback for a little bit, hey they don't call them the lazy days of summer for nothing right?  

At the end of the day your kids aren't going to remember a messy house, they're going to remember the great day they had with their mom!

GO HAVE SOME FUN!

I give you permission :)

Stuffed Bell Peppers and Stuff :)

So my garden is doing super great in the tomato department, but those bell peppers have got some splaining to do! I have one lonely green bell pepper on the smallest of all my pepper plants. The other three had better start producing or I'm never going to be able to make one of our favorite recipes. I've been holding out on making it cause I keep telling myself that this is the week their going to start producing! So I'm thinking maybe if I share this recipe, send it into cyberspace, some good bell pepper energy will come my way! :)

Hopefully your gardens are doing better than mine and you can make this tonight!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice

1 cup water

6 green bell peppers

2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. ( Sometimes I fix a meal the night before that requires rice and set aside about a cup of rice and this meal comes together much faster!)

3. In a skillet cook beef until evenly browned.

4. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers on a cookie sheet lined with foil, with hollowed sides up. You may have to slice the bottoms a little so they will stand up straight.

 

5. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, I can of tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. 

6. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a small bowl, and pour over stuffed peppers.

7. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with your extra sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

And enjoy!

If your wondering why I have pictures.. I took these about 5 months ago with the intention of putting this recipe on my blog, but never did. Maybe thats why I don't have peppers? Hummmm?

Funniest thing I've seen in a long time :)

Tim and I were watching TV last night and a commercial for this came on, we haven't laughed that hard in a long time!!!!!

Lazy Days of Summer

It has been so HOT here the past few days, I just cant stand it!!! We took Izzie over to Tiff and Rick's to swim for a little bit the other day. She really knows how to relax in the pool. I'm finding it really hard to make myself go outside for anything! We tried planting some ground cover between the rocks out back by the fountain, and when I say "we" this time, I do mean "we" I was out there planting right along with Tim. And let me tell you I have a blister to prove it!! Now if you know me, you know that I do not like gardening at all, but I am pushing myself this year to really try an get a the very least a semi-green thumb. Well last weekend it wasn't pretty, it was way to hot to be out back doing anything. We started to bicker, bad. Lets just say we won't be doing that again anytime soon. But something good did happen this week.

Look what Tim found on KSL...

It's an upright freezer! We have been wanting one of these since we moved in. Our new fridge was one of the one's with the freeze on the bottom. We quickly found out that it doesn't hold as much, and Tim hates it. There have been many, many freezers on KSL, but they have all been the chest models, and we didn't want to have to dig for our food. We have learned to be patient and to wait till the perfect opportunity comes and not be quick to make big purchases, and it payed off again this time. We got this freezer for 50 bucks! Can't beat that :) 

Isn't it pretty?

And another good thing this week..

My gardens growing

Here's the latest picture, the tomatoes just keep getting bigger and bigger I can't wait till their ready to pick!!

Hope everyone is staying cool! This weekend I am determined to get out and do something fun wish me luck :D

The little red, I mean purple car :)

Our friend Karen Dean gave us one of her "red cars", it had many, many miles of fun on it. We were so grateful, and Izzie couldn't be more excited. She was always "stealing" other kids cars in the neighborhood, as her mother it was getting a little embarrassing to say the least. We wanted to make it her own so we decided to girly it up a bit. So we cleaned it up, and by we I mean Tim :) Someone had to take the pictures.

Tim took it all apart and, Izzie helped him clean it up with a little soap and water.

This was a funny moment, as Tim was washing her car I asked him if when he was in his car club detailing his cars for hours at a time, if he ever thought he would be detailing a little red car for his daughter one day. I couldn't resist it just looked too funny:)

So after it was all dried, we went to Wal*Mart and got some of this new spray-paint for plastics

And turned that little red car into this -

We couldn't resist adding the little bling butterfly to the front and her little license plate in the back. I know it's crooked, I fixed it after I saw the picture, but you get the idea. So if any of you have some old plastic toys that need a little lift try this paint out, it works wonders!

And now we need to get to that desk....

4th of July fun

Call me crazy I know, but I just had to see if the shirt from last 4th still fit my growing baby squish squish :(  I made Tim go through the bags of clothes in her room with me to find this shirt!  (see my last post for info on my sad mommy moment) And look the shirt fit!!!! it's a 3-6 months shirt.

Here's a picture of Izzie with the neighborhood girls watching the fireworks last night. It was really fun she had a great time! She came inside and just crashed, it was a long fun day.

Look how BIG she looks!

Whatcha doing Mom?

We had a good time this year BBQ-ing and swimming at the Heuser's too! Hope everyone had a great day!

Happy Birthday USA!!!

I went looking for some 4th of July pictures from the past to post today and found this one. It made me so sad! She's growing up so fast, look at that peach fuzz hair, and her little round baby head. I could just eat her up. Will someone please tell me how to make her stop growing , PLEASE!!!!

Today we're heading over to Tiff and Ricks for a BBQ and then coming back to our house to watch the fireworks from our front lawn, I guess the neighborhood is getting together in the park right in front of our house this year to set off all the fireworks. Should be fun :)

We hope everyone has a very safe and Happy 4th of July!!!

Love, 

Tim, Nikki and Isabella

Ahhh it's good to be home

Well this is my first post since getting back from yet another trip to California. I love going there and getting to spend time with family and friends, but but oh how I hate getting home and having to unpack! I feel so displaced when I get home, sounds weird but hey that's how I feel. Maybe it's the endless list that pops into my mind of things that need to get done the minute I walk in the door. So many chores so little time! I kind of love being in California because the only thing I'm in charge of or need to keep clean is the guest bedroom we stay in. And then I get home and get a huge reality check! To make things a little more difficult this time I had to go straight to work doing my Dove gig for four days. But all that is behind me now and life is getting back to normal, ahhh. I am happy to report that my veggie garden is doing great! Thank you Karen!!! I have lots of tomatoes, one huge green bell pepper, a tall row of corn and many strawberries ( thank you Tiff ). This trip we packed a lot in lets see we....

Went to our nephews Birthday party, Izzie hit her first pinata (did I spell that right?)

Went to Justin's graduation (yea Justin!)

Had one Huge family drama! All is well now though.

Izzie played with her cousins a few times, and loved every minute :)

Went to the beach

Pigged out on Thrifty's ice cream - the best!

Visited my Mom at the hospital where she works.

Took Izzie to Penn Park, so many memories of my childhood came flooding back the minute I stepped foot in the park.

Drove by my old high school, and our old house in Whittier, talk about flash backs, I won't go there!

I could go on and on but I'll stop there, I'm realizing there is just too much to list in one blog post. Let's just say we had a great time and loved visiting everyone :) I'll put some pictures in just for fun enjoy :)

Izzie at Penn park, I found out my Mom used to play at this park as well. There used to be ducks here that you could feed but there were none to be found :( so sad. My Mom released her ducks wiggles and waggles here when she was young.

At the beach, the water was soooo warm it was great! This was Fathers day, we went with James and Brian, then went to give Justin a hard time at his new job, the Golden Spoon YUM!

Do you recognize her? It's Hannah Montana :) My mom bought this Hannah Montana wig for Izzie on clearance from target she LOVED it.

She was pretty good with the stick, scary :o.