Wednesday, March 31, 2010

April Fools

My Country Woman magazine this month inspired me to make "Sweet Sushi" for April fools Day! "These fool-the-eye snacks are on a roll !
They actually taste pretty good : ) If you want to make em' this is how--

You will need-

10 fruit roll ups
10 pieces of multicolored licorice
4 cups of mini marshmallows
1/4 cup of butter, cubed
5 cups of crisp rice cereal

1. Unroll the fruit roll ups, leaving the paper attached. Cut licorice lengthwise into thin strips, set aside. In a large microwave safe bowl, combine marshmallows and butter. Microwave, uncovered for 2 mins on high (or until melted- it only took 1 min in my microwave). Add cereal stir to coat.
2. Place about 1/2 cup of cereal mixture on the edge of each roll-up, place licorice in the center of the mixture. Roll up sushi rolls to about 1-in diameter. Discard the paper. Trim edges of rolls, cut each roll into 4 pieces. Store in airtight container.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Twins Pictures

Click here to see the pictures we had done of the Ross family! Here are some of my favorites--
Emma
Emma
Matt
Zack (doesn't just looking at that kid make your heart happy!?)
All our Godchildren
Michelle and her beautiful twins
Trevor and Michelle with their twins

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Bench

Sunday my mom made a delicious dinner (Coke roast, ranch mashed potatoes, asparagus and garlic bread) at my grandma's house for all of us. We wanted to come over and see this awesome bench that my cousins Denise and David Lang made for my grandma in memory of my grandma-
They added this plaque
Here is my grandma trying out her bench : )
Isn't it beautiful!?

Emma

I am not sure how this picture slipped off my last post about our Saturday events... but it is so cute I had to post it! Emma is smiling! She is in her Nana's arms... wouldn't you smile too?

Saturday, March 27, 2010

1/2 tank of gas

Today was a busy day and I learned that 1/2 tank of gas will get you---

All the way to Mesa for Scrapbooks etc semi-annual yardsale, to lunch and then back home...
It will also get you back into Phoenix to finally get the twin's baby pictures taken! Our gift to Michelle and Trevor was to pay for the twins baby pictures... well 2+ months later we finally got to it! Here is a sneak peak of the amazing Rounds Photography!
Then back home again to make a cake for the party.... Isn't Kenny awesome!? After working ALL DAY at his mom's house he came home and put his old Fry's Bakery skills to the test and decorated this cake.
Lastly it will get you back up to Arrowhead to Nanette's house for a B-day party for 20 year old Andy!

A lot of smoke.... I would take that as a sign you are getting older...
My rainbow cake I saw on this blog. ( we didn't have red food coloring, but it was still kinda neat)
Sarah made some delicious chicken cheese spaghetti for the b-day boy!
We ended the night playing a few games of LCR (one of which I won BTW)
I think everyone had a nice night

All and all a 1/2 tank of gas will get you pretty far... but more importantly it will provide the means to some great memories!

Free Friday

My second FREE Friday was well spent with my grandma! (poor Kenny still had to work and made a trip to Yuma). We started the day by getting her perm done. I can see why she enjoys going to that shop the ladies are so friendly there and they really seem to care about her. Grandma treated me to a great Mexican good lunch. We did a few more errands and by 4 PM she was exhausted!

That evening Kenny and I went to Chipotle (shocking I know... we almost never go there, haha) and to see a movie-- Repo Men. It is about men who repo artificial body parts... Kenny and I both though it was pretty gory and the plot was pretty disturbing....

Great, busy, FREE day off from work!!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Totally Tuesday

Since Kenny is in Vegas today I headed over to my grandma's house to join her and my mom for some pizza and a movie. Grandma and I watched the Blind Side, which was a cute movie. What was even cuter was my grandma's little dog Lucy. She has already become really attached to Grandma... it was so cute Lucy just curled up right next to her through the entire movie. : )

Monday, March 22, 2010

Monday Madness

Today was my first day back after the remodel (not for Kenny his section is not complete yet so he is still working from home) ... which meant new desks, new location, new neighbors, unpacking etc. It was a long, tough day for me... lots of construction going on (AKA banging!), many people cleaning their cubicle and the smells and noises brought on a horrible headache. After work my girlfriend and I got pedicures... I know I shouldn't have since we are really trying to save money and it is kinda of a waste but its been 6 months since I had one... so I went. I didn't get home until 7PM, so Kenny took me to dinner : ) Chipotle our favorite.
A lot of things have been weighing heavy on my mind lately... family, money, HEALTH CARE, work, etc, but I try to remind myself that He is in control anyway... not the government, our bosses or anyone else... God is in control.
Speaking of... it was announced today at work so I guess I can post it here... I have been promoted to a Multi-lines Underwriter! Kind of a big deal and a HUGE surprise for me!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Super Sunday

It was so nice having a 3 day weekend! Sunday morning we slept in and woke up feeling refreshed and ready for a new week!

I started spring cleaning today... 2 closets cleaned out and a good start on the guest/junk room. Since the guest room is almost the last room to still have white walls we decided it is time to start the decorating process (we have been here 5 years!) It will be a long process since my plan includes all new furniture...

Later in the afternoon we headed over to my grandma's house for corned beef and cabbage (a little late I know). The food didn't come out as good as I would like, but it was okay... AND we got to meet my grandma's new dog Lucy!
She likes to watch out the window...
but did stop and pose for me : )
Her tail curls up like a pig!
Grandma and her new baby! Lucy sure is cute! She is a stray that Kelly (my grandpa's daughter in law) found and brought to my grandma... unfortunately she has lots of fur. She sheds a lot and my grandma is a very neat and tidy person so I am not sure how that will turn out... Also Lucy is in heat and she isn't quite potty trained. BUT if she loves her... none of that will matter!

Michelle and Trevor came by for a visit with the kids this evening too.
Emma is just beautiful (don't you love her little pierced ears!?)
Matt and Kenny - ahhh
We tried to get Zack to take a picture with the twins, but he just wasn't having it.
Emmalee and Matthew 2+ months old!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Apron

My buddies from work Jackie and Carol came over today to sew some Aprons...
It ended up taking us most of the day... 5 hours (including a delicious lunch break for Mexican food!) But we finished- here is mine

And here is Jackie's
Carol didn't end up finishing hers... we were kinda needy students. She did model Jackie's for her...
Stinkin' cute huh?

Sewing Saturday!

Today I sewed... all day... with friends... and it was nice! We took a break and went out for Mexican food... but mostly we just sewed all day. Here is my friend Jackie's apron (I had to model it because she wouldn't let me take a picture of her!)
And here is mine!
Thanks Carol for taking your Saturday to teach Jackie and I!

While I was out Kenny was busy in Buckeye visiting. I know they had a great day just hanging out, because he came home all smiles and with a full belly! Here is his note-

Today Amanda decided to have the girls over for some crafts, and I didn't want any part of that! LOL I decided to go to Buckeye to take my mom shopping for a new dinner table. We drove to Cracker Barrel for lunch, Cerreta Candy Co for dessert and finally we ended up hitting three different furniture stores. 120 miles later, and we were done.

Fun Friday!

Our office is in the process of remodeling so we have a rare opportunity to work four 10 hour work days and get Friday off for the next couple weeks. 3 day weekends baby!

For my first Friday I got to spend a nice day with the best Grandma in the world! We went to get her hair done first. She has been going to the same shop for just under 20 years and all the ladies know her and knew my grandpa. She was excited for them to meet me because she always talks about me : ) Sweet huh? After her hair was done we headed over to Kohls and got a brand new bed set that my grandma had been wanting. Afterwards we headed to lunch at Pete's. It is a local favorite, but neither of us had ever been there. We ordered the fish and chips... I thought it was the best breaded fish I had ever had and Grandma just thought it was good... then we did a few other errands and headed back to her place. We got the mattress turned and the new stuff put on the bed that afternoon. Pretty productive day and really A LOT for grandma. We always have a good time together :)

On my way home I picked up my nephews for another impromptu sleepover. Little Brian was so happy to see me he grabbed my leg and clung to me... he said I love this foot!

Since we didn't have any plans we just got a $5 pizza and went to the park. The park had ducks and the boys were determined they were going to catch a duck... so they spent a lot of time running around (whatever wears them out, right?) Little Brian was standing on a rock saying "come on ducks, you wan a piece a me?" and all of a sudden a white duck came charging out of the water at him... then he turned and ran screaming.... We all (including Jacob and Little Brian) laughed SO hard.

We have been having a hard time disciplining Little Brian lately... the boys are spending more and more weekends with us and he seems to be checking his boundaries... We have never had a problem before, but now he challenges everything we tell him OR he flat out ignores us. We are looking for that equilibrium between being the fun Aunt and Uncle and having some sanity and manners... any suggestions are welcome!!

What a week!

Monday Kenny took his APA 92 and passed! I am SO proud of him! Those classes are really hard and they are self study so it is even more of a challenge! He is now half away to his professional designation.

Tuesday, Kenny started Jury duty and ended up being called to a 2 day trial.... although they wanted him for a 5 week trial! Since he is EMC's only auditor it would be hard on our company to do without him for all those weeks so he was released. Luckily he got in with a really great group and enjoyed his experience as juror #2. He said he learned a lot, and enjoyed all of the people in his group.

It was SUCH a busy week with the long work hours (for the remodel) and Kenny working all the way downtown we ended up slipping back to old habits and eating out every night... Hope to correct that this next week.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Black Eyes

My brother asked us to babysit the boys last minute, and although Kenny needed to study we just couldn't pass up time with this cutie!?
I love how Hope is such a "parent" and watches over the boys... she is always near them. She is gentle with them no matter how ruff they are with her.
Not sure what inspired this "kiss" but I think it was the picture of my grandparents where grandpa is kissing grandma!
Boys like to wrestle... and sometimes that leads to this--
Poor baby! I also got a black eye this weekend! Little Brian accidentally hit the side of my face with the top of his head... after we collided he said "I okay" and rubbed his head... that's great buddy, but I was seeing stars!! Later I was giving the boys a bath and Little Brian looked up at me (by then I had a bump and my eye was pretty swollen) and he said "I sorry" I got a lot of questions at work this week about it...

Saturday morning we vacated the house to give Kenny the time to study. Thank goodness for my parents! They entertained the boys all day long! My dad even helped the boys plant sunflower seeds. I think they will like to see them grow each time they visit.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Grandpa's Service

Tuesday, March 9th was Grandpa's -( Gerald Richard Lang ) service.
It was a nice service and I had my little nephews on my lap and by my side to get me though it. I was fine until they played taps... Little Brian was very concerned that I and his dad were crying, but knew he needed to be quiet. There were many references to "Jake" during the service and little Brian whispered and pointed to his brother, Jacob... and asked if they were talking about Jake. I said no Grandpa's name was Jake too. He looked down the isle at my dad (his grandpa) and pointed at him and said - Grandpa Jake? It was kinda cute and funny about all the Brians, Jakes and Kennys we have in our family...come to think of it dad (Doug) is a Jr. too!

I was kinda surprised that so many of Kenny's family and a few of our friends showed up. It was nice to feel their support and know they care. There were a number of people there and even an old co-worker of my grandpa's that I knew from childhood.

We sure are gonna miss you Grandpa!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Skydiving

Saturday, March 6th was the big day and I marked skydiving off my bucket list! I jumped in Eloy, AZ at Skydive, AZ click here to see the video. It was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to do it again!
Here was our plane
Me getting on the plane (just a little excited)
about to jump... 13,000 feet!
free falling
it was surreal
like flying...
so high up
my teeth were SO cold from smiling and falling 120 miles per hour!


5000 feet left... time to pull the cord!

getting ready to land
we did good and got to stand up on our landing!