Thanks to all!

Thanks for all the suggestions, helps, and positive thoughts regarding our washer. We got one from a friend of Dan's at school! Yeah for good friends willing to help out! :) Blessings are in our lives all over the place!

Today -- grrrrr

Well, just to put the day in one sentance -- my washing machine is broken! That is one of the most aggravating things! I have been searching for a new one, but everyone I contact on Craig's list has already sold theirs, or sells it to someone else while I'm waiting for Dan to get home from school!

Anyone know someone getting rid of a used washing machine that still works well? Seriously,after a day of Craig-ing it, I am getting frustrated!

It's been a while ....

If you wonder why I haven't posted anything in a couple weeks, here is why! ....



This quilt was done for work, and it always seems to be a rush to the deadline, regardless of how well prepared I think I am :) The shapes were hand stitched on by my participants, and the quilt is put together by me. This is the fourth quilt I have made in this style for work. Its a fun but draining project. Luckily, I have lots of help from my family (thanks MOm and Dan)!!

While I was dead asleep from quilting until 1:30 a.m., Dan and Emmy had some fun mornings!

Emmy loves loves loves pancakes! I know if she won't eat anything else, she will usually eat these! Daddy is way more fun with making pancakes for Emmy than I am, isn't that the Daddy code? "Always have fun :)" That's how it is at our house, Daddy always makes things fun.

She is getting to be such a big girl, so much fun! She is quite the talker, and everything is changing to sentances, its no longer 'blanket' its 'I want blanket' or 'I found my blanket Mommy!'. It is like having my own personal sportscaster giving me a play by play of everything! Its so funny what she decides to point out and reiterate to me, wants to make sure I know that she knows whats going on :) Gotta love it, she is all girl!

Lots of visitors!

This past week and a half we have had lots of visitors! First Grams and Nanny (Aunt Janet) came to visit. It was so fun to have them here. Emmy called Janet 'Aunt Manny', and loved her as much as the real Manny! She had so much fun playing, swimming, and going to Build-A-Bear with Nanny and Great Gramma. It was such a fun visit! At Build-A-Bear, Emmy had a hard time deciding which stuffed animal to pick out. Emmy finally picked out a panda bear to call her own. She was completely enthralled with picking out an animal and getting stroller, but wanted nothing to do with picking out clothes for the bear. We did get a stroller for her bear, and as you can see below, she and Ty had quite the time running around the mall with their bears and strollers!

Here are the kids with their new best friends, so happy, but struggling to hold still :)


Here is the thank you hug for Aunt 'Manny'.

Everyone watch their ankles! Here comes the tiny strollers.

At the end of the week, Dan's parents flew in for a quick visit. Emmy has affectionately nicknames Dan's dad 'Peepaw' -- and she was so excited to see Peepaw and Grandma. Despite how far away they live, she is always thinking of her Peepaw, and everytime the phone rings she thinks it is Peepaw calling her. :) It was so great to see them.

School again!

Well, summer is over and school is back and will be taking all of Dan's time for the next four months! Dan is so excited for it to start, and I think he is ready to go back to school, even though he says he'll miss Emmy and I. I know he will have such a great semester.

Emmy is growing like a weed lately, and getting so much more talkative. She sleeps in a big girl bed now, thank you Alana and Kenny for the toddler bed! She started almost a week ago, and here is the play by play:

Night 1 - would not sleep in her bed, cried until we put her in her crib.

Night 2 - Only fell out of the bed three times and cried until Mommy picked her up and tucked her back in. She was so excited to sleep in her 'big girl bed' though, and told all her family about it.

Night 3 - Fell right asleep, and at eleven, found her sleeping in the middle of the floor of her room! Put her back in bed, and checked at 3 a.m., same story, middle of the floor. She fell out at 6:30 a.m. and cried, but went back to sleep until 7:30.

Night 4 - only fell out once during the night, found her on the floor. And once in the morning which she cried about.

Night 5 - Slept great! Only fell out early in the morning and cried about it.

It has been that way since. I know toddler beds are really close to the ground, but I am ready for her to just stay in her bed! By the third night, I started looking for bed rails to add to the bed to help her not roll out. Finally found one that will work, and will go to Ikea this week to get it!

Grandma Fae and Aunt Nanny are visiting for a week! We are so excited they are here. We went to Tucson to visit Roger and Kelly, it was great to see them. The drive back took four and a half hours! There was a huge accident, in which two people died, and a semi truck burst into flames! Needless to say, Celeste and I were dying in the car with both our kids for that long! They really both did great, just a few tears toward the end of the drive as they got so tired of being in the car!

Dan's parents are coming to visit later the week, and we are so excited to see them! It has been several months since we have seen them, and we are excited to spend time with them!

Me, I'm plugging along in normal everyday life. I am working on a quilt for the MASD Fundraiser (work), which always drains me, it is a lot of work, but always fun to do as well. The summer seems to be dragging for me, and I can't wait for cooler temperatures. I start to feel cooped up and depressed as the hot summer days drag on and on and on! I'm sure most Arizonans feel the way by the end of the summer. Okay, I've talked enough :) Till next post!

Yum - Oh!

In the words of Rachael Ray, this recipe is yum-oh! Lots of friends have been asking for it, so here is the famous Cafe Rio Pork Salad recipe. . . . . . .

Café Rio Dressing
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (Use the seeds too if you like it spicy. You could substitute a few drops of green tobasco for the jalapeno.)Use a blender to combine all the ingredients well. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Café Rio Rice
3 c water
4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ of an onion
3 c rice
Blend cilantro, green chiles and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered 30 minutes.

Cafe Rio Pork
2-3 lbs of pork loin or shoulder
1 can of coca cola
1 small can of red salsa
1 cup of brown sugar
Cover pork with water and cook in pot until cooked through (about 1-2 hours).
When pork is cooked through, remove all the broth except 1 cup. Remove the pork and set aside. To the reserved broth, salsa, brown sugar, and coke (regular old coca cola) to the broth. Cut the pork into six to seven large chunks, fairly even, and place back into pot with the broth mixture. Cover and cook for another hour or two (the longer you cook it, the better the meat will be). Cook until the dark brown color of the broth mixture has colored most of the meat dark. Then shred the pork in the pot, and continue to simmer with the lid off. Let the sauce reduce until it is more thick and coats the pork completely, and its ready! The more you let the sauce thicken, the more sweet and tasty the pork is!

Assemble the salads like so:
Tortilla (home cooked are better than pre-cooked. you can buy them uncooked anywhere and just cook them at home, i promise it makes a difference )
Café rio rice
Black beans
Meat
Romaine lettuce
Pico de gallo (fresh made salsa with diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and fresh lime juice on it)
Tortilla strips (can buy the my nana’s brand in the frys on recker and mckellips)
Cotija cheese (can buy at the walmart on mckellips and Greenfield, or fresh and easy)
Dressing
Squeeze lime wedge on top

Enjoy! This is a family favorite. I know the pork isn't the most healthy thing I've ever made, and the recipe was made up by yours truly :) similar but drastically modified from other ones I have read. Feel free to adjust how you wish!

Cabin Fever

Living here in Arizona has its challenges - namely June July & August! These months are killer, and we all suffer from a little cabin fever.



Here are a few inside moments from the last few weeks.

We were re-arranging Emmy's bedroom due to a rain leak from the huge monsoon storm. We pulled out the bassinet, and she decided it made a great bed. She has also been climbing in and out of cardboard boxes with her blankets and toys. She thinks its a great hiding spot.

Emmy loves to read. I recently bought a basket of book fair books at a charity silent auction. She has read just about all of them, and just loves all the new books. She pulled out this book last week, and began to dance around the house with it call it the 'LIN book' (Layn book).

At first I thought she was trying to say alien, so I asked her. She gave me a blank stare when I asked, I didn't think she knew what an alien was. Then I asked her who she thought this was again. She replied 'lin' (Layn), and i repeated, Uncle Layn? 'Yeah!' she replied.

She is silly, I don't see any resemblance between Layn and this alien, do you?

Dan and I still don't see the resemblance, we love you Layn!