girls at the beach

The weater wasn't super warm. But the girls love the water so the were brave and waded in. We wandered around and picked up shells and we even found a sand dollar.

Cole at the beach

Most of the time when you go to the beach you think, "Water, waves, sun, sand, etc." Not Cole. The only word he said: "DIRT" He was in heaven. good thing he had a tractor to play with in all that sand (Rick has spent the last 3 days putting in a sand box in our back yard. However, it won't be quite as big as the one on vacation.)

Tagged

I was tagged a while ago, but I didn't get it done before the San Diego trip so here it is now:

What was I doing 10 years ago:
Rick had just been accepted to medical school and we had just sold our fixer up twin home. I was working like crazy, packing up our house and moving it into storage, and taking care of my cute little baby Summer. It was a chaotic few months.

5 places I've lived:
Orem, Utah
Kirksville, Missouri
Grand Blanc, Michigan
Brandon, Mississippi
Mapleton, Utah

On my to do list:
run, mop kitchen floor, make another apron

Bad habit:
I pick my nails/cuticles. I always have. Except when I'm pregnant. Rick has demanded that I get fake nails put on so that I will stop picking, but I'm too lazy to bother with it. I'm trying really hard to stop picking.

Places I've worked:
Arctic Circle (like you couldn't guess that one)
tutor
substitute teacher

5 things you don't know about me:
1. I graduated from BYU with a degree in English. I could have had a minor in Business if I had just taken one more class: Calculus, but I knew I couldn't pass. I could have had a minor in Spanish, too, but I didn't want to take the last class for that one either.
2. I'm really good at remembering dates but I couldn't tell you what I did yesterday.
3. I count everything. Like when I run I count how many steps I take between the sidewalk cracks. Or I add up the numbers on license plates when I follow a car on the freeway. I count how many cabinet doors there are in my kitchen...and on and on and on...
4. I talk to myself
5. When I eat cake and ice cream together I have to have equal amounts of cake and ice cream in each bite and I have to end on a bite with both cake and ice cream or I have to get more and try again. Also, I hate ice cream cake.

There. Done. Now, I'm going to go mop the kitchen floor and then go for a run. Bye.

Mississippi Mud Cake

Funny story first...We had a family birthday party yesterday. Mom made tacos, etc. Everyone has 9:00 church right now but us (1:00). So, mom was nice and tried to have everything done by herself so that we could just leave church and come to the party. I told her that I would bring SOMETHING. so, I talked her into letting me bring the cake. Well, she didn't think I would really come up with something great so she made a cake too. We ended up with 3 different cakes. Here is the cake that I liked the most:

1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1 1/2 c.flour
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
1 (10.5 oz) bag mini marshmallows
Chocolate Frosting

Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured jelly roll pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Top with a layer of marshmallows. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle chocolate frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.

Frosting:
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. cocoa
Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Hey Bryan

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Feeding the deer

We got to feed the deer, too. I am hoping that by teaching Cole how nice the cute little deer are, that I won't have to worry about any deer heads hanging up overlooking my kitchen.

Wild Animal Park

Cole had so mucn fun feeding the birds...

This is for the birds...

For some outrageous price we bought some nectar and feed the birds.

The cutest Penguins in San Diego

Scenary in Mexico

This is typical of what we saw along the way. We were really tempted to try a fish taco, but we remembered all of the warnings and we resisted.
This was one of the many things that we saw in Tiajuana as we slowly inched towards the border. We laughed so hard because the drink cups were from LAGOON.

Camalu beach pictures #2

mexico beach

The ONLY thing Cole cared about was the dirt. We told him it was time to get back in the car and he took off running up that little dirt path behind him.
We had fun looking at rocks and shells. It was quite windy and cool so we weren't even tempted to get into the water.

Day Trip to Mexico

We took a little day trip into Mexico. Everyone had us freaked out about drinking the water and getting kidnapped so we tried to stay safe. We stopped in Ensenada and ate at Costco. Rick was a whimp and made me order in Spanish. Man, 4 years of high school Spanish and 15 credit hours at BYU and I could barely make it through ordering a pizza at Costco where they probably would have spoken English if I would have just asked.

The scenery was beautiful. The driving was crazy. I loved the colors. Maybe I can find a picture or two of the California Poppies and the little torquise houses. We decided to NOT stay the night in Mexico, so after a quick stop at the beach. We jumped in the car and headed back for the border. We got lost in Tiajuana and it took us 2 hours to get through the border crossing, but overall a good time was had by all. Just don't ask Sierra if she wants to go to Mexico again.

Favorite Zoo Photos #2

Favorite Zoo Pictures...

I'm back...

A few weeks ago I mentioned that when the weather gets warm I am going to the zoo. Well, I ran out of patience waiting for the weather to get warm, but I did go to the zoo--
The San Diego Zoo.
And I did take the kids. We just got back this afternoon, we are smelling like a bunch of animals and we need to do laundry so I will post most pictures over the next few days. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. Yahoo for memory foam.