Happy 27th!!

It's Cameron's birthday! Happy birthday babe... we are celebrating this weekend!

A Visit From Mom

My mom came in town for the weekend and it was so fun! She was excited to get away from the snow in Utah and lucky for her... she came to Cali for the rain. Here's some of the highlights: 

Eating at El Nido in Danville.. although we like to call it El Stinko. Not because the food stinks but because you have to walk past by a very LARGE dumpster to get to the restaurant. Why would they place a dumpster there, are they trying to drive away business? However, we do have to credit Taylor, Addie, and Avery Aplanalp for coining the phrase El Stinko! 

My mom taught me how to cook hard things.. like pie and cinnamon bread. My mom is an awesome cook so I figured it was time I learned. Baking takes serious skill and involves washing many dishes (not my favorite). My mom is going to be stoked that I posted this picture of her in this robe thing. 

Me and Cam... 

We met up with Cameron's friend Amanda who was in town for the weekend. They were good friends back in their BYU days. 

I'm Done With Lemons

Here is the update on the lemon cooking... I know you are dying to know. I actually made 3 "things" with the lemons and I still have a giant bag left. Anyone want some lemons?? I was very dedicated to this project, considering I had to buy a strainer and a pie tin. 

Loved the lemon ricotta pancakes... very light and fluffy and easy to make. My kind of recipe! 

Don't try and guess what this is... its lemon curd. I've never bought or eaten this but Carolyn, the lemon giver, heard it was good. So as a thank you for the bag of lemons I made her the curd. Um... this required a strainer purchase and lets just say it might be easier to buy this stuff. On the other hand Carolyn said it was awesome and she saw it in a store for $8. Are you kidding?
I know.. I made a lemon meringue pie. But only because my mom was in town and I felt like it was time I learned how to make a pie... from the crust on up. Talk about a stressful process and no wonder people buy their pies at Thanksgiving. But homemade... um, um, good! 

Definitely, Maybe

Go see this... its super cute (and Cameron liked it too)! 

We miss the Tanner's!!

Brandon, Brittany, and Jake left us a few weeks ago for Southern California!! We miss you guys and craft night will just be the same without you Brittany! Here we are at our goodbye party for them a few weeks ago at Gay Nineties... sad!!

A Sweet Day...

What a fun Valentines Day!

Brooke definitely won the contest for the best valentine (not that there was a contest- but if there was, she would have won)

My hubby came up with the more creative and thoughtful gift... I thought mine was good till I opened his (I hate when that happens.. but I also LOVE when he is so thoughtful!)

 

We ate yummy food here

And ate these kind of yummy cookies later (Don't make these if you don't have about 4 hours... what a pain!!) And I'm pretty sure mine don't look like Martha's... go figure. 

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day! The only thing I'm missing this year are those yummy cinnamon hearts covered in sugar. I would pay someone $20 if they found me a bag of those. Apparently... they are sold only in Utah. The cinnamon hearts and Cafe Rio... definitely reasons to think about going back.

Lemons

My friend gave me a GIANT bag of lemons and told me to make something with them. First problem... I've only used fresh lemons on 3 occasions: diet coke (my personal fav), asparagus. and fish. She mentioned making fresh lemonade and my feelings on that: too much sugar and I only like to fill my body with fake sugar. I have the day off today (the one advantage to being a teacher) and I'm determined to do something with these lemons besides squeeze them on top of something. Any ideas?? 

Picnic In The Park

The groundhog was wrong... winter is going away and it is beautiful here in No. Cal!! Sunday called for a picnic in the park with the Halls. The best part was sliding down the concrete slide on old Huggies cardboard boxes. I'm sure those boxes were filled with germs and the little kids thought we were crazy... but it was super fun!!

The funniest part... the boys didn't dare to go down. Or maybe just too embarrassed?? 

Pleasanton Ridge

Cameron and I went hiking on Saturday at Pleasanton Ridge. It was such a beautiful day we had to get outside. The view was great and I was sweating... which I don't typically like to do unless I'm at the gym. Another bonus on this hike were the views of the wildlife. Nothing exciting like lions and monkeys.... just innocent cows. 

Every Girl Loves A Deal

First- make sure you are sitting down. 

I love a deal... I'm not really one to go scout them out... but I just love it when I'm out and come across one. So I drop by Loehmann's the other night in San Ramon to see what they have, or don't have. That place is a total hit or miss. I'm walking around and I come to the clearance shoes. I see a pair of black heels which I have been needing (or maybe wanting) for awhile now. So I try them on and they are pretty cute and meet my shoe criteria... although a little tall. I think it has about a 4 inch heel and basically I'm taller then almost any guy while wearing them. So I'm about to put them back when I see the price... $175.00 down to $23.00 on clearance. I hear Cameron's voice in my head... "You didn't save $152.00, you spent $23.00." I quickly pushed his voice aside and went to buy them. Here's where you need to sit down.

Come to find out... all clearance items in the store were 50% off. It is true, I bought those shoes for $12.99. It is 3 days later and I'm still excited about it. At this rate they might be passing out free clothing in front of their store.. so go check it out!!