Pizza and Movie Night!

I've discovered some websites that help with menu/recipe ideas when you are getting help from the Bishop's Storehouse. This is one I got for Saturday night: Tortilla Pizza! Using flour tortillas, you spread spaghetti sauce on a tortilla, put grated cheese, diced ham, pineapple bits, diced onion, cooked ground beef (we seasoned ours with garlic and Italian seasoning) and any other toppings you want.

We had the bowls of toppings and the spaghetti sauce out and we each made our own pizza just the way we wanted it. Kevin said it was like taco night, only with pizzas!

Bake them up at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes and it's yumm-a-palooza!

Got a Redbox coupon for a free movie rental for the boys, and Stan picked us up "Touch of Evil" at the library for us to watch. Let Pizza and Movie Night begin!!



I Love This!

Two of my most favorite things, in case you didn't know, are Diet Coke and Chocolate. Both of which my friend Melanie McAllister gave me for my birthday. Today she gave me this adorable sign which she made for me. I think she totally has my number. While others may "Return With Honor," how would anyone know it was me if I didn't have a Diet Coke in one hand, and some chocolate in ther other???

Thank you Melanie! This will have a place of honor in my house ... you can be sure of that!

A New Kind of Birthday Cake!

Yesterday was my birthday, and I had such fun celebrating! Thursday, the women I serve with in the Relief Society Presidency took me to lunch and gave me the best goodies to take home with me! I wish I'd taken pictures of these beautiful women, but I forgot to take my camera. We had Mexican food, which is one of my favorites, and we talked and laughed and had such fun. I got candles and chocolate, a good book, some body spray, a heatable wrap to use when my arthritis gets bad and a Christmas cookbook! I'll be making some awesome plates of goodies to give away this holiday!

On Friday Kevin bought me a new dryer. We had ordered one and things got messed up and it wasn't coming as we expected. (Kevin was buying that one too.) I decided to go "green" and bought a used dryer which didn't cost as much and makes me feel like I'm doing one more thing to help Mother Earth out. The boys took all four of us out to the diner for hamburgers (again ... I forgot my camera!) where they made me get up and do the twist while they sang to me. (Be happy you missed that little show!)

Friday night, instead of a birthday cake Kevin made homemade funnel cakes for my birthday. I don't know how he did it, but they were fresh and warm and oh my goodness! We topped them with strawberry jam, chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. As AJ said, these were better than ones you get at the fair or Elitch's because we could make them just the way we like

And were they good???

They sure were! Getting older was never so much fun!

The Adventures of Captain Cool

Every year when we go on vacation I look for some fun t-shirts for Stan and the boys. Superheroes, cartoon characters, whatever. This year I found a couple of tie-dyed shirts for AJ and Stan, and a particularly "groovy" one for Stan that has a peace sign on the front.

When we were at Elitch's I saw several kids walking around wearing a cape that was tie-dyed with a peace sign on it. I thought it would be perfect for Stan. When I pointed the capes out to him, he found out that they could be won at the game where you test your strength. Later when we reconnected with the boys, he took AJ over and asked him to win the cape for him. He was successful! And ... Captain Cool was born.

Captain Cool showed up at various points on our vacation and we took pictures of him. He's a pretty groovy guy. We got some interesting looks and comments, and Kevin tended to leave the area when Captain Cool showed up, but we had a lot of fun.

 Captain Cool at Wall Drug in South Dakota.

He spreads peace and "cool" wherever he goes!

 Captain Cool pays homage to Superman.

This is the phone booth at Wall Drug.

 Captain Cool at Mt. Rushmore.

Captain Cool is nothing if not patriotic!

Captain Cool at Devil's Tower in Wyoming.

He's a bit of a devil himself!

If you see Captain Cool out and about, feel free to flash him the peace sign.  He could show up in your neighborhood, or ... well who knows where he'll turn up next!

Of Long Summer Days and Good Summer Books!

Summer is officially here! And with summer comes the opportunity to relax in the warm sun and pull out a good book to read. Do you have any good books on your list that you're just dying to get into?

It seems everyone has a summer reading list, a beach reading selection. I love to read all year long, but confess that in the summer my tastes run much lighter. No Tolstoy or Hemmingway for me please. Give me the new Stephanie Plum book or some Kristin Hannah or Barbara Delinsky to while away the long hot days with. In other words, I don't want to think, I just want to be entertained. Romance novels call to me as do cozy mysteries.

Here's my first book of summer: A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber.  I'm picking it up at the library later today, and I'm sure I'll be well into it before bedtime. I like her books. She has a sensitivity I respond to, and her books are about real people in real situations that feel familiar.

AJ's trying to re-read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is difficult since he's in the middle of calculus and astronomy in summer school. But he's making headway and enjoying the ride.

A fellow writer and a friend of mine from here in Colorado Springs has a new book out I'm anxious to read. It's the first in her new series. I've read the books from Beth Groundwater's first series and they are excellent, so I feel confident recommending these to you if you're interested.

Whatever your tastes or interests are, stop by the library, or the bookstore or go online for an ebook. Read something. Read to your kids. Have fun with it. After all, it's summertime! Yay!

Tradition!

Today we had our traditional end-of-the-school-year celebration. Every year when school finally is over we celebrate with strawberry shortcake.  Stan prepped the berries and AJ put them together.  He and Stan love, love, love whipped cream, as you can see.

It's a fun, and a tasty, annual treat to mark the end of a year of accomplishments. Even though AJ and Kevin are in college now I see no reason to change our ways...... do you?

Stan's Clouds

My husband, Stanley, has a love of clouds. He's always looking at them and seeing things in them. And when the mood strikes, he either sends the boys out to photograph them or takes them himself. Today we were out taking photographs for my author sites, and he spotted some that he loves. And for fun I took a few of him as well. Here's a sample of our work!

I got a royalty payment today from my books sales, and I took Stan out to lunch. Let's just say, I'm no John Grisham! We dined at Taco Bell! Actually, it was fun.

Stan thought this cloud looked like a row of people riding a roller coaster.

If you look closely, you can see them too! 

 They sky was so blue today, and the clouds so very white.

Sometimes it's just fun to look up!

 Very pretty, aren't they?

Some leftover snow from earlier in the week.

It's supposed to be in the 80s this weekend for Mother's Day.

See? Stan's a happy camper.

The clouds were out and making him happy today!

She's a Red Head!

Stan said he thought it would be fun if I colored my hair red.  So this morning I did it!  Whataya think?

Say Cheese!

We had Kevin's graduation party yesterday and had a blast. Tons o' food, the best friends, and so much fun! Talking, laughing, playing, eating and celebrating Kevin's achievement. It was the best.

And even though we went to bed dog tired, I have to say I'd do it again it was such a good time. We have the best friends!

I decided to let the pictures tell the story. Enjoy!

Spring Has Brought Me Such A Nice Surprise

Many of us are familiar with the song "Popcorn Popping On The Apricot Tree," which is a lot of fun to sing as you drive around seeing all the trees that blossom this time of year.  Well, I don't have an apricot tree, but I do have a Crab Apple Tree which looks so pretty I had to share a picture of it before the snow and wind make it go away ......

The Ward Talent Show

We held our ward's talent show tonight, and it was a blast.  So much hidden talent in our ward it took my breath away!  My youngest son Kevin was the MC, so of course my unbiased view is that he was the best!  Here are some photographs.  We had dancers, singers, musicians .... the Priest's Quorum, with Kevin, sang "My Girl" and impersonated the Temptations which was a lot of fun.  In addition there was a lot of display talents (including a short story I wrote and you can read on my writing blog) and tons of yummy goodies for the culinary talents to be shared.  What a fun evening. 

AJ recorded some of the acts, and if we can work it out, I'll post some videos later this weekend.  Enjoy the pix!

Now see?  Don't you wish you'd been there too?  Maybe we'll see you there at the next talent show, and you'll find your picture here too!