Another reason I love summer!

One of the things I LOVE about summertime are all the fresh berries! I found this awesome Farmers Market here that had fresh strawberries last week at 3 (1 lb. clam shells) for $1!! I bought a bunch and froze them. I've been making tons of smoothies lately, and Rocklin loves them, too.

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(a happy little boy with smoothie all over his mouth)
And see the kitchen whisk in his hand? This kid loves anything kitchen. He loves playing with toy kitchens at his friends house, and every time I am in the kitchen cooking he wants to be all apart of the action. Is it wrong to buy a little boy a toy kitchen? I do see some of THESE and THESE in his near future, however.

Thanks, G & G!

This post is especially for Rocklin's Grammy & Gramps who recently went to Disney World in FL and bought him a fun surprise while he was there! Thanks G&G!! And although he looks rather serious in these pictures, he was so excited opening his present and LOVES his new Cars!!

Weekend California Trip

We are back from our mini weekend vacation to California. We had a wonderful time and are so glad we had the chance to visit with Adam's grandpa Denny who is in the hospital. We also got to take Rocklin to the beach for the first time...and he LOVED It! Of course, within the first 5 seconds we were there he fell in the wet sand on his dash to get to the water and got sand in his eyes, ears, etc. Trying to get all the sand off him when we were ready to go home was a bit of a nightmare, but Linda (my MIL) told me that baby powder is a great trick to get the sand to slide right off, so next time we will not be forgetting the baby powder! Anyway, we took tons of pictures and I couldn't decide which ones to put up, so I just posted a ton. Enjoy!

Adam & Rock with Grandma Connie

Adam & Rock with Grandpa Denny

Sand ALL over this boy! He loved it!

I love this picture because it shows what Adam did about 75% of the time we were at the beach - chasing Rocklin and stopping him from going all the way in to the water! Rocklin has NO fear.

Adam trying not to get dirty...ha ha ha, yeah right!

I love this picture.

Check out Rocklin's face...he was in heaven!

The end...

to a perfect weekend.

See ya!

We're off to CA for the weekend. Going to see Adam's parents, grandparents and ...

the beach.

Real Simple

I'm a magazine/book junkie. Here's proof...take a look at my nightstand in its current state (and yes, I do read all those books and magazines. And if you're wondering if this pile bothers Adam, why yes, yes it does. But I read them all, I do! I like having options.):

I've been lucky enough to score free deals on magazine subscriptions, and a few others I have paid for. Well today I ran across a great deal I found on Brad's Deals that I took advantage of and thought I'd share it with all of you in case anyone else out there is a magazine/book junkie like me. Right now on Amazon.com, they have a one year subscription to the magazine Real Simple for only $5 for a year! Score.

A shout out

For anyone who knows my parents, you know what incredible, hard-working people they are. Recently they took on a HUGE project of remodeling their kitchen. Now they've been talking about remodeling this kitchen ever since I can remember. Well, they finally decided one day just to do it! When I went home to GA a few weeks back, I could not believe the transformation!! My Dad/Mom and their friend Rick did this all by themselves. Everything from the cabinets to the flooring, etc. Take a look at the before and after pictures below. It was amazing how much bigger their house seems now, and they didn't even add any square footage...just changed the layout and design. GREAT job Mom and Dad; I'm so proud of you both!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

"Ut-Oh"

Today while I was busy working away at the computer, I realized that I hadn't heard anything out of Rocklin for just a little too long so I went back to his room to see what he was up to. This kid has an unusual fascination with wipes. He had pulled out almost all of the wipes and when I said Rocklin, what are you doing? He kept saying "ut-oh, ut-oh" because he knew he was in trouble. Even though I was a little mad, it was still funny just to see him sitting there saying it over and over. I guess I'd rather it be wipes than crayons or markers (although I am sure that will happen one of these days)!

Random Updates

Wow, it's been a while. It seems like it's so much easier to just jump on Facebook these days and get an update on everyone, and that means I've been neglecting my blog! Rocklin and I are back from Georgia. We had a FUN time there, but were glad to get back here to Adam.

Last Friday night we took Rocklin to the Phoenix Children's Museum downtown. We rode the new Metro train for the first time with Katie (Adam's sister) and her family down there. The museum is free every first Friday night in the Summer. It was really, really crowded, but we had a lot of fun.

Rocklin's favorite thing at the Museum was an air vent that was censored when you walk over it. He kept running back to it so the air would blow thru his hair.

Rocklin had noodles the other night and I think he really liked the freedom of feeding himself...hence the BIG mess.

We had a FUN July 4th - we celebrated at Katie's house (and sadly I didn't get ANY pictures). We went swimming, had a yummy BBQ and played games. We were having so much fun at her house that we didn't end up leaving to go watch fireworks, but we caught a couple in the car on the way home.

I've always wanted to make the American Flag dessert for July 4th, so this year I did it. It turned out SO yummy! I've posted the recipe below the picture...it's so easy and so delicious. It basically was like a fruit pizza in the shape of an American Flag.

American Flag Tart

Serves 12 (although I doubled it)

1 Pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. milk

1 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and then press the cookie dough into a rectangular shape that is about 1/8th inch thick Press your thumbs into the edges to create a scalloped border. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and cool completely.

While the crust is cooling, mix the cream cheese, butter, 2 Tbsp. milk, powdered sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl; beat until fluffy. Add more milk if necessary until spreading consistency is reached. Spread over the cooled cookie, leaving the scalloped border exposed.

Arrange the fruit in an American Flag design. Cut into squares and serve. Serves 12.

Meanwhile, on June 10th, Adam and I shared our 3rd wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything too spectacular to celebrate, but we did get to go to the Diamondbacks game (without Rocklin), which was a fun treat. They played the Angels, Adam's favorite team.