Locks of Love

I love long hair because then I can look like Alicia Silverstone. But since the Nineties are over, it was time for a chop. 

Amanda came along for a pedicure.

 

Here's the before, all prepped to donate.

 And after!

It's a little flat, so I'm excited to see what it looks like wet/curlier. I'm already enjoying the cool breeze on my neck.

Mark's Birthday Party

Karen and Alan treated Mark to a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

and lunch at the Fish Hopper.

 We treated him to a treat at Ghirardelli's. And of course had one ourselves. Love those peanut butter sundaes.

We had a great time and hope Mark enjoyed his day as well.

Family Dinner

Since it was Ricky and Jessica's last weekend with us, my dad took the whole family to dinner at Outback. I don't think we've been all together since our wedding in 2009.

My dad also hasn't had a car since then because he uses public transportation. He was excited to show us his new one.

Six weeks have flown by and I'm sad they're leaving so soon. It was fun going out with everyone, though.

Taco Dip

This is John typing. I was feeling creative one day for dinner and came up with this dish that I guess we'll call taco casserole. I made some Spanish-style rice and then put it in the casserole dish. I also cooked up some ground turkey with taco seasoning and dumped that in along with a can of corn, pinto beans, and sprinkled cheese on top. I stuck it in the oven till the cheese melted.

We ate it with some corn chips and sour cream on the side. YUM!

Book Club Treats

 Any excuse for making treats, right? I bought some votive holders on clearance at Michael's a while back for the express purpose of making dessert shooters. Tonight an opportunity presented itself.

 Graham cracker crust chillin.

3/4 cups crushed graham crackers (I crush them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin)

1/8 cup sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

 Recruited Jessica to help pipe some cheesecake filling. It seemed to be the least messy method.

8 ounces cream cheese (1 package)

1/2 cup sugar

8 ounces Cool Whip

lemon juice (I added this and it made it a little tart, which I liked. I just squeezed a lemon into the batter.)

Then I blended some strawberries and poured them on top. Maybe 6 or so for 16 cups. After it hardened a bit we layered them again.

 Added some sliced strawberries on top and voila!

 We dipped the extra strawberries in "magic shell," aka melted chocolate and butter.

Then some tomato feta rosemary Triscuit appetizers. Only because I knew Karen was coming.

Oh, yes. We read Emma. It was great. Although the snacks and socializing are 2/3 of the purpose.

Summer School

I almost regretted getting home at 3 in the morning when we had a field trip to Six Flags at 7:30 the next day. But the movie was so good and the animals from the Marine World part of the park were fun to see.

 I LOVE penguins. Especially their happy dances.

 My girls at the sting ray exhibit.

 Even roller coasters could not pull them from the dolphin tank. 

And the Orca show was amazing, as always. I sat my group down in front then went up a section because he's a splasher. 

HP 7:2

The best part about a midnight release is you don't get any half-hearted fans. These Harry and Voldemort look-alikes put on a pre-show duel for us.

 It seems that John's favorite part was the popcorn.

 The line for our theater was out on the mall's roof so we were out there until 10 when the last showing in our room was cleared out.

Our excitement is brewing. Here we are with Jessica, Ricky, my mom and Stephen.

Karen's Birthday

John tried making burnt almond cake because it's his mom's favorite. And just because he's an overachiever, he paired it with homemade vanilla ice cream.

 She was excited.

 It's hard to tell in the picture, but the flames glowed in color.

Alan agreed it was scrumptious. Not the same as Dick's cake, but delicious as its own.

 Then she opened presents. A nook from her husband and spaghettios from us.

 And no family dinner would be complete without some phone calls.

Saturday Jobs

The hardest part of a house project is putting the tools away after a long day. Our living room usually looks something like this. The next day, John left for ward council early in the morning and I could not find my keys anywhere. Which never happens because I always leave them on the hook. To prevent such Sunday morning disasters.

I grabbed the spare and Ricky, Jessica and I were barely on time. Then after church John found them hiding under the rubble. He's still learning the keys-on-the-hook system.

He makes up for it in his handy skills. Like installing this fan in our guest room:

 And fixing our leaky shower.

 While it was undone, we went ahead and replaced the handles. We meaning John. I simply picked them out at Lowes.

 I went for these white ones because they seemed to coordinate . . . 

 and I thought they looked like little Mickey hands. 

Just Dance

Amanda's not the only one with some sweet moves.

So in sync.

 

Another embarrassing/hilarious video of John