Freckles Has New Siblings

They are so adorable! Especially this guy.

Barbossa is my little baby. I want to take him home. But we all know that I cant. And truthfully, I don't really need one....at least I keep telling myself that.

Too bad I named him already.

The brothers already get along.

If only we could buy a place before Christmas.

My day off the way I wanted

So last Monday was awesome. What did I do? Surf the Web (do people still say that these days?) clean my kitchen, folded my plastic bags (and while that sounds silly, I now have much more room under my sink) and made these beautiful things

Hair clips. of which i try to wear one daily. A friend of mine, Tausha, taught a bunch of us how to make the twisty ones for one of our girls nights. The poofy ones I found on Pintrest.http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2011/05/no-sew-fabric-flower-tutorial.html

I of course added my own touches to them.

Also found on Pintrest are my new favorite thing to make. Pizza bites

http://penniesonaplatter.com/2010/02/15/pizza-bites/

They are super easy to make. All you need is pizza dough, mozzarella, pepperoni, and pizza sauce. soo good!

Then there are these guys...which i actually made them this weekend... but they are still cute. I got them from here- http://trulie-scrumptious.blogspot.com

Completely cute.

I have decided that to make our apartment feel more welcoming, I want to decorate for the holidays...at least a little bit.

Utah/Idaho adventures

Last week we went to Utah and Idaho to visit some friends. Did I take my camera? Of course. Did I use my camera? Sadly, no. I was too busy stairing at all of the babies! ...Well both of them any way.

We decided to go because I had a day off on Monday, and Luis really missed his Utah friends. He also drove me an extra 8 hours (4 from Utah to Idaho, and 4 back) to see my Best Friend too.

As soon as we arrived at our friend Gillberts, we took a nap. A much needed nap. Then we got to see Juliet. Gilbert and Sarah's baby girl.

When I went to look at her, she looked strait back at me. I know it probably sounds wierd, but whenever I see little babies, I feel like they all look back at me the same way. A lot of the times, they smile at me. Other times it is this very pointed look. It feels like they are trying to tell me something. Almost like a message from my future kids. It is kinda a surreal feeling. It makes my heart ach to hear that voice in my head saying "we are waiting for you. Hurry"

I digress. After waking up and seeing that beautiful baby girl, we went to see Harry Potter...for $1.50 each! We joke that we went all the way to Utah just to see Harry Potter in the dollar theater. (stockton or lodi...please get one of these!) It was fun though. We met up with Luis' other Friends there, Stephanie and Aleena (not exactly sure if that is how you spell her name)

That is also where I met little Tanner. My new love. He is Stephanies baby boy, and he is adorable! I actually met him before I met his parents. Luis was holding him, asked me if i wanted too, and I snached that kid up. He is such a ladies man too. he kept trying to grab at me, and when Gilberts sister-in-law, debbie, walked by, he started alternating between us.

We went to Aleena's for dinner that night...Which I discovered was NOT a restaurant. She made us Arapas. It was one of those things that sounds actually pretty easy to make, which is good because it was so good. It was some sort of white corn bun thing, stuffed with taco mean and mexican cheese. Delicious! I'm excited to make it for my family one of these days. When I do, I will definatly post it up here.

The next day Luis and I got up early in the morning and drove to Rexburg to see my best friend Janie. I missed her. I also was finally able to see some of her husbands paintings...and he is good. I told Luis that when we have more money, I want to pay him to paint us a picture of the Oakland Temple. I will try to get some pictures of his paintings to show you guys.

After church with Janie and Jeff, we drove back to Utah, hung out with Gilbert some more, then with Stephanie for a little, then got on a train for home. and by got on a train, I mean, RAN for the train because we were late. They luckily saw us running and decided to wait...but they were not very nice about it. never want to cut it that close again.

These are just some pictures that I had from weeks before.

Blue. Freckles, maybe, stepdad. Not sure though. Dixi was not too cooperative with him. He tried to sniff freckles, and she wasnt even allowing that. He was such a sweet dog though.

Kitty likes the outdoors...especially the roof.

I have the day off today so I plan on doing something productive with my time. We shall see.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Holy Kuvasz!

We have a new dream dog. And it is huge!

It is really Luis new dream dog. I still have my heart set on an Irish wolf hound. Both are giant. All I know is that this is one "bodacious" dog...because his name, is bodacious! Get it!

Though no new dogs anytime soon. Freckles is enough cute for me to take right now. I swear he knows that I cant handle it when he looks at me with those big brown eyes.

My Big Fat NOT Greek Family

Remember our Portuguese night last month? Well this month, we had our Greek night, and let me tell you, I woke up FULL the next morning. It was delicious.

They had the Greek festival the night before, which my family of course went. (except Luis and I because we were working) It scared them a little because, well, lets just say that Greek food made in bulk is not so good. Dad jokes that our family cooks better Greek food than the Greek festival.

I made baklava. I had to. It was the whole reason I threw Greek into the hat. I love baklava. Though it was Luis turn to not like what we made. He said that the walnuts seemed sour. I am determined to make a version of baklava he likes (which is really just an excuse for me to make more!)

I don't really remember the names of what everyone else made, so bare with me.

Brent made my favorite dish. (baklava doesn't count) it was ground beef, mixed with Greek yogurt. and filled with feta. We all agreed that it would be a most delicious hamburger.

Spinach...Triangles? these were good. Uncle Ron and my cousin Katy "made" them (by made, I mean "bought at the store and threw in the oven") They were very good! Granny also came and made the same thing only they were filled with just cheese. Cant go wrong with that.

I know this is sideways, but blogger is not being very nice. Jill and Chris made the kabobs. And my mom made the pita bread filled with meat. (The name for it is on the tip of my tongue. grrrr) the Pita bread thing was very delicious. you put cucumbers tomatoes and something else (of which i did not use,) on top, and then she made some sort of cucumber dressing. I really liked the dressing. I took out the mean and just filled it with cucumbers and tomatoes and dressing. Delicious! Second favorite dish of the night.

Daddy made cabbage rolls. they were good until Brooke decided to tell me what the contents of it kinda looked like (I will spare you what she said in case you ever want to eat one) After that, I couldn't touch them. The really did taste good before that though

After dinner, everyone went outside. some people did a Greek dance (I was WAY too stuffed to participate) And Daddy and Mikey walked around holding a chair with their mouths (apparently they do that)

All in all, it was a wonderful night! Fun with family, and food. Cant wait for next month. Food from India!

8 months later.

When I found out my friend Ra was pregnant, I decided I wanted to make a blanket for her little one. My plan was to get it to her when he was born...and then for Christmas. Now that my "little boyfriend" 8 months old(almost 9) I finally finished it!

Little Zachary finally got Auntie Lisa's blanket, and it turned out pretty cute! I did not come up with the pattern myself,(I got it off the yarn covering) but finishing it is such a big accomplishment for me, and he hasn't even out grown it.

Let me tell you, as a beginner, trying to interpret those knitting and crocheting patterns is nigh impossible. But I will keep trying because I kinda like it. It is nice being able to do that sort of thing. and it will be nice when I have kids too. I'm also looking forward to teaching my best friend, Bethany how to as well. (my PREGNANT friend Bethany! Yay!)

So Luis made me a tortilla de patatas. Which is essentially a potato omelet. Delicious! This is how he made it:

4 Potatoes

5 eggs

1 small onion, chopped

2 unpeeled cloves of garlic

salt and olive oil

Peel and slice the potatoes as thin as you can. Heat up the oil in a pan with the garlic (there must be enough oil to slightly cover the potatoes. When it is warm enough, gradually add the potatoes and onion. cook them till they are coming apart. Whisk the eggs in a bowl. When the Potatoes are done, strain them and add to the eggs. put all of that back into the frying pan and put the heat on medium. While it is cooking, tuck in the edges, and move the pan around a bit till you can tell it is firm (be very careful not to burn it) When the bottom is firm, put a plate on top and flip it over. then slide it back into the pan to cook the other side. When it is done, flip it onto a clean plate and enjoy.

It is seriously good! If the Pan thing is too confusing, Then you can find lots and lots of videos of it on youtube (but they will probably be in Spanish)

mmmm I think I know what I want for breakfast tomorrow.

Spoiled pets!

Yes. That is Freckles on the bed with a tennis ball. We caved. And this really is a WE. I caved to Freckles and Luis Caved to me. Haha. I was really sad one night and wanted nothing more than to cuddle with my boys, so we laid down a blanket to not get the actual bed dirty, and put freckles on the bed. Needless to say, the Precious does not look happy about it (in case you forgot, that is the weirdo's real name...)

He loves being on the bed. So much so that I woke up one morning because he had decided to jump on top of me to wake me up....which worked...just not the way he planned. Scared me so badly that before I was actually awake, I had already thrown him to the ground. Sorry Freckles!

The cat has also been let into places she does not normally go. Like OUTSIDE. And as you can see, my, used to be, white cat loves it out there. She got outside and immediately proceeded to roll in the dirt. She was also pretty mad about being brought back in the house. I have to be careful when I go out because she will sneak out. (she did one day and was outside all day because I could not find her)

She sure is lovey though. She just let Luis lay on her like that. It was so cute!

They are also getting along better (though i did angle this so they look closer. In truth, they were around 3 feet away from each other.

The dangers of sending a Hampton girl into the dessert isle

Who goes shopping for one box of brownies and comes out with 15 boxes of cake?

This girl.

(Technically, it is 9 boxes of cake, 3 boxes of brownies, 2 boxes of cookies, and 1 box of lemon bars...not counting the pancake mix)

Portuges food adventure.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad came up with the idea to have a special dinner once a month. Every month, we would pick a country, and everyone would make a dish from that country. well last Thursday night Daddy-0 called me and said we are making Portuguese food on Saturday. It was a huge success!

Luis and I made "Caldo Verde" which means "Green Soup" (we watched a video how to make it, and the guy kept saying "Caldo Verde Soup" which is like saying "Green Soup Soup"....He also did not know how to pronounce linguica...sad) I think I am the only one that was not a fan of our soup. Eric came and asked if every one ate, then polished it off! I just think there could have been more flavor to it. that's all.

Speaking of Eric, he came a little late with his "Portuguese" food. I think he came right from work with his chocolate cake and rocky road ice cream. He figured that dad was a bit Portuguese, and he eats a lot of rocky road, so it counted. My brothers are so funny.

Sarah liked it.

This is just a picture of my dad...after Brooke got ahold of him. Who knew Dad had the same hair cut as Justin Bieber? There was a big fuss over Dad not actually making anything. When I asked him, he said mom helped him with bread. which essentially means "Mom made bread" haha cant fool us.

All in all it was fun. I'm excited for next month. We are doing Greece. Yay Baklava!

Trying a thing called "productive"

I FINALLY got my calandar on the wall. We have had it for who knows how long now, and it has just been sitting on the floor. (before we moved it was at least on top of a couch) No more puppy tails coming and erasing everything. No more sitting on the floor to write important events.

"But I thought your landlords did not want you to make any more holes?" Turns out, that my land lady put up a painting to cover holes made by other tenants, and those previous holes had little plastic screw holders that were exactly like the ones i needed. previously measured to be strait and everything...I am VERY excited about it...cant you tell?

Anther thing i did today was fix Freckles bed. We got it for his crate a month or two ago but discovered he had ripped a hole in it durring the night. Fluff every where. The phrase "Not too shabby" for sure does not belong here, but at least the house is not littered with stuffing anymore.

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA BARS!

Can you say yum? I invented them. (but like my sister said, it is the first draft) It is really just a sugar cookie covered in peanut butter, topped with bananas pudding and whipped topping. but still tasty. There is still some altering to do, but for the most part, a success. It has to be eaten in no more than 2 days. If left in the frige for too long, it starts to separate and make the sugar cookie crust all soggy.

In an attempt to get off my bum today, I went downstairs to clean the kitty litter. (one of the things I am sad to admit I forget often) I was rewarded with this spider and her eggsack. So like the brave person I am, I started freaking out. You all know how much I LOVE spiders. NOT. The momma is still down there too. I decided that I would rather one spider would be better than hundreds(though, none is ideal) and took the nest out first. So she got away. My good boy came to rescue me too! He wont come downstairs, but when I looked up after trying to keep clam and get the darn thing, Freckles was half way to me. I told him to go upstairs, so he did, but kept an eye on me still. I love my little (big) guy!

We dont have any dressers, so we dicided to get this. I think I like it. will probably get more so that Luis and I can have more room.

I am SO EXCITED about my new Scentsy warmer. My favorite adopted mommy, Shelba, bought one of these for me, and another one for my best friend, her actual daughter.(Heehee. there is a funny story about that. I might post it later) Is it not the one of the cutest things you have ever seen? My cute list is: Little kids, my dog, then this thing.(sorry kitty)

Growing and Moving

Isn't Freckles getting so big? He is 4 months old and 25 pounds. He is starting to look more and more like a dog, and less like a puppy every day.

These are pictures I have been meaning to post but havn't. He isn't nearly that small anymore

For the record, Luis put him on the bed first. I woke up to puppy licks. But due to him being outside a lot, he has not been on the bed since.

We also moved last month. Don't worry. we didn't move far. We didn't even change addresses. Just staircases. We have gone from a basement apartment, to an above the Garage apartment. Same landlords. Same property. Just bigger space. (and, unfortunately, more money) We really like it. so does the cat.

We have windows!

and a walk in closet.

Happy birthday to my brother Eric (and Michael, Chris, and our Neice Danica. But i dont have pictures of their birthdays)

Always have to throw a cute picture of our Neice Sarah in there.

This is Macintosh. Our landlords brother's dog. I came home from work and thought "Freckles, how did you get so big, and who sneezed your freckles off" Just shows more of how much my little guy looks more Border Collie than a queensland.

He used to be able to fit under the bed.

He LOVES playing with his momma Dixi. He gets excited to go in the car because he knows that he will probably get so see her. She is the same way. whenever we pull up, she tries to hop in the car. She is always looking for him.

I love this picture!

We adore our little family.