Man Vs. Wild

This weekend it was nice to be at home and for Greg and I to spend some quality time together. It's funny that even living with someone you can still sometimes feel like you don't see them that often lol. It is getting hot here and I am missing being so close to my loved ones swimming pools so I begged Greg to go to the lake so we can cool off.

We drove to Folsom laked geared up with our local deli Corti Bros delicious sandwiches and our $3 target rafts. We parked away from the crowds and hiked to the the lake and swam and ate it was beautiful! When we had enough sun ...we both got pretty pink, we headed back on the trail.

Here is where our man vs. wild adventure begins lol. I was a head of the trail, but then I had Greg go ahead of me so he could point out the poison oak. Then right in the middle of the trail Greg spotted a big ol rattlesnake. Our dilemma - the only way to get down to the bank was to go through poison oak or try and get the snake off the trail. Greg threw a stick or two at the snake and it just curled up and went into strike mode. With one more stick it rattled and slithered off the trail into the brush...and we mostly me rushed past. Scary! It's scary to think if we didn't see it and that there were a bunch of kiddies and dogs we saw on that trail.

Sunday -because it was the 4th Sunday of the month there was a craft and flee market in midtown. Greg actually went with me and we went searching for some finds. I had been wanting to go to this one (I had been to the antique one they have the 3rd Sundays but too much $$) for the deals , but it was a lot smaller than the other one.

But I got this cute tealish bottle for a $1

More mason jars...and some from Uncle Jack too we stopped by on our way home and he gave me some more jars, you never know when you need them!


Greg and I finally did my soap dispenser I have been dying to do. I wanted to use a blue mason jar (with the blue dish soap it's hard to see it's pretty color-but that's what we had) and the one I found today was a little bit bigger than I wanted. So instead of using it for regular soap I decided it will be our dish soap dispenser.

Greg just used a drill to make a hole in the top of the lid and I gorilla glued the pump to the top. Because The mason jar is bigger than regular I had to use a taller lotion bottle pump.

It wound up taking a little longer than planned just because I needed to find a pump that would work (the one I had was too short) but a quick trip to Target and a $3.00 lotion gave me the perfect pump lol and I'm loving it.

So close yet so far...

I hadn't posted that I had a teaching interview for a first grade position on Monday...I was afraid I was going to jinx it or really too nervous to talk about it. I actually thought it went well and I knew I was only going up against two other people...good odds right?

Well I got the call today that they picked another candidate.

I am so frustrated and let down. I just want to be able to do what I love and what I have worked so hard for -all I need is the chance. It's frustrating knowing you have no control - it feels like my future is in so many other hands besides my own.

Drew's Party

This weekend we got to go to beautiful Monterey for Drew's birthday/congrats on getting his fire job party! The theme was a fiesta and of course some fire accents.

I had been eyeing the idea to make royal icing fire truck sugar cookies and here they are. The last and only other time I used royal icing was to make a co-workers boot cookies and I forgot what a pain and the butt it is. I am happy with the overall outcome it could have been a lot worse. A lot of steps that royal icing stuff is I don't know how some bloggers get them so perfect, but I definitely will only be practicing on special occasion cookies lol.

I also, had the bright idea (because of course I would have enough time/patience) to do the cookie dough ball recipe from amy's blog. It might of been because at this point it was 11 O'clock at night and I had just finished 50 fire truck cookies, but I got over these little things pretty fast.

I am usually not too much of a perfectionist when it comes to making cake balls because I know how delicious these things are no matter what they look like, but since I was making them for a crowd my expectations were a little higher. I thought making them on sticks would make it easier to get the chocolate smooth....ummmm no ok well let me try every trick I ever read or saw on peoples blogs...ummmm no falling off of sticks, chocolate not smooth, etc.

I got about 8 done, ripped some of the sticks out cleaned my kitchen and went to bed. While I make these things I always wonder why I put myself through the agony of defeat ...and then I eat one and remember why ;) I love cookie dough like the next person, but I actually probably wouldn't make these again the red velvet balls are so much better!

I packaged Drew's cookies in a clear treat bag and printed scalloped labels from my computer. I got these labels at Micheal's in the wedding section-so cute and easy!




Look at these studly Heydeman men ;) lol

Claudia and Uncle Tom

Tana... we were told we looked like sister's again. lol I still hold strong that the boys must have good taste then he he ! I know I need to start to diet again when the double chin comes back out...ugh

This boy confuses me... First he complains that I take too many pictures for my blog that he feels like a tourist, but then on his own he poses for a picture like this! lol ;) I think he secretly likes the attention.

Both days turned out sunny and beautiful I even got a nice walk on the beach!

Love Birds!

Kara didn't like not being part of the party.

Tana's super cute nephew Clayton.

Tana and the uncles.

It was a really fun weekend and of course we did what we do best when we get together eat and drink.

Good men, Good food and Good times

Heather beat me to this post, but I still had to add to it. It took me awhile to get to this... I was having problems because blogger would not let me post (found out it was because I downloaded the new Internet Explorer and it wasn't compatible), then I got not too good of news (not quite bad either...yet) I called again on the job situation and they said I am still under consideration, but they have already offered some contracts to applicants (not me :( ) and they are still doing the inter district shuffle to see exactly what they have. And then this week was Gregory's and mine 3 year anniversary - wow ! time has flown, a lot of changes has occurred, but they have been great, love you babe!

So back to the post... This weekend was so much fun and it felt like I had forever with my sister. It felt like we did a lot, but also a little lol. It was the perfect mix of getting out of the house and just doing what we do best eating and relaxing at the house. We played a lot of hand and foot (see picture above) and the girls came out victorious. Want to know when you have a good man on your hands? (see above)...they clean! Heather and I went on a $6.00 and something thrift store shopping spree.

Thank you Heather and J.D -you are amazing!

Sister I needed my sissy time- I know your always there for me but it's nice to have it in person ;) I still don't know how J.D was able to put up with living with both of us together lol 6 weeks training was probably a piece of cake for him after that he he.. Love you!

Twix Trifle

For my sister's b-day dessert I knew I wanted to do something a tad bit different because she is not a huge cake person. When I saw this on one of the blogs I followed I knew it was perfect...and looked so yummy -and let me tell you it was! The original recipe said to use toffee bits which would of been good, but in the bag of candy I bought for the candy leis there was twix. I decided to pick them all out and use them for this dessert, good choice ;)

Oh, and I totally got a killer deal on my new trifle bowl - it was mis marked so I got it for only $10 !

The recipe is super simple: bake a box mix of fudge brownies-let cool and cut into bite size squares. Make pudding-again using large box of chocolate pudding and mix with 2cups cold milk (put in fridge to set up). Chop up twix into small pieces or whatever candy your heart desires. Thaw a container of whipped topping.

put an even layer of brownie pieces first, then 1/2 of pudding, a layer of whip cream and then candy. Repeat one more time. YUM! Pretty much Heather and I snacked on this all weekend long until it was polished off !