Love My Boys

I got my very first puppy Kobe while my husband happened to be away on one of his long excursions.

I LOVE that little boy! He is obviously the cutest dog in the world (sorry Hoosher, you're a close second) and he is so loving and obedient... well he is now, not so much at first.

Anyway, I was kinda nervous for Kobe and Richard to meet. I heard that male dogs can be territorial and protective and since its only been Kobe and me the last 3 weeks, I didn't know what to expect. Plus Richard was trying to be so macho and say " I hate little dogs, we need a manly dog like a German Shepard or a Rotweiller..."

They were both wary of each other at first. Richard got annoyed that Kobe would sleep right at his feet and he would kick him all night. Richard tried to pretend like he didn't really care... but after the first day, I could see him starting to warm up. 

Richard told me today, he said " I love this dog, we're gonna have him for a long time right?" Haha! I knew it! 

Now they are best buddies. Kobe loves that he can play rough with Richard, and he listens to him better now than he does to me! 

I love my Boys! Now if they would only sit still enough for me to take a picture...

Not too Shabby...

Sooo... you would think that I would give up cooking FOREVER... but alas, I do want to be the best cook in the world some day, so I've got to keep on truckin'...

My honey has been out of town for the last month, he went to Tennessee for his sisters wedding and stayed a little too long... anyway, I thought that I should do something special to celebrate his return. 

I saw a simple recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries and decided to bite the bullet...

All you do is put a half a bag of chocolate chips into a double broiler to melt

(AKA chocolate chip pot in a larger pot of boiling water)

By the way, you can choose whatever kind of chocolate you want, I had milk chocolate so there you go)

Once it is mostly melted turn the heat down so that you don't burn the chocolate

Keep stirring to keep the chocolate smooth. Pat your strawberries dry so the chocolate will stick and just dip them into the chocolate. 

Put them on wax paper or foil to cool then put in the fridge until you're gonna eat them.

You can also dip them into sprinkles, or nuts, or whatever. If you have white chocolate they would look cool if you drizzled it over the milk chocolate.

I also dipped some pretzels in the left over chocolate. Remember, the chocolate is going to harden so make sure you rinse any left overs before they get super hard.

Now all you need is some sparkling cider and you've got a romantic evening ready to go! 

Also, check out this website for more great lovey ideas!

http://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/

A little bit Betty Crocker?

We all know that I am no chef... but I have been trying!

I love muffins and I love them hot from the oven.

 I usually get the simple packets, they're like $1 at the grocer.All you have to do is add water and bake.

I decided that I need to get away from box and package cooking and I found a super easy recipe for banana bread. I decided to try it and make them into muffins.

So here it is... PACKAGE vs. HOMEMADE...

Here is the recipe:

1 C Sugar

1/2 butter softened

2 lg. Eggs

3 small bananas sliced

2 C Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 pecans (optional)

Start with your pan, make sure you grease really well, even if you're using muffin tins

Cream sugar with butter then mix in eggs, bananas, flour, baking soda, salt and nuts if you want

I like to use over ripe bananas and mush them, but thats up to personal opinion

Then just fill up your cups and place into a COLD oven. Set oven to 300' and bake 20-25 mins or until you toothpick it and its clean.

Let me just say that I was SOOOO excited for these muffins. I put them in the oven and thought to myself, "ok I have 20 minutes, Im going to take a shower." Keep in mind, my oven does not have a timer, I just always look at the clock and keep track. I'm usually hungry enough that I don't lose track of time.

I get in the shower, get out, dry my hair, do my make up, get dressed, take puppy for a potty break, start vacuuming... and then I wonder, "what is that burning smell? must  be the neighbors BBQ again..."

finish vacuuming, go in the kitchen to get th duster and realize the burning is coming from my kitchen...

So I start looking around, the toaster, the dishwasher... I open the oven only to realize that I COMPLETELY FORGOT that I was baking! No idea... an hour later...muffins burned to a crisp... but it doesn't end there.

I air out the house and do some work, a couple hours later I think "I should make that muffin package since I don't want to go to the store to get bananas and wait for them to age." 

I go to the kitchen, whip up the package in 5 minutes and put the muffins in the oven to cook for 16-20 minutes. Im sure to look at the clock, clean up the kitchen and go back to work.

 5 minutes later, Kobe rings the bell to go potty. I take him down stairs, walk around, talk to my neighbor, get the mail. Then I decide that I want to get a $5 footlong for dinner, so run upstairs, get the keys and go out the door. Half way down the stairs I realize, "wait...I think I left the light on..." Run back upstairs, turn off the light and head off to Subway.

After Subway, I stop and get gas... run to the dollar store for some doggie treats... stop by the grocer for more bananas... by the time I finally get home its been about an hour and a half. I walk in the door and smell burning... again, it doesn't even occur to me that I was baking something until Kobe goes into the kitchen and starts barking...

More ruined muffins... I am still in SHOCK that TWO DIFFERENT TIMES it completely left my brain.. There is something terribly wrong with me...

Good news is, I got some more bananas! In three more days I'll post pictures of my beautiful, HOPEFULLY NOT BURNED muffins!

PS- let me know if that recipe works for you!

Get Creative!

SPOILER ALERT!! If you are my family then DON'T read this post!

(I know you will anyway and I also know that NO Christmas presents are ever a surprise in our family... we all suck at keeping secrets...)

My hubby went to Tennessee for the last couple of weeks for his sisters wedding. I hate being alone and usually spend alone time browsing blogs and getting ideas... most of which I never actually do... but I do have a very full folder of amazing craft ideas.

So I committed myself to getting started on my Christmas presents early this year, hoping that if I spread them out I will be able to give better quality gift rather than just waiting til December and not having money all at once. 

I have SOOO many great presents that I am working on. One of the craft blogs that I LOVE! had a give away for one of its sponsors called Say it on the Wall. 

I didn't win the give away, but I found TONS of stuff that needed for some of the crafts I have been working on.

Everyone loves the vinyl lettering and sayings and personalized crafts. They are PERFECT for gifts and for amazing holiday decorations. I have shopped around for this stuff and SAY IT ON THE WALL has the cheapest prices that I have found ANYWHERE!

Im not going to post pictures of my projects until AFTER Christmas cause obviously they are presents, but if you want any ideas or just to look around, go that that site! 

Oh LOVE and Excitement!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE crafty blogs... I have links to several here on my blog and I LOVE spending time each day going through and finding inspiration for recipes, crafts, sewing, everything. My favorite thing is the giveaways! Most of the blogs have sponsors that give you GREAT ideas, and fun fun give aways.

I ALWAYS enter the give aways in hopes to get something great...

So, one of my favorite blogs is I Heart NapTime.

She always has fun ideas, most of which are SO simple for me to do.

A couple of weeks ago she did a give away from a super cute website called Kinley Lane Designs.

They have the cutes head bands, rings, and tops. I entered the give away like I do for ALL of them but...

I WON!! Oh it was the MOST exciting thing!

I got to choose a head band and a tank top which I got promptly in the mail... Oh Heaven! 

SOOOOO ADORABLE! I wore both the next day to church and got the best compliments.

I am still in shock that I actually won something, and even better that I got super cute amazing items... go check out the blog and the site... youre gonna like what you see!

Winning Weekend!

This weekend Richard is in Tennessee for his sisters wedding, and Lisa is in Texas visiting her son... so dad and I decided to take a little trip of our own. Ive been dying to get down to Phoenix to visit my sister, her hubby and Scottee, who moved here a couple months ago. Since its only  a 7 hour drive, dad, me and Kobe hopped in the car headed south.

We got to Phoenix friday evening (they actually live in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix) and were ELATED to have Kobe and Hooshie (Melissa's pup) meet for the first time... Cousins... They LOVE each other... BFF's

They played and wrestled and napped... good times.

On Saturday we got to visit our cousins Lori, Summer and their families. My second cousin Melani and her husband just moved down so we got to see them and their ADORABLE baby Braxy. 

That night we played games... Melissa and I DOMINATED the boys! Love when we get to beat the most competitive boys in the history of the world!

We went shopping, we watched some football...

Played more games... WON AGAIN! Im super excited cause
 I NEVER win and I did 2 days in a row! whop whop!

On Sunday we went to my aunt Janie's house for dinner... played some volley ball, ate some yummy food and watched some more football...

I hate to go back to Utah and leave 2 of my sibs behind. Back to work... back to life...
Thanks for the fun weekend Phoenix family!

Kobe in the House!!

Introducing the newest member of our family... 

KOBE SKOOTZ HERNANDEZ

My VERY first puppy EVER!!

I am SO excited... I searched and searched for the perfect puppy... and I found him!

Hes a purebred Yorkie...about 4 lbs right now but will get up to maybe 7 lbs full grown

He is 11 weeks old, and SO sweet!

Hes just a happy little guy that LOVES to just climb on my lap and curl up,

I haven't ever heard him bark and hes not all jumpy...

Such a perfect little companion to keep my company.

I love him! Thanks Grandpa Lloyd!

Crafty Frame of Mind

Ive been on the look out for super cute crafts to do. Especially with the holiday's coming up, Id love to do great homemade gifts (not crappy things that no one wants)

Anyway, I always scour crafty blogs to find things that I want to do, then I save the tutorials so that one day I can actually get around to them... here is one that I found for an AMAZING wreath!

I love it because you can do any colors or embellishments to match your house, or to match the holiday.

Find the tutorial here: Wreath Tutorial

Ill post the pic of the one I make... Send me a picture if you make one!