More Fiesta Island Pictures and My First Mary Kay Party

Well I got some more pictures from the lovely Emily and decided to put up a few more of Willow at Fiesta Island.

Also, this Monday my good friend Lindsay and I hosted a Mary Kay party at my place. Emily brought cinnamon rolls, you can find them on her blog here.

The Mary Kay party is not anything I ever thought I'd find myself doing but it actually was a lot of fun. I met some sweet girls, and felt pampered.

My San Diego friends can contact Heather Sidhu at MaryKay.com/heathersidhu to order products.

For all my friends back in Texas, you can check out marykay.com, and if you are interested you can contact marie.molchak@hotmail.com. Marie will offer 20% off your first order and free shipping.

Mission Trails

Today Willow and I went along with Emily, the pups, and Emily's mom for a hike at Mission Trails. I was super excited, although I still didn't want to wake up this morning, because she had told me how gorgeous it was and it's one of the places I still haven't seen out here. It was really close to where we live and was just as nice as she said it was. We decided to turn back just before the halfway mark because Emily hadn't taken the trail at Cowel's Mountain before and it looked like it went pretty far up, and we just weren't sure if her mom and I were up for it ha. We got some great pictures!







The downside; Willow got SO dirty. Eventually she faded into the dirt ha. Giving her a bath was such a hassle, and the tub was like solid brown when I finished. Totally worth it. I hope one day I can make it all the way to the top with Emily lol.

Back to blogging!

Well, it has been quite a while, and still not much has happened. As you have read in past blogs, Mike has been gone for the majority of the last month or so. While I missed him dearly, I am proud to say that my husband was involved in the rescue efforts for the collision of a Marine Copter with a Coast Guard plane. I was very shocked at how much the tragedy shook me up, as well as the Fort Hood shooting that followed, but I guess for the first time reality really hit me on the dangers that not only every day people face by going out into the world, but also that our soldiers and sailors face, even when not on duty overseas or otherwise. I would just like to take a second to say that we are very sad for the families that lost people in the recent tragedies, and we hope their souls rest in peace.
On a lighter note, I did not get nearly as much accomplished as I had hoped in my husband's absence. The first half of his being gone I hobbled around on a bum ankle, and the last two weeks I had a horrible case of the flu, in which I learned that military hospitals will nearly always have atleast a three hour wait in the emergency room. I did, however, manage to try the little recipe I got from Emily, who got the recipe here This is a double decker pumpkin pie, and while the picture I took do not do it justice, it was absolutely amazing!!

I'm also putting up some updated pictures of the adorable Willow, as she has hit a growth spurt, and a picture of my very handsom husband sporting the new working uniform, as I know a few women on my side of the family that would love to see how well-dressed the Navy keeps its sailors these days. I am very excited to soon be posting our Thanksgiving photos, along with the Christmas tree I am so anxious to put up! Happy pre-holidays to all!

Mike in Uniform

She loves the camera


I guess it was too bright for her nap?

Baked Spaghetti and Pictures from Our Walks

Tonight I thought Mike'd be home pretty late so I thought I'd make baked skettie for dinner, that way I could prepare it during the day and just throw it in the oven when he got home. Well he got home AS I was preparing it but was patient enough to let me finish, haha. Anyways this dinner was a COMPLETE success because I made half to his liking and half to mine. His taste is minimal with very little flavor and I love seasoning and cheeses and sauces. So both of us ended up completely satisfied.

I also got around to stealing some of the pictures from Emily of our walks, so here those are.

Mt. Helix

The View

Molly and Ellie!!


Willow!!

Fall Findings

It finally feels like fall here in La Mesa. We are still getting our hot afternoons but nothing like it was, and the mornings are pleasant. That's great for the walks Willow and I take with my friend Emily and her pups Molly and Ellie. The view is great and I will post some pictures when I can steal them from Emily.
We tried to do a little decorating for Halloween, though it's a bit difficult with our balcony being blocked in by a tree. We did hang the old Keplar Pumpkin my dad and I made years and years ago, and a wreath on the door. We also decorated and carved our own pumpkins. Unfortunately the pumpkin we chose looked perfect on the outside but only took two days to rot so I never got a chance to get a picture of it. I do have pictures of our decorated baby pumpkins.


Our family pumpkns.


A sleepy Willow after I finished her pumpkin.
Last night I tried a new recipe, called Bacon Cheeseburger Upsidedown Pizza. I thought it was something Mike would definitely enjoy but I thought wrong, though that says nothing for how good the dish actually was. I'd say next time I could cut out the bacon and use a little less sauce, but I loved it and think it would be a great family meal.


The end result.
Today I notices our strawberries weren't going to last much longer so I wanted to use them all with something, so I searched for recipes. I ended up making a delicious strawberry bread.