Stand By

Stand by for pictures coming soon! Yes, I've said that before but then our camera broke and we FINALLY bought a new one. We ordered it online and it should arrive today. Yay!! Once we get it and get everything all hooked up, I promise I'll post some pics.

July 10th Update:
I posted the above a couple weeks ago and I just discovered that it didn't make it to my blog. It was sitting in drafts. So, the camera is working (yay!) better after some tweaking. The initial pics were blurry then we fixed that and they were grainy. I think everything is set now. We just need to install the software so we can load the pictures. Yeah, we don't jump right into getting all this done but will. We have been VERY busy. My Mom and Nephew came for a visit on June 25th. They left June 28th and my friend Sarah arrived that same day. Sarah left yesterday, July 9th and my Dad arrives tomorrow and leaves the 14th. See? Very busy with guests. So, I'm going to enjoy our guests and then will get back to the pictures.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Daddio! I hope you have a wonderful day doing whatever you want to do. For my Dad, I'm thinking that will include enjoying a cold beer, playing with his dog Chi Chi and hanging out with Karima. Enjoy and I look forward to seeing you soon! Here is a Father's Day picture for you! Happy Fathers Day!!!

Party Time!

We have a "dinner" party in our neighborhood once a month. It rotates houses and the host prepares a main dish and everyone brings sides, appetizers, desserts, drinks, etc. It's a great way to meet neighbors and to stay in touch with people. We were quite happy to hear about this gathering when we moved here and we have been attending them each month since late last year. You get to socialize with the neighbors and eat and drink and then walk home! What a great neighborhood, huh?! Anyway, we volunteered to host a party and our party was last night. We had 30+ people and we had a Caribbean theme so we made jerk chicken, mango/rum glazed shrimp and rice and beans cooked in coconut milk. It was a great success! We were worried because the weather did not cooperate. It hasn't rained in months here and of course the day of our party, there was thunder and lightning and downpouring rain. It turned out ok. It was pouring down rain early but then it let up so Glenn could grill. It sprinkled a little bit more and then it cleared up and people were able to go outside. Since it had cooled down so much, we were able to use our new fire feature in the backyard which was a big hit. It was a good night and we are all cleaned up and ready to enjoy the long weekend. Hope you all have a great long weekend as well - Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to my Momma. Hope you have a happy Mothers Day and I am excited to see you next month! Have a great day. Happy Mother's Day to all you other Mom's out there as well.

Busy, busy, busy

Oh boy, we've been busy lately. Last weekend we were at a neighborhood party on Saturday and on Sunday, we drove up north to see Glenn's cousin. Both were fun! This past weekend, our friends from PA Jeane and Bob were at our house and spent the night on Friday. It was so nice to see them, it was our first visitors from PA. We have a very nice visit and I hated to see them go home! On Saturday night, we went to a Cinco de Mayo party which was fun. Our friends went to an auction a few months ago and got a guitar player for 3 hours so they scheduled him to come for the party. He was great! He sang all alternative music songs which is what we mostly listen to so it was very fun. Sunday, we did almost nothing which was very nice. We ran an errand and then just hung out on the back patio and went swimming and just hung out. The pool was up to 83 degrees - pretty nice! Speaking of the pool, how about a picture?!!!

This is a picture from when my sister was here visiting. She finally sent me all her pictures so I have some pictures to post finally! Our backyard is under major construction right now so when it is done at the end of the week, those pots next to the pool will have sago palms in them and the end will have plants. And the big change is the other side of the yard that was just all dirt. I have a before picture and I'll get an after picture and show you. I can't wait for it to be done!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Glenn's Birthday! Happy Birthday to you Darling!!! We are headed out to dinner tonight with friends to a place we've been wanting to try. We will be sitting outside on the patio enjoying the lovely evening. Should be nice!

This isn't a very good picture (taken from a cell phone) but here is a picture of the birthday cake I made. I made a rich chocolate cake and to put between the layers, I made chocolate mousse and I frosted it with chocolate ganache and decorated the top with chocolate curls. I added orange zest to the cake when I made it so it had a yummy dark chocolate/orange flavor. It turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself!

Spring in the Desert

It is very pretty here with all the spring colors! There is a lot of green in the hills from all the rain we had a few months ago. And driving around the last few weeks, I've noticed all the prickly pear cactus have buds on top and the last week or so they have all been blooming. It's very pretty! Down the center of the roads in our neighborhood, they have trees that are all in bloom in bright yellow and then under them, lots of prickly pear cactus that have bright orange blossoms on them. I of course don't have a camera to take a picture but I found this one on the internet that looks just like the yellow trees and the blooms on the cactus only these blooms look closed and the ones around here are all open and beeeutiful!!