Italy

Jeff and I went to Italy because Jeff had some work there. Rich, another employee and his wife Mari came with us. We had an absolute blast! We spent our first two days in Jesolo and then we took a water taxi across the bay to Venice and spent two days there. It was the most amazing place! I fell in love with the entire country. Every day we would get gelatto. It was divine!

We ate the best food! Everything single thing is delicious! I loved the little restaurants. Tables would be set up right on the street. Cars and pedestrians would be all around us and I loved it!

Venice was my favorite place that we went to. It is so pretty. It looks just like I had always seen in paintings. Gorgeous little streets with canals in the middle of them. Flower pots hanging off of windows, cobblestone and brick pathways...... So pretty!!!! Our water taxi pick up spot, which was literally just outside our hotel doors was even so pretty!

There truly are not cars around. Everyone walks or takes a boat. I loved the gondolas! I had to keep asking myself if it was real! We rode in the gondolas with a man in a stripped shirt and he sang to us in Italian! It was just so pretty.

I loved all the laundry hanging out to dry. I don't know why I loved it so much. It was just so quaint!

Rich, Mari and I walked way FAR away from the main tourist part of Venice to the residential part of the city. (Jeff was in the hotel taking a nap, suffering from jet lag!) It was so pretty and quiet. I loved this doorway going into the residential area.

There was also a beautiful park over there. I loved how the trees formed an archway over the path.

Then we took the train from Venice, down through Milan an into Arona, which is just outside of Milan. It was such a beautiful area. It is 45 miles from Switzerland. You could see the Swiss Alps off in the distance. Arona is known for it's lake. It is the most beautiful lake in all of Italy. This was our view of the lake from our hotel room.

We took a boat ride out to the middle of the lake to an island where there is this restaurant and nothing else. It was really neat. There was another island across from where we were at and it had a castle on it. The castle was stunning in the dark and I could just imagine how amazing it had to be in the light. I wanted to spend a few extra days here to sight see more. It was a beautiful place.

We had the best meal.......and even better desserts!

Then we flew to Rome. We spent 3 days there. Rome was awesome! There is so much history and so many things to see. We went to the Colosseum.

Right outside the Colosseum is Constantines Victory Arch.

We went to the Trevi Fountain. We all made a wish and threw our coins in backwards like we were supposed to.

The streets were narrow and there were a million little cars and a million scooters and motorcycles.

All the cars would seriously park this close! I would watch people parallel park into a spot so tight that it seemed impossible. But they did it with no problem. It helped that their cars were itty bitty. I could just see myself trying to park my Expedition or worse yet, Jeff's monster truck. I would crash into not only cars, but also buildings and people!

I am only 5' 6" and I totally towered lots of cars. Can you just imagine Jeff and I TOGETHER at the same time in this car! It would be horrible!

People would park all over in Rome. Anywhere and everywhere! Even in the middle of crosswalks. They would park 2 and 3 cars deep too. I guess you just had to wait in order to leave if you needed to.

We went to The Pantheon. It is an amazing building.

It was built in 448 BC! It was built with a big hole in the top of the dome so that they could have light and it also helped control the temperature inside the building.

The floors were slightly built on a slant towards the middle so that when rain water came through the hole, it would all go down into these little holes in the floor and they could collect the rain water.

Every building and structure of every kind was built so beautiful. I know that I keep saying the words "amazing" and "beautiful" and "gorgeous" but it all really was!

We went to the Vatican City.

I can't even describe how big this place is.

After we left Rome and drove to a place called Fiuggi and stayed there for 2 days. It was a beautiful, mountianous place. It was a "spa town" and it was quaint and really pretty. Then we drove back to Rome for 2 more days and then we flew home. Do you remember the movie with Steve Martin and John Candy called Planes Trains and Automobiles? Well that was totally our life on that trip, only it was planes, trains, boats, and automobiles! It was so much fun but after 6 different flights to get us where we needed to be each time, I was very ready for home.

Hershey Corn Flake Bars

3/4 cup White Sugar

3/4 cup Karo Syrup

*Heat together in a sauce pot until bubbly. Remove from heat.

1 cup Peanut Butter

*Add and stir in until smooth

3 cups crushed Corn Flakes

*Stir all together and press down in a 9x13 pan

4 Hershey Chocolate Bars

*Break into chunks and place over the top of the hot bars. Allow the chocolate to melt and then spread the chocolate evenly over the top of the bars with the back of a spoon.

Taylor Swift Concert

Last night Sidney and I went to the Taylor Swift concert. We went with Shasta & Gracie, Hannah and Gracie's cousin Sami. Sidney went to her concert last year with Shasta, Gracie and Hannah and we just had to go again. Taylor is such an amazing performer. This was probably the very best concert I have ever been too - - entertainment wise.

Gracie - Hannah - Sidney - Sami

Taylor Swift changed her costume 8 different times, there were multiple stage changes, she played several different guitars, the piano, the banjo and even the ukulele!

She had great backup dancers that were really entertaining. Tap dancers, ballerinas, trapeze acts...... Really entertaining!

She ended the show by singing a song in a little balcony that flew her around above the audience. I took a video of it but I can't figure out how to upload it.

I only knew about 1/3 of her songs because I just hear what is played on the radio. (Sidney has a few of her CD's and knew all her songs). But even though I didn't know all of her music, this was by far the most entertaining concert I have ever been too! Thanks Sidney for loving her so that we could go to her concert!

Cade's 8th Birthday Party

For Caden's 8th birthday, we had a Pirate themed party.

His invitations were messages in a bottle.

For his cupcakes I frosted some with chocolate frosting and for the others I dipped the frosted cupcake in crushed graham crackers to make it look like sand and I stuck a caramel filled chocolate treasure chest on top.

When they first got to the party, I read them the book, "How I Became a Pirate" by David Shannon. It's a really cute little book. Then the boys went on a treasure hunt. I had clues hidden all over the yard. One was in the kid's tree hut.

One was in the mail box.

One was in the fire pit, another in the pirate ship that was on the cake table, and another on the patio table.

The treasure was hidden under the main table that had the cupcakes on it. They each got either a sword pack or a hook pack.

Then they divided up into teams according to whether they had a sword or a hook and had a big sword fight.

Happy Birthday Caden! You FILL our house with life!

Backyard Movies

I love my neighborhood. I love summer nights. I love spending summer nights with my neighbors! Just about every year we do a big block party movie night in either my backyard or the Parry's backyard.

I had to take pictures before the party actually started so there weren't many people here yet but it would have been too dark to wait until later.

Jens and his dorky friends. I actually love them too!

There are SOOOO many things that I would LOVE to change about my house. Sometimes I get to thinking that we should just build a new one. Then about 5 seconds later I realize that no matter how great the house is, if you don't have a great neighborhood to go with it, then the house won't be great either. I just can't beat my neighborhood!

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 Stick (1/2 cup) butter

6oz (half the bag) semi sweet chocolate chips

*Melt together in a sauce pot on medium heat.

1 can Evaporated Milk

2 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

*Whisk into the chocolate mixture. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, then add:

1 teaspoon Vanilla

*Sauce will thicken as it cools.

***THIS RECIPE IS NOT PART OF ANY DIET PLAN***

Low Country Shrimp Boil

I had a few of my neighbors over yesterday for a low country boil. I love shrimp boils. So fun and yummy!

We were just getting the kids set up with theirs when the wind picked up and it started to lightly rain- -- - right on my parade!

So we moved inside.

Low Country Shrimp Boil

Water in a pot

2 packages of Zataran's Crab and Shrimp boil (or one whole box of Old Bay Cajun seasoning. Zataran's is spicier than Old Bay)

6 lemons - cut in half

*Get water boiling with seasoning and lemons. Then add:

Bag of new potatoes - boil for 7 minutes then add:

6 onions cut into big chunks - boil for 7 minutes then add:

Big bag of chicken tenders - boil for 7 minutes then add:

Mini corn cobs (however many you want) - boil for 7 minutes then add:

Cleaned, peeled, raw shrimp - boil for 3 to 5 minutes until the shrimp is pink.

You can really add a lot of different stuff like spicy sausage, crawdads, crab, etc.

*Drain water out and dump food down the middle of the table that has been lined with newspaper. Grab your food right from the pile with your fingers and dip food in a pink sauce and ENJOY!

Pink Sauce

Miracle whip

Ketchup

*mix together until it's a nice pink color

A sprinkle of garlic salt

A squeeze of lemon juice

*add garlic and lemon until you like the taste

Clean up is a snap! Just wad up the newspaper and toss it in the trash! No plates or silverware to wash!