A Magical Kingdom

A long time ago, we went to Florida and I never finished blogging about it, and I am not one to leave things unfinished. So, as I am heading to camp on Wednesday, I am going to have to do some finishing around here. To continue, the next day after the pool, Liz, Stephen, and I headed out to the Magic Kingdom to be there for the opening show. Mom brought Matt, Megs, and the babes later on. It was Megs first real time to Disney and it was so fun to see her explore. We did all the mountains we could and all the kiddie "must-do's." It was an awesome day and it was really fun being there from before opening til after closing. I suppose you could say it was a zip-a-dee-do-dah kind of day....

FLORIDA. Part One.

Stephen and I started our journey on Tuesday night by heading down to the ever classy Baymont Detroit Airport hotel. When we went on our honeymoon, we tried out the La Quinta and it was the most disgusting hotel I have ever seen, so we weren't going to let that happen again. The Baymont was definitely a step up. Though the lobby and hallways smelled a little funky, the room was very clean and smelled just fine. We stayed there because they had shuttle service to the airport and free parking for the week. It was alright but the shuttle was not just for our hotel, it was for a few hotels, which was a little inconvenient. Either way, it was a step up and the next time we will do a little better because of it. Anyway, at the crack of 3:50 on Wednesday morning, Stephen and I headed to the airport.

The ride there was smooth except for a certain foreign gentleman who was sitting in front of us SNORING louder than anyone should be able to do. It was like he was snoring into a microphone.... but we got there and it was warm and wonderful and we headed straight to Olivia's for lunch.

The kiddos, big and small, all arrived later that night along with mom and dad. And the entire next day we spent at the pool. It was so fun teaching Ramona to be a little water baby and Miles did not leave the pool stairs for about 6 hours..... intense.

That night we took a boat ride to Downtown Disney and had dinner at home. We were all pretty excited to head to the Magic Kingdom the next day! Stephen, Lily, and I headed to the park right away when it was opening to get in some fun before the babies got there (and I wanted to take pictures). We got to see the Welcome Show, which Liz and I had actually never seen, and it was GREAT! It was absolutely how everyone should start their day at the Magic Kingdom. It gets you excited, you get to see characters, you just get so pumped to go in! We went on a few rides since the lines are short that early; space mountain, buzz lightyear, and the haunted mansion all got ridden. It was a great start

Not the best...

I haven't had the greatest week. I am not usually the person to tell the world (or the five people that read this) about my not so great weeks, but here I am, telling you. It was just long, full of hard work, and Stephen was out of town working, so I was a "single mom" for Sammie. I am been getting in worse and worse of a mood and then I read a blog (http://www.bloglovin.com/m/3488112/445380111/) and Amy posted 7 highs from her week. We always do high/lows at the end of the day at camp and I just never seem to remember the highs like I should OUTSIDE of camp. That is terrible! There are always highs, even when you are in a funk, there are ALWAYS highs. So here are mine from this week.

1. I have gotten ALL of the cuddling that there is to be had from Sammie since I was the only one home.

2. Stephen is working again which should allow me to relax about our finances for a little while.

3. I only have one week left at Biggby's and then Stephen and I are going on VACA!

4. It has been a pretty gorgeous week, weather wise, so lots of walks have been had.

5. I got to be on the phone with Stephen for a good long while last night, which was pretty awesome.


And look, I feel better already. If you are having a bad week, give it a shot! And thanks Amy!!

Singin, Sammie, and Salmon.

Hello again! Life moves on... things have happened. I won't cover them all but I will cover some. First of all, the show ended. It was an amazing show with amazing people and I think we did an amazing job. I miss everyone from the show and I miss singing every day. So, I cannot wait til the fall and getting back to auditioning! Here are a few photos from my people that I miss so much:

Sammie update: still cute!

Now, I have started returning to my adventures in cooking, mostly thanks to Pinterest. Here were some of my adventures.

This was not actually that great. It was a crock pot adventure that turned out pretty bland, which was a bummer. It was basically just chicken cooked in chicken broth with veggies and salt. So, I will refrain from recommending it. But, I learned things along the way. Like, taste things first and add spices.
Next came a tortilla pizza:

I was pretty pleased with this adventure except for using a Mexican Blend of cheese instead of mozzarella . It was just a little too CHEESY. I ended up scraping off a lot of the cheese and really just having tomato sauce, olives and mushrooms. I also prefer pizza with veggies on it, I had just run out of them that day, so it wasn't the most incredible thing I ever ate, but it was a step in the right direction of alternate pizza options. Now, for the creme de la creme of my cooking adventures: SALMON.

Again, got this one from Pinterest. Fillet of Salmon, sprinkle Olive Oil, salt and pepper, put in a cold oven and turn the oven to 400 degrees. In the oven for around 25 minutes and you have a PERFECTLY COOKED salmon. It was flakey and full of flavor! Absolute slam dunk. I served it on a bed of wild rice and salads on the side. It was an awesome meal. I will definitely do that meal again!

I am going to make Florida it's own blog post so check back later for that fun-in-the-sun trip!