Birthdays and Dates....

                                               Benjamin and I :)                    

                                             Marie and John at Kathy's Birthday

                                             

                      Bobby, Benjamin, me and Ruthie (Bobby is hiding)

                                              Birthday girl and Grandpa

                                                                   

                                              Ruthie and I on our double date

                                                   Jonathan and Ruthie :)

Busy summer time! During the last week and a half we celebrated Kathy's birthday and had a fun time celebrating with them. We all went out to restaurant and visited and laughed. =) Benjamin and I also went on double date with Ruthie and her boy friend Jonathan last week. It was a lot of fun, he has been over very often lately =) We are really enjoying him and are so happy for Ruthie. Here are some of the pictures and I did a little of everyone. John, Marie, Grandpa, Kathy, =) I hope everyone is having a nice summer!

I was washing dishes and looking out at the beautiful clouds and listening to this song. God is so magnificent!

A Day on the Ice!

Actually, we have been almost everyday! But I finally took these pictures! =) 

Bay and Tonya

These cats are so fun! They just laze around the house and on us :) We went ahead and got them fixed and declawed last week. It has been so much nicer around here! Our furniture is safe! And us too! For the first two days their little paws were pretty tender, but that didn't stop them from wrestling and trying to claw up our bedspread soon discovering that that doesn't work anymore! They really are so sweet though, they don't have a stubborn will (well, yet) and they aren't fazed by anything, I will be blow drying my hair and they won't even flinch! I'm very glad that we don't have scaredy cats! Scaredy cats usually jump at every little noise and flee for their lives as if we are having a tornado or something! Anyways, just a little note about our animal situation here =)

Birthday Memories

Well, I had a wonderful Birthday this year. The surprise of my mom and siblings, I will never forget :) On my actual birthday day, Benjamin surprised me and took me to a Toby Keith concert. It was a fun surprise =) Toby Keith is a little on the wild side for me, but it was still fun and I do love his American patriotic songs. He makes a big stand for America and I love him for that. But the funny thing about our evening was that we got rained out!!!! The concert was at the Cricket Pavilion and so part the stadium is outside and the other part is covered. The cheaper tickets are out on the grass and that was where we were! It didn't just drizzle, it rained! It POURED! We were soaked all the way through =) We were only half way through and they had to stop because the water was coming in and flooding the sound system! So we waited probably two hours! I didn't think it would take that long :) I probably would have left, but Benjamin was excited to see the rest of the concert =) Finally they were able to get the rest of the water out and we finished the concert. We were freezing wet! When got back to our car, the water was all the way up to the door!Who would have thought that we would have been rained out of our concert, in phoenix, driving with the heat on! Ha! Anyway, we will never forget that! =) The picture of the storm was on our way to the concert, I didn't realize at the time that it would pour on us for hours :)

Blue....

I have fallen in love with blue! I have always liked it in the past, but lately I have fallen deeper in love =) I received a blue russian tea set from my mom and sister for my wedding present about 1 1/2 years ago. And then just recently I found some real pretty blue curtains at Ross for a steal deal, and then my sister Himilce gave me a picture she thought I might like of a girl with a blue back ground. And also for my birthday Himilce gave me a fun basket with beautiful items in it that were all the color blue including an adorable blue tea pot! I have had so much fun rearranging our living room! My mom also happened to give me her beautiful blue dinner plate set that we all grew up with for my birthday. And finally the last thing is, Ruthie and I went garage sailing on Saturday morning and we found this beautiful blue flowered pillow for two dollars =) Now it all flows so nicely together!

Better Recipe

I found this recipe on the food network by The Barefoot Contessa. I love it! The scones are so moist and they melt in your mouth! I didn't use the strawberries though, I used dried cranberries instead. Mainly because I didn't have strawberries and I have a huge bag of cranberries :) Also I put in a little bit more sugar then it called for. I didn't want to lose track of this recipe so I am posting it for me and if any of you want to give a try, its a REALLY good scone recipe! 

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 
2 tablespoons sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder 
2 teaspoons salt 
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced 
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten 
1 cup cold heavy cream 
3/4 cup small-diced dried strawberries 
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 4 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour and butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss the strawberries with 1 tablespoon of flour, add them to the dough, and mix quickly. The dough may be a bit sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into squares with a 4-inch plain or fluted cutter, and then cut them in half diagonally to make triangles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and the insides are fully baked. 

Family surprise.....

My sister and I were surprised on the 4th, when my mom and siblings jumped out of the corner and delighted us with their lovely missed faces! Marie posted about it here. Yesterday they came over to my house and we swam and talked and ate and swam! It has been so nice having them here :) All of us look like cooked crabs! I also happened to be off of work this week, so it worked out perfect! I didn't get very many photos. The top is Marie and my sister Olga and the bottom is Eddie =)

Lovely Smell!

Today I felt like making scones, so my little helper and I made this recipe below. The house smells so yummy I can't wait to have a taste :) I forgot to take a picture of the finished product and I already packed them up! They look really moist and chewy, but not too moist! I forgot to spray the pan and so they got a little dark on the bottom. Oh, I didn't use strawberries, I used dried cranberries instead.  =)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup ripe strawberries - cleaned, hulled and diced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter 
• 
  
• 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• 2. Place diced strawberries on paper towels to absorb liquid. Combine the cream with the vanilla extract in a small 
•     pitcher, and set aside.
• 3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest together in a mixing bowl. Cut the cold 
•     butter into chunks and add to the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender to cut in butter until mixture resembles 
•     coarse, pea-sized crumbs. Stir in strawberries, and gently toss ingredients. Make a hole in the middle of the 
•     flour mixture; pour cream mixture into the hole. Quickly stir dough together until just blended.
• 4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; and knead until smooth and satiny, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer
•     dough to prepared baking sheet and pat into an 8-inch round. Use a serrated knife to cut the round into 8 
•     wedge-shaped pieces. Separate wedges on the baking sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch space between each.
• 5.  Bake in preheated oven until tops are light brown and crusty, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and
•      cool 20 minutes before serving.
•