Johnson Valley 4/15-4/17/11

Disclaimer this is one LONG post!!  So sit back and enjoy the ride.

We had our last camping/ riding weekend for the year this past weekend.  It was suppose to be the "normal" group of campers, but they all backed out.  We decided that since we had already planned it and since this would be the last riding trip we should go anyway.  Must use motorhome to make it worth having! Right?

So we invited Amy's friend Carly to come along.  

This was her first camping trip and first time on a quad!  

We picked the girls up from school and jumped into the motorhome.  The girls, colored and played.

 While we sat in this.  Ugh all the way up the Cajon pass.

Friday afternoon traffic sucks!

 We finally arrived, got camp set up and sat by the fire.  The girls ate s'mores and giggled and laughed.

 The girls had a blue light and wanted me to take pictures of them.

 Me, Kent and Hannah.

 Good night sleepy heads.

 Good night.  After we put the girls to bed Kent and I enjoyed a bottle glass of wine, by the fire.  It was a beautiful night out.  the moon was shinning bright.  Not many campers so it was very quiet too.  Almost spooky.

 Saturday morning we fired up, had breakfast and the girls wanted to ride.

Carly is on Hannah's silver quad and Amy on the her Pink quad.

 These girls rode and rode.

 Hannah is getting so good at riding. She rode for a really long time too.  

 Isn't my sweet 2 year adorable?  

 Then we decided to go for a long ride.  I packed a lunch and we headed off.  Kent rode his quad and me and the girls were in the ranger.  We had a great time, Kent took us on some pretty scary stuff. At one point me and the girls walked down and Kent had to come get the ranger and drive it down the hill!  LOL. (Hannah stayed with daddy).

 These 2 climbed EVERYTHING! Any time we stopped and they saw a rock they were on it.  

After the ride, we came back to relax a bit.  The girls tried to fly the kite, just not enough wind to keep it up.  Plus its a 2 handle kite that they had a hard time working.  Note to self by a couple of regular kites for the motorhome they girls had a blast.

 Whats this?  More rocking climbing?  Why, yes it is.  They got to the point they would ride the quads to the rocks and then climb them and ride back.

 I took this picture while sitting at camp.  They were on the VERY top of the rocks.

 Hannah played in the sand.  She was enjoying getting dirty.

 Then she said "mom, can I have a bath?"  So I came in and bathed her, it wasn't even dinner time yet.  She was dirty and felt much better after this.

 The girls they continued to ride.  This is the little berm track they rode for hours.

 Sunday morning clean up.

 ALmost ready to head home.

 One more ride for Hannah.

 This was our pathetic camp.  =)

Farewell dirt, thanks for a great riding season, now bring on a cleaner sport. 

RIVER TIME! 

Checking in

on our progress........

17 day diet

I couldn't find a picture of me from right before I started the 17 day diet.  I HATE pictures of me, so I usually delete them or ALWAYS take the pictures to avoid being in one. It probably fits just about what I looked like anyway.

Start date 2/4/2011 - Todays date 4/17/2011 

However, I am not done!!  I still have 30- 40 lbs to go......

I feel better, starting to look better and maybe I won't be afraid of the camera.

How about that hubby of mine? He is looking GGOOOOODDD!  He feels good too and that is the best part! 

I'll be back to post pictures from the weekend.  We camped in Johnson Valley.  

Goodbye for now! =)

Stuff!

 Remember I told you about my trip to Simi Valley a week ago?  My sister in law gave Hannah a trim and some wispy bangs!  I love it, she looks so cute.  Now the hair that fell into her face all the time (because she WON'T keep a hair pretty in) no longer is in her eyes and covering her beautiful face!

Kent says she looks like Gretel this way.

Seriously, could she be any cuter??

 I made these on Sunday for Amy.  I think its her favorite food ever!

So when I make these....

 She looks like this!

It's actually gross how covered she is in sauce.  But she is one happy girl!

Hope you are all having a great week.  The weekend is almost here! =)

Some new bling

 I have been trying to get pictures out of my phone and still cannot! Sucks!

Well, there is a little one in our house that has some new bling.

I have some cute pictures of this little cutie in my phone but you'll probably never see them.

So instead you get this! 

Yep, she is sporting some new bling on her teeth aka braces!

We had an appointment with Corona's favorite Orthodontist, Dr. John Pearson.  Amy asked if he could fix the front teeth because of the spaces and he said sure.  So while we were on Spring break, she got a few braces placed.  She loves them!!  She has been doing so well, I am so proud of her.  She even takes her toothbrush to school and brushes after lunch!

After these cuties showered Amy help Hannah into her Pj's, well she actually helped her into her pj's.  Hannah is wearing one of Amy's nightgowns! Its a small or size 4-5 in little girls.  Hannah loves it and wanted to sleep in it.  So she did.  These to nightgowns are the same size look how funny the difference is on each kid.

It's suppose to be wordless Wednesday, sorry I guess I am too wordy today!

HG Lasagna Cupcakes

Are you a Hungry Girl?

I am!

I just bought the new HG cook book on Friday and am so happy I did. I have made Egg mugs, grilled cheese sandwiches and now Lasagna Cupcakes.

If you don't have this cook book and you are missing out.

Not only does the food taste great but its a healthier way of cooking.

 Turkey, oinons, crushed tomatos, garlic and italian seasoning

Spinach, nutmeg, salt, egg substitue, fat free cottage cheese (but the recipe calls for fat free ricotta)

 getting ready for the second layer

 Oven ready

Out of the oven

 Onto the plate!

(The above picture is what I ran over to my in laws so they could enjoy the yummy goodness too).

Seriously people these were so good.  

1 cupcake = 165 calories, 4.75g fat, 390 mg sodium, 14g carbs, 1.25g fiber, 3g sugars, 15g protein.  

Mine might be slightly different because I used fat free cottage cheese instead of the fat free ricotta and I used Trader Joes lite mozzarella cheese instead of part skim mozzarella.

Ingredients:

12 ounces raw lean ground turkey

1/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms (I didn't put in mine because I kids hate mushrooms)

one 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic divided (I used 3 gloves minced)

1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning

one 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained

1 1/2 cups fat free ricotta cheese ( I used fat free cottage cheese)

1/4 cup fat free liquid egg substitute (I used 100% egg whites)

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

24 small square wonton wrappers

 1/2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella Cheese ( I used lite mozzarella cheese)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to med- high heat on the stove add turkey and season with 1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Cook and crumble until no longer pink.  ad onions, mushrooms , stirring often cook until veggies are soft and turkey is fully cooked.  Reduce heat to low and add crushed tomatoes, garlic and italian seasoning, stirring occasionally and simmer for about 10 minutes.

In a bowl combine spinach, ricotta cheese, egg substitute, nutmeg, salt, garlic.  Mix well and set aside.

Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with non stick cooking spray and press a wonton in each cup of the pan.  Evenly distribute about half of the ricotta mixture into each cup and then half the meat mixture on top of the ricotta and a tablespoon of the mozzarella.  Place another wonton on top of that and layer again with the rest of the ricotta mixture and the meat mixture.  Top off with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella.

Bake in oven until cheese has melted and the edges are browned about 10 minutes, allow to cool. Transfer to a plate and eat up!!

Knitting

Remember a couple of posts ago, when I went to the river?  I am still trying to get those pictures out of my phone.  Not sure why but I can't get them to download to my computer.  Anyway, when we were there my mom had been knitting hats.  Amy thought it looked like fun and so my mom showed her how to make one.  Then she sent us home with a few of the items she needed and instructed to return them to her in Simi last Friday.  So Amy worked on the hat and finished it.  We also went to Simi Valley on Friday to return the stuff to my mom and have her help Amy finish the hat.

Yep, this is the knitted hat Amy made for her doll.  She did a great job and is VERY proud of herself.

Thanks Nana for teaching her to do this and for making me drive up to see you Friday.  It was a fun day.   

UPDATE on 17 day diet.  I am still going strong, I have incorporated more walking into my life and tonight we even played tennis.  I am down 28 lbs. 

Trouble blogging this month.

Yep, its April 9th and this is only my 2nd post of the month.  What the heck?  I am having trouble getting motivated to blog, take pictures etc.

Anyway, on wednesday we went to Knott's again with the Hoppocks.  We had a blast and I took a whopping 4 pictures!

The Rapid ride, the girls got wet but only Shelby got SOAKED! 

 Hannah watching the girls go by.

 Then on Friday we headed up to Simi Valley to visit my family.  We went to my brothers house and my sister in law gave Amy a hair cut took about 5 inches off and then she trimmed Hannah's hair and cut her some wispy bangs.  A couple of weeks ago we had some bad weather and a huge avocado tree in their back yard fell over just missing their house. this is part of the tree that still needs to be cut.

 Check out my piles of firewood!  Kent and I just have to go back to pick it up! 

 2nd pile, plus the tree the kids are standing on will be mine too.  =)

 My fabulous sister in law racking up the dead leaves.

 Kids on the rest of my fire wood!

 Samantha and Hannah. 

 My brother Tim and my daddy.

Thats it from Simi! I know not very exciting.  Hopefully my blogging gene will return soon.!!

April 1st!

Can you believe its April?

I just can't believe it.  We headed to the river for the weekend.  We took my car instead of the excursion to save on gas.  It was a long trip there.  The girls were bored the jetta is much smaller then the excursion. NO Tv/ movie for them to watch.  The list goes on and on.  Somewhere on the 40 in the middle of nowhere, Hannah peed in her carseat, the girls were finally giggling and I guess she had a full bladder.  She doesn't have accidents anymore.  We drove for a while, the fener rest area was closed so we exited at the next off ramp.  Very desolate, there was a gas station in the distance.  So we stopped.  I don't recommend this place at night or if you were traveling alone.  It was pretty creepy and the people there really creepy.  I am thinking nothing good comes from this place.  However, I was so angry and tired and cramped that I don't think anyone would have messed with me.  So cleaned up Hannah and the car seat the best I could put her back in the car and on our way again to the river.  We finally made it, but we still had a long night ahead.  Hannah was out of sorts, she had trouble sleeping and in our bed. Then the other bed with Amy and back again. 

Saturday we woke up and went to breakfast.  Fixed the tire on the boat trailer and just hung out.  We went over to see my mom while Kent got a hair cut.  We took the girls to the river to let them swim and the park to climb.  I have a few pictures on my phone so I will download them for another time.

We went to dinner with my parents, my uncle Kent and my cousin's hubby Slaven who were here for the weekend to ride the rhinos and shoot the guns with my dad.

Amy with Rusty

Stinker hannah 

 On Sunday we went to a place called Lazy Harry's for breakfast, a dive but the food was ok.  Anyway we saw the Arizona memorial.  Never had seen it before.

 It was very pretty.

 One side of the walk way was the memorial and the other side was the river.  the weather was beautiful and I was wishing we had our excursion so we could have taken the boat out.

 I think our flag is the pretties of all the flags.  What do you think?

 Then we headed over to my parents again and watch them clean the guns.  

 Papa let the girls help!

 We went to Laughlin and shopped in the mall.  I wanted to the girls picture with the easter bunny but he wasn't there yet.  So I bought these at OshKosh.

It turned out to be a fun weekend after  rough start.  We left about 7:30 p.m. and I drove us home.  I think I liked it cause that made Kent n Charge of the girls. ;)