Showing posts with label Tribute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tribute. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Every day has been hard since I lost my grandpa two months ago but today is especially difficult because today would be my grandpa's 78th birthday. I wanted to celebrate so I bought a slice of pie and a candle. 
I came home lit the candle, we all sang him happy birthday then my son blew out the flame. 
We all miss him so much.....


Happy Birthday Grandpa, we love you!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Narayani: The Unicorn Of Nepal (Animal Conservation)

The Denver Zoo is a huge part of my families life, when the weather is nice you will find us there. We know the zoo like the back of our hands and we know most of the animals by name. My families favorite is the Pachyderms and spending as much time as we have in and around the Pachyderm house watching the giant gray creatures that live there we have gotten to know one of the zoo keepers, Dave Johnson. Dave is one amazing human being! When he isn't at the Denver Zoo taking care of our beloved hippos and rhinos he is traveling to Nepal to help with animal conservation. A few years ago Dave wrote a children's book called The Elephants Of Denver with all the proceeds from the sale of his book going to aid in the conservation efforts to save endangered animals in Nepal. Last year Dave wrote a new children's book called Narayani: The Unicorn Of Nepal to help raise more money for Nepal's conservation efforts.

We took our son to the Denver Zoo for his birthday and as a birthday gift Dave gave our son a copy of his new book. The story of Narayani is an amazing tale and the illustrations are so much fun to look at, they were all done using Dave's personal photos from Nepal. It has quickly become our families favorite book. I read it to my son almost every night and I often find him sitting in his chair looking at all the colorful pictures. 

The best part of this book is that every single penny of every single book that is purchased goes to the Rocky Mountain AAZK (American Association Of Zoo Keepers) and Nepal's Conservation.

You can find this special book in the Denver Zoo's gift shop. So if you live in Colorado or are just visiting please stop by and pick up your copy of Narayani: The Unicorn Of Nepal today and help save these majestic, endangered animals.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

March Madness Munchies

One of the things that my husband and I immediately bonded over when we started dating was our love for sports, he actually liked how I would ignore him when I was watching my Seahawks on TV...role reversal! We go to as many sports games as we can...Nuggets, Broncos, Rockies, Rapids, Avalanche, Blazers ect...and we spend pretty much the whole three weeks of March Madness and the whole NFL season parked on the couch cheering on our teams. My husband's favorite NCAA basketball team has been the Syracuse Orange since he was 13 and since their first tournament game in on today at 12:50 I thought it would be nice of me to make him a special lunch to get him pumped and ready for the game!

I made each of us an individual pepperoni basketball pizza from scratch.
(I used the same dough recipe that I used for my Chicken "Hot Pocket" recipe)

Of course we needed something refreshing to wash our pizza down with so I made these orange and blue, and kind of green, drinks using an orange SoBe and a blue Powerade.
(You can make this drink in your teams colors too, just keep in mind that the drink with the heaviest sugar content goes on the bottom!)

And for a dessert I made these cute basketball treats using Reese's and some orange frosting.



Now if you'll excuse me I have some NCAA basketball tournaments to watch with my hubby!

Happy March Madness....good luck!

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A Look Back On 2013

I seriously can not believe that another year has flown by. My mom always used to tell me "wait till your older, time will go by so fast" but of course I didn't believe her since I was a kid and time seemed to just creep by...now I get it! It seems like every time I blink another month has come and gone.

2013 was a tough year for me. I almost lost my mind between learning that my Grandpa's cancer treatment was no longer working and that there is nothing else he can do but live his life, finding out my dad will have to have open heart surgery and my husbands semi truck getting hit by another truck which gave him a severe concussion and a neck strain causing him to be out of work for 3 months now...all these were pretty hard for me to handle.

But not everything in 2013 was a negative, we did have a lot of awesome times too! I think this year was the year that I spent the most time with my family in the last 5 years, I explored more of Colorado then I have ever before and my husband and I finally made our relationship totally official!   

Here's a look back on our 2013...

 My son and I went to our first Monster Truck Rally in January and had a blast. My son even took home a checkered flag signed by all the drivers.
Our friend bought us a little pet rat which we named Buddy. Unfortunately he was a feeder rat and only lasted two days...sad!
In March my son and I made our first trip of the year out to Oregon to visit my family.
Spring in Colorado was super snowy which was awesome.
At the end of April we took a family trip to The Middle Of No Where Wyoming to visit my husband's grandmother.
In May my husband adopted a cute little lap dog for me for Mothers Day. He is now my baby and my shadow and he has helped me get through some hard times, the love from a dog has amazing healing powers.
In 2013 we went to the Denver Zoo....a lot. Its our home away from home for sure.
In July we took my mom to the Colorado Renaissance Festival when she came out to visit us. It is one of our favorite things to do.
Towards the end of July my husband and I went to his 20 year high school reunion! How time flies.
We started out August the right way by going with a group of friends to the Kid Rock, ZZ Top, Uncle Kracker concert and were given front row seats. It freaking rocked!
 The only bad part was it poured and we got soaked. It didn't stop us from having a blast though, I mean I did grow up in Oregon so rain doesn't even faze me!  
August was the month that I finally reached my first weight loss goal. I weighed 155 pounds which made my total weight loss 53 pounds.
Also In August my dad came out to visit us. He doesn't get many vacation days so it was pretty awesome having him here.
Not long after my dad left my son and I took a nice long road trip from Colorado to Oregon. 1,288 miles in a car with a toddler and a dog...not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I had the very best visit with my family in Oregon. I spent almost all my days and many of my nights at my grandparents house talking and playing games just like I used to when I was younger.
 In September Colorado was almost washed away! My son and I were in sunny, hot Oregon when all the flooding was happening in Colorado which I thought was ironic.
While in Oregon I went to my very first Oregon State game with my brother.
Also my brother and I went on a 14 mile bike ride. I was so proud of myself and it is something I will always remember. Next step Tour De France!
Towards the end of my trip my best friend and I explored Oregon's Oktoberfest...we had a blast and drank a good amount of seasonal beer. 
On the last day of my visit I went to a Western Oregon football game with my dad which brought back a lot of memories.
 A couple days after we got back from Oregon I was woken up by a phone call at 5:00 in the morning which is never good. My husbands semi truck was hit by another truck and him and his partner were being taken to the hospital. Oh the life of a truck driver.
October was the month that I started my Thrifted Twin Threads. I love doing them and they are now one of the blog posts that I look forward to the most.
Also in October I won tickets to the 30 Seconds To Mars concert from Twist & Shout which I was so stoked about. They have been one of my favorite bands for 9 years now but I hadn't seen them live until this concert.
October 19th would of been my Grandmama's 92nd birthday and to honor her on her day I made some French crepes and had a glass of Champagne.
After knowing each other for 7 years, being together for 5 and being common law married for 4 my husband and I made it totally official on October 28th which was the anniversary of our very first date 5 years ago!
  For Halloween my son decided to be Michaelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I decided to get in on the fun. This was my attempt at being Donatello in regular clothes.
December 22nd was our Fantasy Football championship and after winning 6 games in a row then losing 4 games in a row I some how managed to win the whole thing which I have never done before. I have been playing Fantasy Football for 5 years now so I was pretty excited that it was finally my year.
For Christmas my brother-in-law gave my son his first dirt bike...we are in trouble! 
On December 25th myself, my husband, our son and our 4 dogs had a relaxing Merry Christmas at home! 
And last but not least we are having a fun little camp-in at our house with our nephew for New Years. Its going to be such a great way to start 2014!  







Monday, November 11, 2013

Thank You Veterans

"The willingness of America's veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them oulasting gratitude."
-Jeff Miller

Here is a list of places with freebies for you Veterans on this Veterans Day:

1. Applebee's: Free signature entree

2. California Pizza Kitchen: Free pizza

3. Champps Americana Restaurant: Free burger and fries all day

4. Chili's: Free entree all day

5. Denny's: Free Grand Slam breakfast

6. Famous Dave's: Free two meat combo

7. Friendly's: Complimentary Big-Two-Do breakfast and coffee

8. Hoosters: Free meal up to $10.99 with any drink purchase

9. Krispy Kreme: Free donut and coffee

10. Max & Erma's: Free cheeseburger with a soup or salad and a chocolate chip cookie

11. Olive Garden: Free meal from a special menu plus the family members dining with you will get 10% off their meal.

12. On The Border: Free create your own combo menu

13. Outback Steakhouse: Free bloomin onion and drink

14. Red Robin: Free Tavern Double Burger and Bottomless Steak Fries

15. Sizzler: Free lunch until 5:00pm

16. Texas Roadhouse: Free lunch

17. TGI Friday's: Free lunch from 11:00am to 2:00pm

18. Einstein Bagels: Free bagel and shmear from 5:30am to 5:00pm

19. Golden Corral: Free buffet and beverage from 4:00pm to 9:00pm

20. Little Caesars: Free Crazy Bread

21. Starbucks: Free tall coffee

22. Village Inn: Free breakfast


Thank you for all you have done!





Friday, July 19, 2013

#alittlefishyproject

Sadly on July 16th Talia Joy Castellano lost her battle against cancer. Talia was such an inspiration to so many including myself. 
She will truly be missed.


 In honor of Talia, today July 19th, people everywhere will post a picture of a fish drawn on their wrist with the #alittlefishyproject. 
Please feel free to take part, it will truly be amazing!

#alittlefishyproject
  If you have not had the pleasure of experiencing any of Talia's YouTube videos please click this link...taliajoy18...to watch them now. She was such a happy, bubbly, fun young woman who's videos always made me smile.


Monday, May 27, 2013

Thank you....



Thank you to all of those who have served, especially those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Last Years Loves

Happy 2013! 
Yesterday I was thinking about what I hope the new year brings...vacations, adventures, friends, health, new little family members, fun times, maybe some good luck. Then I started reflecting on last year...all the fun times we have had with our families, all my home town friends visiting me, all the holidays, the hard times we stumbled on, new friends that have become some of our best friends, everything I discovered and fell in love with and everything I rediscovered and fell back in love with.

My 2012 Rediscovered Loves:

In 2012 I really fell in love with cooking, its something that makes me very happy, and I feel back in love with my crock pot (I use it at least twice a week.) In 2012 I became a lot closer to all of our family members and being around them truly brings me so much joy. In 2012 I rediscovered my love for Country Music, my iPod is now full of new and old country songs (sorry Dad.) In 2012 I became obsessed with Goodwill! I hadn't been second hand shopping for years but one trip at the beginning of 2012 totally changed my life, Goodwill is now the first place I go when I feel like shopping. 

My 2012 New Discovered Loves:


In 2012 my dad and brother introduced me to NBC's Grimm, I never miss an episode and I made a themed dinner for the Fall Finally of the show which you can find here. In 2012 a friend introduced me to Zumba and I was immediately hooked, I purchased Zumba for the Wii and get down and sweaty at least 4 times a week now. In 2012 I was given an iPad 2 and it has been attached to my hip ever since. My favorite movie in 2012 was This Means War, my husband and I watch it every time its on TV. (Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 was also a favorite but I have liked the Twilight Series since I saw Twilight for the first time 3 years ago so I didn't count it as a 2012 discovery.)


In 2012 I discovered this song by Landon Austin via Pixi2woo's YouTube channel, LoVe it!


And of course in 2012 I started this blog! I have been loving blogging and sharing everything in my life that I find fun, beautiful, yummy and exciting and I hope you are loving what I have to share.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Breast Cancer Awareness Nails

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."-Helen Keller. 

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month I wanted to paint my nails to show my support. Here is what I did:

I used Sinful Colors in Ruby Ruby, Sally Hansen in White On, Sinful Colors in Dream On and Wet n Wild in 469.

I applied two coats of Sinful Colors Dream on.

I then applied one coat of Wet n Wild's 469.

I didn't have a light pink color so I mixed Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby and Sally Hansen's White On.

With the wooden skewer I used to mix the red and white colors together I drew a ribbon in my home made pink color on my ring finger. I then applied a top coat to all of my nails.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Team USA All The Way

My family has spent every night parked on the couch cheering on all the Olympians since the 2012 Olympics started. So to show my support and love for the games I decided to give my nails a patriotic Olympic make over.
I used Sally Hansen's White Out, Sinful Colors Ciao Bella, Stop Nail's Color Nail Pen in red and Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen in white

I painted two coats of Ciao Bella on all my nails except the nail on my middle finger which I painted with two coats of White Out

I then drew red lines with the red Color Nail Pen over the White Out

Then using the white Nail Art Pen I drew the Olympic circles on my ring finger nail and painted a blue line over the White Out and red stripes on my middle nail with the Ciao Bella blue

Yea USA!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

My Tribute To A Tragedy

Two nights ago a horrible senseless tragedy accord in Aurora Colorado, a town not to far from where I live. My heart is very heavy and all the victims and their family and friends are in my thoughts. To show my support I painted a black ribbon on my ring finger, a tribute to the lives lost and all the lives affected by this horrific crime.
I used SinfulColors Black On Black, Sally Hansen White Out, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black and Sally Hansen No Chip Top Coat

I painted 2 coats of Black On Black on all my nails except my ring finger which I painted with two coats of White Out

Then using the Nail Art Pen I drew a small black ribbon then painted all my nails with the top coat


"If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them." ~The Crow