we love longhorn cafe!!

There is seriously no other place in this world to get a better burger than Longhorn Cafe.

It's a small little restaurant that's not a bit fancy, and in fact, it's like a hole in the wall. Blink and you miss it! But, it has THE best burgers known to mankind. I love this place more than Five Guys Burgers (which we had for the first time last week, and we have NO clue what the big hype is about Five Guys considering they only got ONE order correct out of five orders placed!).

Anyways, my dad loves this place, so we went for a "linner".. or a "dunch" (cross between a lunch + dinner) after our adventurous day at Malibu Grand Prix (don't go there!).

Sadly, all of my pictures involve my girls rolling their eyes in "ahhing" and "oohing" so they just looked... odd. This one picture is the ONLY one that turned out that didn't have weird eye expressions.

.

For my San Antonio friends... if you ever want to go, let me know! I'll go w/ you! The onion rings are to DIE for (homemade!)... but the burgers are big enough that Mike, the girls & I all have to get 2 burgers and split them in half b/c they're SO big!

bumper boats + speedway = a mad momma!

Continuing on .....

My dad went to sit in the air conditioned arcade for 3 hours while my girls & I roasted our butts off outside by waiting FOREVER for a teenager to figure out how to get people in a bumper boat (there were only 4 boats going out at a time... can you say "FUN!!!"?). I decided to pass b/c I didn't want to get water on me. Good choice.

My girls headed straight for the water being sprayed at people. Bad idea b/c they said the water smelled really bad and it was HOT water. Also bad idea? maddie didn't know how to move the darn boat, and stayed in the hot water almost the entire 5 minutes.



Here she is crying out to Katie: "How do you move this thing?" and "KATIE! COME BACK!" and "DON'T LEAVE ME!"



and just when it's time to come back in, the boat has a mind of its own, and takes off with Maddie AWAY from the deck... which starts Operation Bawl-Your-Head-Off-When-Your-Boat-Has-A-Mind-of-Its-Own.

::sigh::



We then moved onto the Speedway.. which was a joke. SERIOUSLY a joke. These cars probably ran in the '80's. Someone's car smoked white smoke all around the track, mine sputtered up and down the track (so did someone else's car)... and in the end, it wasn't fun.

But, it's for the kids, right?! Turn that frown upside down Momma!



Finally we joined Papa in the arcade, where we spent $$ on machines that took your money, didn't let you play a game, or give you two tickets for playing a 350,000 point Skeeball game. I mean, a tootsie roll is a minimum of 15 tickets! GIVE ME A BREAK!



Katie did finally find a game that spit out tickets... as usual.

I strived to take more pictures of my dad, but sadly I think I got more of his backside than his face: look at his awesome legs.

and his back!

Maddie & Papa play Air Hockey.



Oh, and just to prove to my girls in the future when they see literally NO pictures of their momma on this blog (y'know, b/c I'm always behind the camera?), that Momma did in fact show up with them on this day. The proof is there...



Me with Blondie #1
just now realizing I hate those sunglasses... need to go buy some new ones.



Me with Blondie #2
and I need to start wearing lip color again..... OK, I think I know why I never put pictures of myself on this blog.. I'm my own worst critic! But, I loved those earrings!

Overall, I had a great time seeing the smiles on their faces (well, when there WERE smiles on their faces that day!). It was hot... we were sweaty... and the service was horrible.... but it was a memory making day! :D Like I always say, look for the positive in any situation!

Signs... what do they mean?

After we got done playing mini golf ... we were hot. My dad sat down to tally up the score and I took advantage of our rest time to take some snapshots.

What I don't get is the hand signs that the girls always have to display every.single.time I take a picture. I mean... if you think about it, what does the letter V in the sign language alphabet even mean? If it's the Peace sign... let's add Maddie's scarf that has the Peace symbol all over it in tropical colors all over, or the 5 t-shirts she picked out that has PEACE written all over it, or the.....

Here's my example:



Me: "Maddie, put down that hand."



Me: "Maddie... I don't want that hand up either... PUT IT DOWN!"



Me thinking to myself: "ahhh, perfect! No V's going on here!"



Finally a great picture of Papa Rod with his blondies. He is, after all, the one who dubbed Katie "Blondie" when she was a little babe!

Mini golf + my girls == they need lessons

My dad came into town the same day that Mike left town! We enjoyed Papa Rod so much! He stayed with us from Wednesday - Tuesday, and we had a relaxing, enjoyable time. One thing I told my dad when we prepared for him coming was that on Friday, it was going to be THE day to celebrate the end of summer! He said "whatever you want to do, I'll do it!". Which could mean... we could do Sea World! or Six Flags!! or ANYTHING!

But it's been SO hot, so we nixed Sea World & Six Flags.... and instead we went to Malibu Grand Prix! We'll never go there again.. so just know I'm not in any way endorsing this horrible place, but I had no clue what it was like before we went.


We started our day off with mini golf ... on the completely run down golf course. My girls, I don't think, have EVER played mini golf. Pretty sad, huh? I say sad b/c I used to play mini golf quite a bit growing up. So.. I'm GOOD! Oh yeah... totally good. Hey, I had a HOLE IN ONE! Back to my story: I really wanted the hot pink ball. I mean REALLY wanted the hot pink ball. Maddie took it from me, so I got lime green. ::sigh:: I really like the hot colors they have now! Instead of red, blue, green, orange & yellow, they have turquoise, hot orange, lime green, flourescent yellow! Hot Pink! PURPLE! Man, those colors themselves are awesome and SO much better than my childhood days of primary colors!


I LOVE how I did Katie's hair here! I hope she'll let me do it this way again!

Maddie... uh... yeah, she got a hole in one too. After Papa Rod threw her ball into the windmill about 5 times so it would come down the pipe and land directly into the hole.



Stay tuned for more pictures of our day. Which include riding the bumper boats (which was a joke... since they didn't "bump" nor move)... and a speedway track (which was a joke since most of them slowed down to a "Sunday driver" mode when you move up the hill)... and the arcade (which was a joke because... well, you get the idea).

when katie dances....

When Katie dances, she makes funny faces.

We went mini golfing yesterday (more on that story later), and she was SO thrilled she made a 2 on a course (she was doing 5... so hitting a 2 on a course is a GREAT thing!). I don't even remember the name of the dance that she did, but it was HILARIOUS! Wished I had a camcorder!

This is what it sort of looked like:

Yep, she's got the facial expressions to match the dance....

maybe an answer to my blog question?

OK.. here's another question:

I have my screen resolution set at 1280 x 960. What is yours set at? (go to your screen, do a right click and go to settings).

Also, when you go to his gal's website.... what do you see at well? Is her side on the bottom at all for you?

I WILL get to the bottom of this! AUGH!

do me a favor!!

Tell me what my blog looks like.

Is the right side split down the middle for you?

Or, is the right side on the bottom??

Or is it just fine?

I just fixed it a bit, but want to know what it looks like for everyone else. :)

the ending to the story

I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath wondering how exactly the entire story went on.

My favorite text from Katie after I ended the previous post was "I get GREAT signal here in the bathroom!" Followed up by "can I sleep here tonight?" and then there was a "I'm moovn into the bathroom, so don't be shocked".

::rolling eyes::

On a separate thought, I decided it was time for a makeover on my blog. Gone are the days of wanting three columns. I'd rather have bigger pictures on my blog. Plus, everyone is basically reading blogs anymore via Bloglines or GoogleReader, so does anyone ever go to the actual blogs anymore??

Going back to simpler times. But, it's a work in progress, so I'm hoping I can figure out how to make tabs (anyone?), how to make my stinking HUGE header picture into a rectangle (anyone?). As for right now, I give up for the night. It was bugging me for a while to get it changed over, and now that I'm off work for 3 days, and just chillaxing with my dad & girls... I had time.

what happens when Katie...

What happens when Katie decides to have a tantrum??

She locks herself in the bathroom.

She NEVER gets mad... but when she gets mad, it's usually over something dear to her heart.

Like chocolate cake.

Yep, she had a tantrum tonight b/c her sister apparently got more cake than she did (I don't exactly use a ruler to measure my kids' portions... y'know?), and it must've been the thing that tipped it all over.... so she flung herself from the kitchen, leaving said piece of cake on the counter, and locked both doors to their bathroom.

I knocked on the door.

No answer.

I knocked the melody of "I am a Child of God" on the door in hopes she'd recognize the song.

No answer.
I'm sure by now she was rolling her eyes.

Whatever.
(holding up three fingers for W of course)
I'm in this for the long haul.
I call out "Oh Katie!! Katie Katie Kitty Kitty Kitty!!"
like I'm calling a cat.
No answer.

Finally I shoved her said piece of cake under the bathroom door.

Minutes later, the door opens, and this is what I find.

The stinker better be grateful.

and why YES! Those ARE wooden swords you see lying in the middle of my hall floor!
My girls must've done their dance.....

P.S. Just as I'm finishing this up, Katie finally exited the bathroom, gave me a "hmmmph" look and grabbed her phone. Oh... game on girl!

P.P.S She just texted me. "I am layn down in the bathtub with some towels and my pillow"
I responded with "hope you're comfy!"
and her reply? "I'm a little wet but I am comfy."
My reply? "k!"

to be continued.....

what happens when mom.....

What happens when Mom (aka me) decides she needs living, breathing people to act as stand ins while she plays with her camera?

Y'know, learning about exposure compensation, shutter speed, aperture and all this stuff ISN'T easy!!

My girls go crazy.....
that's what happens!

fun in the water

Last weekend I was over the Primary activity for our ward

so we had a "FUN IN THE SUN" activity
and it was full of WATER fun!

I had bought a ton of water balloons that were just crappy, so the girls had a grand ol' time filling them up and then going outside and throwing them at each other.

I also learned I need to bump up my ISO to a high number if I want to capture non-blurry pictures of my girls in action! These were the ONLY two pictures I got!

a riverwalk experience part 2

After we ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, we decided to take a boat ride down the river.
We have lived here two years so far, and still hadn't done what most tourist do in our city!

So we did....
and had a great time!


It was so hot though.

We went home after we were done and crashed from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. (Mike crashed until 8:00!)
The next day we took a trip to the movie theater and saw Despicable Me!!
LOVED IT!!
Course, in between all this we enjoyed wonderful movies at home and eating out...

We so enjoyed our time with Papa & Grandma N!

Never fails...
I always have a picture of Mike with his tongue sticking out at me
the NERVE!

Papa & his girls

Grandma 'n her girls

a riverwalk experience

Mike's parents came to visit us for several days a week ago.

We had a fantastic time!
One condition Papa N. told us was that we were going to do what the girls wanted to do.
And guess what? WE DID!!

We went to the Rainforest Cafe along the Riverwalk....
where we ate with the pandas
and celebrated Maddie's birthday
oh, about 4 months early.
You should've seen the look on her face when everyone came out and the waiter said "who's birthday is it?" and Papa N pointed his finger at Maddie... her expression was priceless!
It was a "whoa? Who me?! It's not my birthday!"
but she rolled with it... because HELLO! It was a LAVA cake!
They made her act like a toucan.
TOO funny!

They took two snow cone cups and told her to put it in her mouth

and move her arms up & down

so she did...
and I totally am loving her expression here just having a ball!

however, I'm scratching my head wondering what in the heck is on her shirt?!

an "august" photoshoot

I had the opportunity on Saturday morning (EARLY) to do a shoot of my coworker's daughter, named August. She was just a cute kid! She played both the trumpet & flute, but we captured her playing the trumpet and of course, playing in the water later on.

It was a fun day!

Go HERE for more pictures!

our trip... part 3

I completely forgot to come back and finish out our trip!!

Mike's friend Shaun owns property next to ours... and it's a TON of property and it's just absolutely gorgeous on his side. I'm sure ours will get there & be beautiful too .... eventually. Anyways, he's building a cabin on his land, and this last trip was my first time seeing it other than seeing it as a concrete slab. It was awesome.
All I heard was "it has a loft... and a tree inside".

OK... a tree inside?

I have to say that I think the tree inside this house is a brilliant idea. At first I was kind of thinking "huh?!" But then I saw it. It grew on me.
Plus we found some great uses for the branches.
::giggling::


Since we didn't have a shower hooked up yet, our "shower" was a mat with a hose (and a super neat attachment that made you feel like it was a shower) & you had to the great big sky with pine trees surrounding us... it was kind of a neat experience taking a shower (freezing cold shower at that!) while looking at the big dipper!
Hopefully the shower will be hooked up soon... before winter.

Since the beds were upstairs in the loft, we had to climb a ladder to get to it.
Now, I'm not a fan of ladders. So, I tried my hardest not to go up and down as much as I could. But by the end of the trip, it was no biggie....
The loft held the beds, and eventually it will have railing overlooking the living room & kitchen.
And the tree.... can't forget the tree.

I love the outside. Surrounded by gorgeous pine trees.
Course, I can't forget that Shaun also killed a copperhead somewhere.... not sure if it's anywhere near there... and Mike killed a LONG and HUGE rat snake near this area.
Then again, it's not my favorite place. I'll enjoy it from afar.

But we sure enjoyed having a refrigerator!
Here's my cute blondie getting more water.

I might have part 4.....
suffering from poison oak or ivy on my wrist from this trip.
I came home w/ some bumps on my wrist, but nothing came of it until two weeks later and now I can't stop thinking of how itching my wrist will bring me SO much relief!
Might be time to go to the doctor... Mike's calling me a wuss.
Well, he hasn't given birth. So, who's a wuss? NOT me!