St. Patrick's Day

This Saint Patrick's Day we decked out in green for a little competition at Jester's Improv Comedy. Stefanie and Sam joined us and we all had a blast. 

What we wore:

Our cousin Mimi painted our faces. She is super talented and did an awesome job!

 She even painted on an awesome arm tattoo for Jason

Stef and Sam

Getting ready for the show

Jason and I ended up winning a free ticket each to Jester'z.

Juicing

Wow! I cannot believe I have not done any posting this year at all. I skipped so many things. Just to bring you all up to date we are doing well...busy as ever. One of our new year goals is to be healthier. Jason wanted a treadmill so bad, so I got us one for Christmas. We've been trying to exercise and eat better. I've been really into cooking and eating well lately. We've started a few new things. A friend of mine gave me some kefir grains. I won't go into details now, but it contains probiotics, like yogurt, but is even better for you. If you want to look more into it you can check out wikipedia. 

We have also started juicing, which is what this post is all about.  I've never liked the gross amount of unrecognizable ingredients and preservatives that are in things these days. If you wouldn't put it in your own food at home why would you want to buy things with it in it? 

So. I will share with you the juice recipe I came up with yesterday...

You'll need:

2 apples

About 6-8 strawberries

1 lime

1 kiwi

I washed the fruit first. Then Cut the apples in quarters. I put all the fruit in with the skin on. The skin has a lot of nutrients

Setup your juicer and don't forget to put a glass under the spout before juicing.

I start with the fruits that yield the least juice. That way the juicier fruits push the rest of the juice out. 

Stir, pour yourself a glass, and enjoy! The sooner you drink the juice the better. It loses nutrients as time passes. Drinking it within 15 minutes is ideal. But you can put it in the fridge for a day or two and it should be fine. 

Pink

What a crazy few months it has been since I last posted here. October was breast cancer awareness month. Crazy to say that my mom was diagnosed with it in October. I was able to go up and see her and also be there for surgery. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Mom is recovering from surgery and starting radiation treatment soon.

Here we are when I had just arrived and the night before surgery.

Here we were after several days of recovery after surgery in our pink ribbon hats :-)

My mom truly is a fighter! She is so positive and has so much faith in the Lord. We have all felt the strength and comfort from all of your prayers. I love my mom!

Truck sold and Imac

Yesterday Jason and I sold the truck and are officially a one car family.  Sad, but good.  It sure will save us some money. To celebrate/ make ourselves feel better we bought an imac! Yay! Here is a picture. Nice 27"! 

Cali trip part two

I decided to finally share the fun of the last few days in Cali.  We went so Sea Port Village... a favorite place of ours. 

S-mom and I had to try on some hats from the The Village Hat Shop. 

And get our regular picture.  Somehow we ended up starting a tradition to take a picture in the same outfit at the same place each time we went.  So here is this years version....

2007's version

And 2006 version :-) We might have to alter the outfit someday...the shirt was fitting a little tight this year lol.

The next day we went to Sea World.

Notice my new floppy hat from the hat shop

Fun in the Sun

These first couple days here in Cali have been very relaxing.  

Nothing better to relax than a nice jacuzzi

 Only the brave ones got into the pool (Jason and Dad)

Today we went to the beach.  

 Jay headed right for the water

While us three so called "party poopers" stayed dry in the warm sand :-)

It was a fun day in the sun...and so far no sun burns for me....thanks to the spf 55 

Baby Dax

About three weeks ago baby Dax was welcomed into our lives.  The first baby on Jason's side of the family.  I do not have pictures of Steve and Stacy, Dax's daddy and mommy.  Unfortunately Jason and I both came down with food poisoning the night Dax was born (from a rotisserie chicken from Fry's) and it put us feeling awful for about a week. So we were not there to meet him until a week later.  The doctor thought Dax would be much bigger, so naturally everyone's guesses on his weight were ranging from 8-9lbs.  But I decided to be different and guess smaller (positive attitude).  I guessed right on the dot!

Dax Michael Duarte

7 pounds 9 ounces

19" long

Born Sunday June 19th 11:52 pm

First time Grandma!

First time Grandpa

So precious! 

Proud uncle

Dax showing his 4th of July outfit with American pride

Just chillaxin' with his shades.  Look at all that hair!! We love you Dax!  You are the sweetest little boy!

Stacy's baby shower!

I am so behind in blogging.  Almost 6 weeks ago my mother-in-law and I did a baby shower for Stacy (Jason's sister).  It turned out pretty darn cute I think.  Even though it was memorial day weekend we got a pretty good turnout.  Please excuse the lack in good pictures.  

Here are three cute onesies I made for Dax. Real bad picture.

 Jason's aunt Michele did a cute candy bar

The cakes including the diaper cake I made.  To see a tutorial click here

The sign in book with the diaper fund :-)

Mini diaper cakes for the table centerpieces

Yummy food!

I got this It's a Boy Punch recipe and adapted it....so good...found here (tasty kitchen)

 The sun was leaving a glare on the camera so this is the best shot I got.  

Diaper cake tutorial

Well I am a little behind on my posts. I have Stacy's baby shower and baby Dax posts coming up soon.  I have had hardly any time or energy for trips to blog land.  Here is a quick tutorial on how to make a diaper cake.  Who knew making diapers look like a cake could be so fun?!

"Ingredients:"

One large thing of diapers (I bought a 96 pack size 3 diapers)

string or yarn (preferably white)

ribbon (an inch or thicker works best)

bottle (and other accessories if wanted)

First, split the diapers in half.  I used half for the base.  Make sure they are all facing the same direction.  Fan them out around an object.  To make them stand up like this is easier said than done. 

 Then slightly curve the diapers the way they naturally curve. Like so.

Then tie a knot around them.

 I then stuffed some diapers in the spot the bottle was because I needed it for the top layer.  Upon picking the first layer up no diapers should fall and it should generally stay together.  I had the help of an extra set of hands (thanks husby) to ensure it was tight enough.

Now repeat the first step gathering the diapers, except you will now use all the remaining diapers except 8, which will be for the third layer.  This part is harder than the first time.  There is nothing to put the diapers around and less diapers to hold each other up. 

Tie that layer together and stack on top of layer one.

 Now for the third layer I rolled the diapers and tied them individually.  

 Now tie them around the bottle.

 Add some thick ribbon.  I hot glued the end of the ribbon to itself.  This way the diapers are usable.  Or just tie the ribbon around it like I did on the other layers.  

Add buttons, giant clothespins...the possibilities are endless.