Blue Popcorn!

Food can even bring siblings together! Like so:

Cam saw this blue popcorn at the grocery and we simply had to have it! I mean, what could possibly be more awesome than BLUE popcorn?!? (It reminded me of Blue's Clues all the way.)

And it turned our mouths and fingers blue! I feel like a child again! <3

Fish Tacos

It has come to my attention, that posting pictures about food on the Internet is a bit...shall we say, cliche. Or even- dare I say it?- obnoxious! =O

I have noticed that I post about food a lot on this blog. But what can I saw? I am the spawn of two amazing cooks. So naturally, food is a big part of my life. And that's really why I post pictures of food on here. I think food brings people together. We are constantly eating together, inviting others to eat with us, joking, conversing, talking about deep things. They say, that in literature, whenever the characters eat together, a communion is taking place. Not necessarily a religious communion, but a communion of spirits. And I think it's awesome that consummation of biodegradable products can bring people together in such a deep way.

In California, Milea and I met up and we visited cooperative housing at the college she is attending in the fall. And there was one guy we talked to who held the same view: food brings people together. He is working on an agricultural degree and he really hopes to work with food or educate people about food. He was an interesting guy and I loved his take on food, and I realized that he was right. It does bring us together!

So that is why I post pictures of food on this blog: because food is an important part of our life and it brings us together.

These are some fish tacos dad made for us. The menu for the Tyler Tacqueria is almost complete! (Just kidding- but we do almost have enough recipes to open a Mexican restaurant. How cool would that be?)

Scott and Suzanne's!

We had a lovely evening at Scott and Suzanne's. I told Scott about my collegeplus studies and future plans. We exchanged jokes and stories. Ate some delicious Chinese food (We ate it all week, but I never tired of it.) And I think I speak for both of us, when I say we left their house feeling very refreshed! Love my godparents! <3

Grandma's Apartment

So I will be really honest here (I can be honest on my own blog right?), my grandma's apartment is kind of.... Boring. I feel like a reverse hermit, stealing away to the Atrium to get on the wifi to check my email and cruise the Internet and make phone calls to a certain Someone... ;) I spend a lot of time here. In fact, I am here right now!

So I've found myself with a lot of time to kill. And it is during these times that I find myself doing strange goofy things. Like snapping pictures of myself (not my most favorite thing- makes me feel ridiculous and yet, as any self respecting teenager would do, I do it anyways.) wearing big sunglasses .

Or writing poems about Flower people:

"A row of Terra Cotta houses,
Made of small flower pots,
Where the flower people,
Sing their songs,
And their music is not sung with words,
But with water,
In a never ending liquid dance,
Of sound from their throats."

And pillaging things from the FREE TABLE!!! There is so much to say about the free table. It is quite a novelty . You just add things you don't want and take things you do. People just come and go. There is always a few items there. (Except now, because the room is being occupied by a group of coupon clipping ladies.)

I like cruising by it, just for kicks. And Free is the best price anyways. (Even better than thrifting!) The other day, I was doing laundry and as I passed by, I saw a beautiful black skirt with white embroidery and beading on it... I snatched it up!

And then, I pulled out mom's sewing machine and I made a few snips here and sewed a few lines there and in thirty minutes, I had myself a dress!! I'll post the before and after pictures from my camera once I get home. It looks great!

For now, I have provided a cellphone picture that makes it look purple.

 BEFORE:

 AFTER:

 Gotta Love DIYs! I did this from a tutorial:

from this blog

Unfortunately, I cannot take any credit for the genius idea. But I loved the way it turned out!!

Sunny Sunday Morning!

The chill of Saturday had thankfully warmed up by Sunday morning. We showed mr. Sun our gratitude by chillin on the beach all day.

The boys were busy jumping in the surf, finding cool seashells, and digging their hole to china. The adults hung out and talked and I floated in between. I flew a kite for a little while. Tried to bribe one of the boys to find me a sand dollar once Dylan found one; it didn't work.

Uncle Brian, Dad and I ended up people watching the boardwalk and eating chips and guacamole for most of the afternoon. It was nice.

And I can't forget the squid fries. These wonderful things were the ones that started them all. (Maybe you remember when I wrote about squid fries a year or so ago. These were even better!)

 And just for kicks, the three of us had to try on the teeniest pair of sunglasses in the house. (They were Jack"s.) I ended up borrowing them for people watching.

 All in all, the trip was purdy nice. Maybe a little short, but it just gives us all the more reason to go back again someday.

The Zoo

This is probably one of those posts which I will return to, once home, and add a bunch of (better) pictures from the real camera. I left my phone in the car on accident and didn't realize it til we'd gotten inside the park, so these pictures are from my dad's phone.

But we had a fun time at the zoo. We ended up riding the trolley around the whole park and snapping pictures of the animals. It was rather fortunate that they let us stand up on the ride (we sat at the top of a double decker bus), as the boys would've been dreadfully disappointed at the number of things they would not have seen. As it was, Jack in front of me kept scaring me, he was so close to the rail! I kept sticking my hand out to steady him now and again.

The monkey exhibit(s) were, by far, the greatest and most exciting. Simply because they were the most active animals and entertaining to watch. (Plus they are my favorite animal.) Alas, we did not get many quality pictures of them. ("Quality" being the operative word here.)

Dad brought me and Cam back to the hotel after the zoo. (We were pretty much fried by the time we reached the monkey exhibit and I'd seen what I wanted to see, so there wasn't much point in staying longer. We'll just have to go back. Brian, Nancy, and the kids ended up staying a while longer). At the hotel, we lounged around, attempted cooking popcorn in the room's crappy microwave, watched the tail end of Indiana Jones (Temple of Doom, if I recall) on cable, and I blogged on Bernard about the road trip until we left for dinner. (which is why I am blogging now, late at night, with my eyes drooping. It's amazing I can focus at all right now.)

I will probably add a few more details regarding the exhibits (because the place was huge and this dinky little post does not do it justice in any sense of the word) when I add pictures. For now, this will do.

Enjoy some pictures:

The Boardwalk

There were lots of interesting things to see and do along the boardwalk and down the street from Uncle Brian and Aunt Nancy's rental house.

After visiting for a little while and letting the kids romp around in the sand for a little bit, we took a walk together.

We saw flowers that looked like birds, a motorized bicycle "gang," a Pomeranian that looked like it was attacked by a hair dryer... We looked into a few shops and saw all manner of dirty t shirts. We stopped to admire the wave house (they simulated waves to teach surfing) and a rollercoaster. And it was as we hiked back that we realized how far we'd really gone. It turned out to be quite far, and we probably walked about a mile and a half just this morning. Fun stuff.

Road Trip!!

So maybe a six hour drive to San Diego for a day and a half's worth of fun wasn't our greatest idea ever... But in my mind, the adventure is worth it.

Things I have learned:

-Cameron does not like his picture taken.

-However, you can snap a picture of him if you wait a sufficient amount of time until he is busy doing something else.

-how to drive at high speeds on a freeway in the wind. (and all this at night)

-"Party Rockers" and "I'm Sexy and I know it" are by the same band. (for some reason, I didn't know this)

The trip was pretty exciting. I drove for an hour and a half into Yuma. Cameron composed his own rendition of "I'm Sexy and I Know It" only it was the window washing edition. (Think, "ahh girl, look at this window...")

Coming from Yuma, we met up with some snow!! Dad said it was like the millennium falcon scene in Star Wars. (But please don't ask me which scene that is, because I honestly don't remember.)

And because I don't have a "real" computer for the weekend and Bernard does not have a memory card slot, I am resigned to posting crappy cellphone photos to document this experience. And the formatting is a little funky, but I can edit it when I get home. This is what I get for blogging on an iPhone app when I'm on an iPad. (Unfortunately, there is not an adequate app for blogging made for the iPad.)

Dark cellphone picture of dad giving me "the look" for snapping a photo.

Easter!

Our Easter began with an incredible sunrise service at a park downtown. It was very refreshing.

Funny story though, on the way there, the police had blocked off the road diverting traffic into a neighborhood. It didn't appear to be an accident as there were no cars nearby. The only explanation we could offer was a possible Denny's holdup(?). Unlikely, but no other explanation presented itself and we were busy winding our way through the unfamiliar neighborhood. Turned out that there was NO WAY OUT! So we had to go back the way we came. We ended up being five minutes late. But the service was totally worth it.

I'll admit, it was kind of the first time I'd really thought about the crucifixion all weekend. It didn't set in as heavily this year as in other years. I think part of it was due to the fact that I got wrapped up around all the little details of the weekend.

After the service, we went out to breakfast with Stacey and Bruce. Good conversation and company all around.

I worked in Sunday school with the kids at church. We had a blast talking about how Jesus forgave sins and the Holy spirit. We made "fruit of the spirit" juice and Ms. Jessica compared the holy spirit to burping! Not an analogy those kids will forget anytime soon, I'm sure! (Their poor parents; I can't imagine!)

He tried to get out of the picture, but I got him!

We spent the afternoon together on the porch once the chores were done. Dad played guitar while I wrote some poetry. Cam came out after a while and mom was weeding while we sang along to dad's strumming. It all reminded me of a country family on a summer's day. I felt so happy.

The poem I wrote went like this:

Listen.
Someone cries in the darkness.
I could not forget those cold bitter nights.
But today-- life is married to death,
In a beautiful picture of love.
Soft yellow sunshine beams light up our mornings,
Flowers spring up from barren ground-
A glimpse of nature's golden smile,
And a thousand tiny stars twinkle above earth,
Whispering, "He is risen!"

This is my easter dress!

The afternoon was leisurely and enjoyable and relaxing. Followed by it was a fantastic dinner with even more pleasurable company and conversation. Altogether, a perfect day if I do say so myself!

I Love My Church Family!

Today was our Annual Celebration! (Which for those of you who don't know, commemorates the beginning of our church. We had a short church service, in which several people (including myself) gave testimonies about what God has been doing in the last year.

Then in the afternoon, we went out to the Puffers for a big party! And as I looked around, I struck me, not for the first time, how much I really love my church family.

Good old Knock out. The classic basketball game that guys get bored with while girls love it to death. The object is to stay in as long as possible. And you can get people out if you are behind them and you make your ball in the hoop before they do. (But of course, the person at the front of the line gets to make the first shot, before the second person can make theirs.)

 Lenea is a doll! She was praying for her dinner and it was so cute! My heart melted!

 The Elder Team!

 Jake keeping the little ones busy!

Praying over the elders..

All in all, it was a wonderful day full of fun and fellowship and LOTS of good food!