D'oh!

There's nothing like a fresh loaf of bread. Straight out of the oven, glistening with butter, it's enough to make me swoon.


Homemade bread was my first love you know. I used to make bread all the time growing up but sadly, I haven't even attempted it since I've been married. I love baking.


(And not just for the excuse to wear an apron).


I've been thinking about bread a lot lately and the relationship we once had and last Sunday I thought it was about time I rekindle our flame!


I baked bread.


Everything was going well. The apron, the ingredients, the Kitchen Aid.




Oh yeah,

the Kitchen Aid.


I've never made bread with a Kitchen Aid before. I guess it's not made to hold 9 cups of flour.


That became apparent only after the sheet of flour erupted, covering everything within 2 feet of it's premises.







Just a small set back, but this scene is not unfamiliar to me. My husband knows that when I'm baking in the kitchen it's always best to stay out until I'm finished.


It gets messy.


Real messy.


So I ended up kneading the dough by hand and everything was fine.




After the dough raised, and after Al just HAD to punch it down eleven times, it was time to roll it out.





I divided the dough in two, one for a plain loaf and one for my personal favorite, a cinnamon loaf!


You've always got to make at least one cinnamon loaf.


Always.


For the cinnamon goodness, you brush the dough with butter.





And cover it with cinnamon and sugar.


A ton of cinnamon and sugar. The more the better.




Then, you roll it up and throw it in a loaf pan.




Doesn't that look perfect? Wow, I didn't realize I still had it in me but, as you can see, that is one perfect rolled pile of dough!


I was excited, everything was going great. In the oven it went and filled my house with the smell of warm cinnamon and sugar.


Mmmmmm...


And then out of the oven came the most perfect loaf:






Mwwaaahh!






Okay okay, that's not how mine turned out at all.


More like this lumpy pile if crap:




(As you can see, I'm a little rusty at the whole rolling up and pinching shut thing.)





Oh bread. Why must our love be a one way street? I love you so much yet you still find it necessary to embarrass me.


So now I feel the need to redeem myself. I want to make the most perfect loaf of bread ever, but I need the perfect bread recipe. One that is tried and true.


Tried. And. True.


I know you've got the recipe I'm looking for so com'on,


SPILL IT.

The Kick Ass Vacation

The best vacation I ever experienced was when the hubster and I went to Cancun last Jan 2008.

We stayed at the 5-star Excellence Riviera Cancun, an all inclusive, all adult resort. Yes, you read that correctly,

ALL inclusive
ALL adult

Seriously, could it be any better than that? (Said with my best Chandler impression, which doesn't sound like Chandler at all but you get the idea.)

They have 8 gourmet restaurants, 10 Bars, daily and nightly entertainment, and when you're laying out at the beach, they constantly serve you pina coladas, margaritas, and whatever your heart desires! (All included mind you!)


NO KIDS ALLOWED.


It was a week of heaven.


A vast change from the vacations that I was used to growing up. Not that my family vacations weren't fun, they were just a more budgeted type of fun. Which brings an embarrassing story to mind.


An embarrassing moment involving me? Shocking, I know.


Gosh, I was probably around 10 years old when my family went to California. We stayed in a small motel outside of Disney Land so we could walk to and from our Motel. One night we were walking back to our Motel and I remember walking directly behind my brother.


Being the good little sister I am, I started to kick the bottom of his feet as we walked. Lately this had become a habit of mine, I wasn't trying to trip him, I was just kicking the soles of his shoes straight on so his legs would kick forward as he walked.


He kept stopping while I was doing this so that instead of kicking his foot I would kick the air and the momentum of my leg would cause me to lunge forward and lose my balance. He thought this was pretty funny.


I on the other hand was getting very irritated. So I started plotting my revenge as we continued walking. I was planning to catch him off guard and kick the bottom of his foot with so much force that his leg would fly so far in front of him that he would lunge and lose his balance.


I would show him! (Evil grin)


So I planned this kick perfectly, when he wasn't suspecting it I bent my right knee behind me to get the most momentum possible and swung my leg as hard as I could in front of me.


I remember it as if the kick was in slow motion and right before my foot was about to hit my brother's foot, he dodged out of the way and my foot continued forward and slammed into the shin of an unsuspecting man walking the opposite direction.


I just kicked a stranger as hard as I could in the shin! The man apparently didn't speak English because as he crippled over in pain he screamed at me in some foreign language that I couldn't understand. He gestured with his hands pointing at his shin and screamed something that I can only guess translated to,


"What the F***!!?!!?"


Of course I don't know for sure that this is what he yelled but what would you yell if some kid just assaulted you for no reason!


I didn't know what to do so I just said "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" and went to hide in front of my mom. I remember we just kept walking and I would peek back at the man who was still frozen in shock staring back at me.


I felt horrible! And of course blamed it on my brother, but to this day I can still see that poor man bent over holding his shin with the look of shock and pain on his face.





You can go check out Seven Clown Circus to participate in Day 3 of the Moxie Media kick off!

This Is Why I Want To Be Greek

I think this hair cut would do wonders for my complexion don't you?


Oh, and I love the food.




My Dad is in love with Greek food, Indian food, Thai food, Mediterranean food, Armenian food and basically any food that he can put in his mouth, chew, and swallow.


He grew up in Idaho and lived off of potatoes until he was 18. He was deprived when it came to food variety, when his mom made his family their first pizza pie, he thought it was completely bizarre. Pie with meat on it? He just couldn't wrap his limited palate around the idea.


So not only did he grow up eating the same monotonous food every day, but that food was usually watered down for the sake of saving the family money. He had no idea of the deliciousness the world had to offer and it wasn't until he was older with kids of his own that he learned you didn't need to water down scrambled eggs.


When I was little, my grandma was watching him make scrambled eggs for breakfast and when he started pouring water into the eggs, she asked him what the hell was he doing.


He was a little baffled and explained that he was just making scrambled eggs. My grandma gave him her famous condescending glare and told him that she only added water to make the eggs go further, you don't HAVE to put water in the eggs!


Yeah, thanks for that Grandma.



So now that he is a big boy and all growed up, he is determined to try any and all cuisines. He is now a foodie. He will try anything, he even ate chicken feet.





**Excuse me while I barf.**



So every year he takes us to the Greek Festival, which was where we went for lunch last Friday. The food is delicious but I can't pronounce a thing on my plate! I'm not even sure if I'm pronouncing gyro correctly.



**Sorry, must barf again, I just looked at those damn chicken feet.**



So we had that macaroni meat thingy that tastes almost like dessert and dinner in one and then that spinach thingy that looks like baklava and well, a bunch of other crap I'm too lazy to explain.






This is my dad's hungry face. I wouldn't let him start eating until I took pictures of our food.




Then he got really hungry and was about to cry, so I let him eat. Could you say no to that sad, sad face?




Me neither, I am determined NOT to turn into my grandmother, he's had enough deprivation in his life.

Big Pimpin'

My mom's family is very close and practises what Alex would call ridiculous traditions. We get together to celebrate birthdays and Christmas. Gasp! Who would ever do such a thing?

Absolutely ridiculous.

Well, one of those crazy traditions is a little get together we have every summer at my mom's house to eat good food and play water balloon volleyball.

Water balloon volleyball?

That's water balloon volleyball. My niece Kelsi is a little new to this water balloon thingy and didn't quite get it. I'm like "Kelsi, you have to open your eyes in order to play! I mean seriously!"

Apparently she didn't hear me.

Logan was so happy to be in charge of getting new balloons to the players. He felt pretty important, after all it is a huge responsibility!


This blonde beauty is Charlie, she was being so cute with my nephew Brolan! She also helped get the balloons to the players and did a mighty fine job.





Brolan is getting so big and is just a doll! He is so happy (as long as his mom is around) and giggly and dimply and just a joy to have around!

Since I'm Brolan's favorite aunt, he ALWAYS wants me to hold him. Seriously I can't get this kid off me! I am just that great of an aunt that babies just flock to me.

I'm like the fricken Pied Piper!

It has nothing to do with the fact that I feed them treats, it's my personality. It just comes naturally of course.





I think his mom must deprive him of anything with sugar because when he had a taste of my koolaid his inner sugar demon came out. I was innocently holding my drink in my hand when this kid would grab my wrists and with all his strength, pull the cup to his mouth spilling most of the sugary substance on his shirt. This kid is strong, I was helpless and had no choice but to let him drink from my cup.

His mom wasn't very happy with me.

I was like "Dude, it's not my fault you deprive him of such delicious sugary substances, do you see the look in his eyes? It's the sugar demons I'm telling you, you've got to tame those things!"

My brother, Brolan's dad, agreed with me of course.

Brolan wasn't the only baby there, I was so excited that I got some great pictures of these cuties! This is my cousin Jenny and her daughter. Look at these darling piggies!





And my cuz Rachael with her daughter Charlie and her 3 month old daughter Brittana.





And of course everyone knows my baby Logan. Yes he's a baby and yes he is mine even though it was my sister who actually pushed him out of her vagina. He always tells me that he wishes I was his mom. It's true, would I lie to you?



You're right, I would lie to you. He loves his beautiful Mamma.





So, like every Marsden get together it was full of smiling faces and group hugs.



My mom did a wonderful job of putting together the party, isn't she the cutest? And of course her beau Bobra was there too. We like Bob so much that we call him Bobra, at least me and Lindee do. He treats my mom like a queen so we let him hang around sometimes.









And look at my baby sister, she is all grown up with a boyfriend who shares the same name as my hubster Albert. For those of you really dense people, Albert is not my hubster's real name, it's Alex. You thought my husband's name was Albert this whole time? You are so gullible I swear!



Here's Alyse's Alex, not as cute as my Alex of course but I may be biased. He is pretty funny and makes me laugh. Look at this face, don't you just want to pinch his cheeks off? Yeah, thought so.



They made a pretty mean water balloon volley ball team. They only dropped the ballon 22 times out of 22 water balloons. Here's a great shot of Alyse's behind.





The highlight of the day for me was when my long lost neighbor Nicole came and stole me away. I haven't seen Nikki in like 7 years. For real.



We grew up living next door to eachother since we were 5 years old. Oh the stories I could tell! Mostly of me going to her house and, being the clutz that I am, breaking pretty much everything I touched. Yeah, I was that annoying neighbor kid.

Or sitting on her comforter that we were not aloud to sit on. Her mom sewed the comforter herself and declared it a "butt free" zone in hopes to keep it nice and fluffy.

And making Nikki play the Sweet Valley High board game that I loved so much and that she absolutely loathed.

And eating Ramen Noodle soup full of shredded cheese....yum!



It was so good to see her and it brought back so many memories.



And being the big pimp that I am, I just wanted to say,

"Hey boys, Nikki's single! I could totally hook you up!"

(I am SO dead.)