Birds!

So there's this hotel here that has all these different birds just wandering around in their different habitats. It's almost like being at the zoo! It's weird... but also cool because they're free roaming and totally used to millions of people everywhere so I was able to get pretty close. :)

It was so cute, everyone was in pairs!






Except this guy. But I think that's because he's cranky. No one wants to be around a cranky bird!


Also, I like this flower.

Spring!

Since spring is here and I love spring, I thought I would share some of my favorite photos that make me think of Spring. Enjoy!

"If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall." ~Nadine Stair


















"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." ~Margaret Atwood

Dogs

This weekend when I was at my parents house, (I surprised my Dad for his birthday!), I had a lot of fun hanging out with my family and my dog! Shadow (black lab/german shepherd) has been in our family since I was in third grade! He is soooo old but he doesn't act like it. He just moves a little slower :) The little dog is my parents puppy Bear. He's a weird-o.

This is Bear. He always likes to know what's going on everywhere....


Including in Shadows mouth...


Shadow, Our old dog. I love him. :)

Snorkeling!

I finally got around to going snorkeling with my new underwater camera case! It was great. Although, the water was a little murky and choppy I was still able to get a few good shots :)
Hope you like! There will definitely be more to come!







Also, on our way to snorkel we walked by this cool sand castle village! :)

Ode to a Vanilla Bean

Yesterday I spent some time in the kitchen experimenting, it was actually pretty fun. And the results were yummy!
It all started when I ran out of coffee syrup and didn't feel like forking over 10 bucks for another bottle. I found a site that said I could make my own syrup with a vanilla bean pod. It seemed pretty easy, so I went in search of a bean. When I finally found one, I was a little perturbed to find that it was almost as much as half a bottle of store bought syrup! Oh well, it was still worth a try.

Since the syrup only called for the pod, I had to figure out how to use the seeds inside the bean. I wanted to get as much use out of that thing as I could. :) Then I had a light bulb moment! Scones! When she was here, Alyssa and I made some cranberry scones. They were so good, they only lasted about 5 minutes so I decided to try my hand at baking. It was a little iffy...and sticky...but it all turned out! Yummy vanilla bean scones.

And the best part, I had a vanilla latte with a vanilla bean scone for breakfast this morning! YAY!

YUMYUMYUM

This week David and Alyssa are here visiting and Alyssa and I have been having fun making various homemade meals and goodies. (For those of you who dont know, they are my brother-in-law and sister-in-law). Anyways, Alyssa showed me this cupcake recipe she found online from The Pioneer Woman called Life By Chocolate and let me tell you, they are the most amazing cupcakes oozing with chocolatey goodness that you will ever eat! Did I mention that we made them completely from SCRATCH! Oh yes, we are that good.... :D hehe
I took some pics of the process because I thought it was worth documenting, seriously my mouth is watering just writing about them!


Yes, those are Hersheys Kisses!


After they were done baking we dunked them in this. Chocolate Ganache! (We melted baking chocolate, more kisses, and some Nesquick with hot whipping cream!)


The Finished Product.

A Saturday afternoon hike

Stephen and I decided we needed to get out of the city and see some countryside so these are some photos from our hike this last saturday. It was 2.4 miles total and it took us about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It basically consisted of a bunch of really steep hills that we had to climb up and down....whew! But it was fun and the view was awesome!

An uphill battle all the way


Up, up, up....


I thought it would never end


Finally! Although, it was bittersweet because we still had to go all the way back... :)