Sticky Buns 1-0-1

I found a really good recipe for sticky buns from Tiffany, a fellow blogger and friend of mine. I tried this out yesterday morning, and they are truly divine. Forget about your pre-made Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in a can, these are awesome!!! I didn't use a bundt pan like the recipe calls for, as you can see here. But it was a bit scary when I woke up in the morning (you let it sit out overnight before baking) and the rolls were overflowing off the sides of my casserole dish. I pushed the rolls back in some, gently, and it seemed to do the trick. Nothing overflowed in the oven. As a matter of fact, it didn't expand any more once it went into the oven. So, I guess you can use whatever pan you have available, but a bundt would work best.

***RECIPE:

1 bundt pan, sprayed with non-stick spray

1/2 cup nuts (pecans or walnuts work best)

16-18 Rhodes rolls (frozen dough balls)

3/4 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 box instant Butterscotch pudding

***In the bottom of the bundt pan, sprinkle the nuts. Place the frozen dough balls on top of the nuts. In a saucepan on the stove, melt butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until a light simmer forms. Pour over dough balls and nuts in bundt pan. Sprinkle half of butterscotch pudding mix over entire mixture. Cover with saran wrap and set out over night (on the counter). In the morning, bake at 350*for 25-30 minutes. Once baked, turn over onto foiled cookie sheet. Enjoy with a TALL glass of milk.

Day 3, The Final Chapter

Today was a bit of a lazy day. We slept in late (and my feet were grateful for that), and headed out to the movie theater at about 2:00 (p.m., for those of you who are wondering) and watched a movie-The Other Boleyn Girl. Talk about depressing, and it was a bit too vulgar for a PG-13 movie, I think. It left me in a depressed state of mind for like an hour. We strolled through The Parks mall until Arthur got out of work and headed to Ton's Mongolian Grill. For anyone who hasn't been to a Mongolian grill, I recommend it. Arthur and I love that place. On our way home we rented Enchanted because I hadn't seen it yet. It's a really cute movie! These pictures were taken at around midnight and we were a bit tired, just so you know...


"Smile for the camera!"


We were both supposed to be smiling, but I decided to be creative.


Doesn't Nicole look Asian?


I love this one of the both of us. I look like a baby trying to poo, and she looks like she knows it.


B-F-F

So, this was the last little fun we had left. We woke up early this morning and drove to DFW to drop her off. She made it home safely and I miss her already. I had a blast spending time with you, Nicole! Next year the party's in Utah!!!

Day 2

I'd heard a lot of great things about the Dallas World Aquarium, so that's where Nicole and I went yesterday. Bright and early we headed off for Dallas; the aquarium was pretty neat. They had more of a variety than I thought they would. Of course, it's not nearly as large as the Texas State Aquarium, but it's fairly large. I didn't include any of the photos of the monkeys or sea otters, but they were there too. Those little buggers were just to fast to get a clear shot of. My favorite thing to see was the three-toed sloth. She was just beautiful and so sweet. They had her in this open area along the pathway and I got the best shot of her pretty (and slightly weird looking) face. I now want one of my own...just kidding. Or am I? Hmmm, anyhoos, from there we took off the the Galleria where we spent the rest of the day looking around and shopping. I've never been much for a "mall" person, but I loved it! My feet are still hurting, but I had so much fun shopping with my best friend. She and I picked up a few unnecessary items and called it a day. I was exhausted! But I am ready for another day, which by the way, is our last full day left. Unfortunately, she'll be flying down to Corpus tomorrow morning. Maybe today won't pass by as quickly as yesterday did. Oh, and beware, I posted many, many pictures of the aquarium.

It wouldn't be an aquarium without sharks now would it?!?

Me and Taylor, no just kidding, just me and some random kid

I love seahorses. They're so cute!!!

This background was my favorite; the colors were so bright and cheery.

Here's the sloth. Isn't that face oddly cute. She moved soooooo slowly, she even blinked just as slow. I loved her!

These dragon seahorses were neat to watch. They're very graceful creatures.

He was just waking up here. When he was asleep, he looked like a smushed spider. Eww

Nicole was hungry in this picture, apparently. lol

She didn't end up eating him afterall. He got lucky!

This picture came out pretty neat, I think. It was in one of those archways that I took this shot.

This picture made me smile.


This bird was just chillin' here along the path, so I took a picture with him. Everyone around us then proceeded to also take pictures with him. He's looking at me like he wants to peck my eyes out, creepy.

The monstrosity on my face is one of those unnecessary items I bought from the Galleria Mall. I find them hot, with a capital H-O-T!

Nicole's Visit to Texas, Day 1

My best friend, Nicole, flew in yesterday afternoon to spend the rest of the week with me. It had been over two years since we'd seen eachother, so we couldn't wait to see eachother again. So far, it's been a blast, as always. We always have the best times together. We have a special way of making even the most ordinary of situations absolutely hilarious! I picked her up from DFW yesterday where we proceeded to Mariano's Restaurant, which is really good btw. I haven't found a good Mexican joint since I've been up here in N. Texas; so far Mariano's is my favorite. We went grocery shopping and then got a phone call my aunt. Unfortunately, she had a water leak in her restroom that needed some attending to. So, off we went to save the day! We didn't save the day, but we tried. We stepped in stinky water and tried our best to soak up the water we could. Thankfully, her visiting teacher stopped by to help. It just so happens, my aunt had a Shop-Vac in the garage; I'm so glad they found that thing. So to clarify, the picture below is of Nicole and I in the bathtub trying to clean-up after stepping in the very icky and stinky water. If there was one person in the world I was going to step in sewage with, it would be you, Nicole. Thanks for being such great company, as always. That's what friends are for...

Rub a Dub-Dub, two girls in a tub

This was supposed to be a shot of Nicole, that is until Maya decided she wanted to be in the shot as well. I love this picture!

Happy Easter

Lucky me, I got to spend this past weekend with the ones I love the most-my family. My mom and three brothers drove up from Corpus last week for an Easter visit, and unfortunately the week has come and gone. I miss them already! But it was great being together minus the fact that my Dad couldn't make it. I wish he would have been there...
We went to Six Flags on Thursday (which was the first day of spring break where it didn't rain); the park soon became too full of people that they even began to turn people away. So yeah, maybe Six flags=more fun, but too many people=less fun. I rode like two rides while I was there (I didn't stay as long as the others did), which were both kiddie rides. Whoo! Aunt Cindy and I threw in the towel at about five o'clockish. My head was pounding, ugh, and I had no intention of standing in line for two hours to only be on that ride for like one minute. No thanks! Lucky for me, I did get a season pass, so my day was not wasted. Plus, I was spending that time with my family, so that made it all worth it. I enjoyed the company, if anything. And I plan on going many, many more times before the season ends. Six Flags will see me again.
This past weekend was great, though. I hadn't attended church in a while, and I was glad to have gone when my sister and bro in-law spoke in sacrament meeting. They both gave such great talks, and I was truly touched by the spirit that they brought into that chapel. I am sure, no one else could have touched my heart more. Thank you both for an experience I hadn't felt in quite some time.
And thank you Melissa for the much needed toilet paper. We all appreciated that! Hallelujah, indeed!!! I forgot to take many pictures, the only ones I managed to take were of the girls in their Easter dresses. However, Ella would not smile for me, much less look in my general direction when I tried to take a photo of her. The little rascal...


Aunt Tara (me) and my beautiful Aubrey



This is the best picture I could get of them. At least I got half of Ella's face...



Baby Cali in her Easter dress

Happy Leprechaun Day!

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Celebrity Look-Alikes

So here I am, bored at work. I know my sister, Holly, had once done this on her blog a long time ago, but I didn't have a blog at that time and didn't get a chance to create my own until now. For those of you who haven't tried this, I highly recommend it. Some of the celebrity look alikes they find are hilarious and sometimes so off the mark.

Our Duck Pond

So our little pond across the street has had a minor facelift this past week. Along now with a gate to keep visitors out past midnight, they have put in a fountain. I quite like it, I have to say. I was walking the dogs last night, when I noticed the fountain was lit. It was so pretty that I had to take a picture. The picture looks a little foggy, though. I guess I've always had a thing for fountains. I remember one Christmas how I kept on and on about a particular fountain that I wanted. Of course, Santa got it for me; I could just lay on my bed and listen to the water all day if I could. There's just something about the sound that I find really soothing. One day, when I have my own home, I'm going to make sure to have a little pond in my yard complete with a fountain and little fishies. I miss the little fish I kept in Cindy's little pond. Those little buggers weathered several freezes, but were poisoned by leaves. Who knew leaves could be so toxic?

Preeety

Snow Flurries

So, no, we didn't get any heavy snowfall, but we got some flakes. Monday, I think it was Monday at least, we got snow flurries. Whoo hoo! And again, yesterday, we got some more snow. No real accumulation, but as you can see in the photos, there was snow on the rooftops and on my car. It's just as well I guess. It was beautiful watching the snow fall, almost magical. I didn't go outside for long, seeing as I'm sick. I've had a nasty cold for a few days now and I'm miserable. So much for enjoying my weekend. Ugh!