My Favorite Restaurants

Here is an old restaurant meme.  If you want to play, here are the rules:

1. Link to name of person that tagged you.

2. Include state and country you live in.

3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants.

4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged

I live in the East Valley area of Phoenix in Arizona.

1. Casanova Brothers: GREAT NY style pizza, delish pasta dishes & even desserts.  If you're looking for good Italian food in the Phoenix area, I'd say this is the place to go.  Lots of fresh, homemade menu items.  I'm a spaghetti girl, so I'll always recommend that, but they have awesome pizza ... some of my faves are cheese, veggie, & caprese.

2. Costa Vida: If you haven't been, GO!  My favorite menu item here is the veggie salad ... beans, rice, hot tortilla, guac, pico ... yum!

3. Del Taco:  As for fast food, Del Taco is probably my favorite these days.  I can feed my family for under $10 and I think Del Taco tops Taco Bell.  Let's see ... at Del Taco some of my regulars are the veggie works burrito, tostadas & crunchy tacos with beans.

4. Gecko Grill: noticing a pattern ... it's hard to find good food around here that's isn't Mexican ... but Gecko Grill is loved by all!  I love their cheese enchiladas (without onion for me), tostadas, rice, grilled fish tacos & I can't leave without a cold glass of horchata!

5. I'd have to say that the Cheesecake Factory wins my final spot.  For special occasions, I like to go get grilled Mahi-Mahi with mashed potatoes & asparagus.  I love cheesecake, so I always try to save room for dessert.  I don't think I have a favorite flavor though.  Do you?

So, now I gotta cheat.  If I could eat anything in the world right now, it would be a big ol' fat sandwich from Primanti Bro's in Pittsburgh.  They're HUGE & most definitely unique.  If you go to the Strip District location on a Saturday, even in the middle of the afternoon, be prepared to wait in a line that goes out the door & down the street!  They put the fries & coleslaw right on the sandwich ... mmm ... heaven.  I think that's what I'll be making for dinner tonight. 

So now I need to tag 5 people…

Tara Phelps

Katie Minharo

Audra Campbell

Nancy Tiffany

Sarah Marshall

I wanna know where you love to eat!  Play along, leave me a link to your blog & I'll pay you a visit!

Ashley Hall Music

About once a month, I play my violin in church.  I always play arrangements by Ashley Hall, who is in my ward.  He has a website where you can go to listen to & download his arrangements for choirs, instrumentalists, duets, etc.  All his music is free and he even has a link to other free sheet music websites ... great resource!  If you're looking for a nice musical number, take a peek at his site.

PS Ashley's arrangements are very simple & easy to put together which is nice because they can be used by a variety of people and you don't have to spend countless hours practicing.

February 21, 2007

On February 21, 2007, Peacock officially became a member of our family.  There were some intense moments in that courtroom when we thought we were going to be sent back home (a 10-12 hour car ride) without a finalized adoption.  In the end, everything worked-out in our favor that day.  We are so thankful to have a little Peacock in our family!!

Homeschooling Help

Are you a homeschooling mom or a parent who wants to supplement their child's education?  If so, check out this website!  It's free and has oodles of helps & fun stuff.  Your Pre-K through 2nd grader can work on everything from math to spelling to Spanish to art using Head of the Class.  Create a free profile & you're ready to go.  Thanks to my friend Tara for sharing this website with me!

While playing around on the Head of the Class website, I came across a link for http://www.ixl.com/ where I found even more games & lessons for grades Pre-K through 6th.

Conversation Cards

In my search for communication lesson ideas, I came across these conversation cards.  I will be printing them & putting them in a cute container for my dinner table.  If you have a coupon for 50 free prints at Costco, you can get these conversation cards for FREE! 

Here are some examples of some of the conversation cards:

Improving Communication Skills Lesson 8 Manual 2

This week I will be teaching lesson 8 which is "Improving Communication Skills".  Great lesson which I hope the girls will take & use in their everyday lives.

I like this game idea that I found on http://www.sugardoodle.net/:
"My counselor gave this lesson today and it was really, really good. She handed each of us a blank piece of paper and had us write a complete sentence. Mine was ~ The boy jumped over the moon. Then we passed that sheet of paper to the person on our right and they illustrated our sentence. Then they folded over the sentence "the boy jumped over the moon" so that just their picture was showing and passed it to their right. Then that person had to write as sentence describing what they thought that picture was saying. And then we opened them up and returned them to the original person. It was a very effective object lesson, and the girls really enjoyed it. (Shared by Angela Paladeni) "

My handout this week will be this:

I'm not sure what I'm going to attach to the handout yet, but maybe I can find some kind of candy cell phone.  Any ideas???  If you have an idea, please leave it in my comments for all to see!  :)  Or maybe just a homemade goodie would be nice.

Please feel free to use my handout in your classes as well.  Just save it to your desktop & print it from home or I recommend printing it at Costco as a 4x6 with lustre finish.  Any questions?

MIA

I must apologize for my lack of blogging this past week.  I've been outside enjoying the warm, sunny days with my little birds.  On Monday we had a bean taco picnic at the playground.  After a Dr appt. on Tuesday, we had a picnic lunch at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ.  It was almost too hot for our little hike around the water!  And we're only in Feb!!  And speaking of the Riparian Preserve, check-out THIS website for some awesome photos!  On Wednesday I had to take my Turkey to see a pediatric surgeon in Phoenix and afterwards we ate lunch outside on Bushka's patio and let the kiddies run wild for a while.  It's been a busy week and today I will spend hours working on Peacock's hair.  In my spare time, I've been homeschooling, working on YW stuff, cooking, cleaning & all kinds of other mom stuff ... it's been a good week.  For those of you who are patiently waiting for a lesson 8 handout ... it's on the way!

Halloween 2009

I know I'm way behind here, but my goal is to make some scrapbook pages this year & to actually get them printed & into a scrapbook!

That Easter Morn

Here is a sample of what you

will hear at the concert:

Living in Love & Harmony Young Women Lesson 7 Manual 2

This Sunday I will be teaching lesson #7  ... Living in Love & Harmony.

There are lots of cute ideas at http://www.sugardoodle.net/
... some that I'm considering are:

• 
  
  making homemade lemonade
• 
  
  the rope object lesson
• 
  
  having parents bring a family photo from home
• 
  
  saving time at the end to make cards

I put together a little hand-out this afternoon for the YW.   It might be fun to attach a Valentine's treat or a piece of rope (if you do that object lesson) or a box of Lemonhead candies (to go with the lemonade).  As always, I recommend printing my hand-outs at Costco with a lustre finish & this handout is 4x6 inches.

Love #5

K ... So, I was always one of those moms who vowed that we'd never own any kind of gaming system cause they're nothing but a waste of time, right?  But I have to admit that I broke down and a while back we got a Wii.  I also have to admit that I ♥ Wii.  We stick to games that are fun for the family & get-togethers or that have some educational value ... like Penguin got a Wii game for Christmas that teaches ballet.  The games that get used the most & that are the favorites are the ones that involve musical instruments ... ones like Beatles Rockband & my new ♥   ... BAND HERO!  (Way better songs than Guitar Hero!)

Love #4

If you're making Mexican food for dinner & don't have time to make fresh salsa, try El Sol Salsa.  We ♥ it at our house.  If you go to THIS LINK, you can read about some places that sell El Sol Salsa ... or you can go directly to their bakery/restaurant in Chandler, AZ.  I usually try to get mild so my kids will eat it, but the medium isn't too spicey & I'm not into spicey foods.

Love #3

At our house, we ♥ Trader Joe's A Midsummer Night's Cream.  We tried getting rid of Penguin's eczema for years and this was the only stuff that helped.  Peacock can have some very dry skin, but when we use this thick moisturizing cream, her skin is silky smooth.  One of the best things about Trader Joe's lotion ... it's cheap!  I can't remember the exact price, but I think a bottle of it is around $3.

Love #2

(Sorry I'm slow in publishing these posts!)

I ♥ my Chi hair straightener!  I've tried other brands of straighteners and I stand by my Chi ... it really does work better!  I've tried different Chi straighteners and I have to say my favorite is the cheapest Chi that I recently bought at Costco for about $30 less than I've ever seen them anywhere else ... even using coupons ... even cheaper than asking someone with a license to get you one from a beauty supply store.  (Did I mention that I ♥ Costco?)

(Thank you to styling-solutions.com for the photo since I'm too lazy to take a photo myself!)

Love #1

(Photo courtesy of charmingblooms.com)

I thought for the first two weeks in February, it would be fun to share things that I love.  I ♥ Costco!  I ♥ that I can make one stop & get everything that I need from photos to new work clothes for my hubby to dinner to DVD's.  Although I miss our Waterfront Costco where they knew my whole family by name, it's always fun to run into people that I know at my new local Costco.  If you're looking for a place to pick-up a Valentine's gift for your ♥, Costco has some great options.  I wish that I would've taken a photo, but about 3 weeks ago my sweet husband bought me some gorgeous hot pink roses ... 20 to be exact ... from Costco.  They stayed nice & beautiful on my kitchen counter for almost 3 WEEKS!!  If you're requesting flowers from your ♥, you might want to hint that you'd like some from Costco. 

I DO!!!

I think I've scrapbooked all the photos that I want to scrapbook from Emily & Tommy's wedding day.  Feels good to get those done!  Check-out the beautiful cake that one of my other sisters made.

2009 in Review

**What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

Hired a moving company to move us across the country.  It's amazing what a few guys can get done in a day!!

**Did you keep your New Years' resolutions?

Don't know that I really wrote anything down.  I have daily, weekly, monthly as well as yearly resolutions that I'm constantly making ... mostly in my head.  I tried hard at mothering, home schooling, supporting my husband, church stuff, etc.

**Did anyone close to you give birth?

My cousin Shelley gave birth to her 3rd child and several of my close friends including Natalie & Audra had babies too.  Our friend Madelyn also had a baby and gave her baby the same name as Penguin & my friend Mikelle's baby boy was given the same name as Turkey.  Kinda cool!

**Did anyone close to you die?

Jeepers ... this is awful.  Don't think so.

**What countries did you visit?

I like the good ol' U.S. of A!  Good food, clean water, toilets  .... all good stuff!

**What states did you visit?

UT, VA, PA, DC, NC & MI; Just drove through: OH, IN, IL, MO, OK, TX, NM, MD, & WV

**What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

More patience, 3 children who use the potty, & income for all 12 months

**What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Monday, August 10th ... the day we said good-bye to Pittsburgh.

**What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Job hunting & moving were probably the biggest jobs, but one acheivement that was a bit more rewarding was watching my husband walk across the stage at Heinz Hall at graduation & hearing him being called "doctor" for the first time.

**What was your biggest failure?

Bad days ... days when I have no patience.

**Did you suffer illness or injury?

Probably nothing more than a runny nose.

**What was the best thing you bought?

A big screen TV ... we are no longer watching our favorite movies on a 10-yr old tube TV!

**Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

People in society, the news, & government figures.

**Whose behavior impressed you?

This may sound weird, but I'm always impressed by Paula Deen ... she's upbeat, happy, & beautiful!

**Where did most of your money go?

Housing, utilities, food, holidays, & student loans.

**What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Graduation.

**What song will always remind you of 2009?

I probably didn't buy any CD's in 2009, so just something that I heard on the radio like:

**Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, richer, nicer?

Warmer!

 **What do you wish you'd done more of?

Spent more time with friends, played in the snow more & I always wish I would have taken more photos!

**What do you wish you'd done less of?

Looking to the future.

**How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas morning was at home and Christmas night at my parents' home.  Christmas Eve was spent with my in-laws.

**What was your favorite TV program?

American Idol ... probably the only show I watched ... at least faithfully.  Can't forget Steelers football!

**What was the best book you read in 2009?

Twilight series.  I was somewhat skeptical before reading them and I still don't really love the author's style, but all that aside I thoroughly enjoyed my Twilight reads!!

**What did you want and get?

Sell our home.

**What were your favorite films of this year?

New Moon

**What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Went to Del Taco for lunch with my mom & the kids and I think I went to Pei Wei with my family, parents & a couple siblings for dinner.

**What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

My year was pretty satisfying ... it would be nice to be a perfect person.

**How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Cozy & comfy in the winter!  Lots of jeans.

**What kept you sane?

Music ... listening to music, playing the piano & participating in symphonies.

**What drove you insane?

Potty training & drama

**What political issue stirred you the most?

Health care reform, Same-sex issues, Government spending, Abortion

**Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009

Do what is best for me & my family ... not what other people think is best.

**What are you most excited for in 2010?

Hmmm ... don't know.  I'll be an aunt for the first time (on my side of the family) this year.  I'm excited to have a newborn around!  Mostly just moving forward & progressing with life.

**What are you least excited for in 2010?

The possibility of another job change which may mean moving.

Luncheon Guests

One last page & now I'm off to bed.  Good-night!

Feel Good Song

I NEED this today!  Hope it brightens your day too!! 
Crank that volume!  :)

Cutting the Cake