Mango Mint Mojito's!

I love refreshing drinks! But especially as summer kicks off, and the fruit is so good, I love fresh fruity drinks!

I got a little confused, thought I had a recipe at home for Mango Mint Mojitos!  And alas, I did not. I just started mixing, and I liked where I ended up!

3 oz Mojito Mix (I love Rosa's)

1-2 oz Rum (I just pour)

1-2 oz Mango, fresh, Pureed

Sprig of Fresh Mint, ground

Slice of lime, Squeezed

Shaken on Ice

I didn't add any sugar, but B thought it would be better with sugar.  I let the Mango be the sugar.

Have you ever peeled a Mango?  I saw this technique in a magazine, and thought it was brilliant.  Hold the mango up with a big meat fork, like a lollipop.  Cut slices in it, and peel like a banana!  Then you can cut the meat of it out pretty easy, avoiding the center.  I then put it in my Magic Bullet, and then into the drink.  

More to come!  Enjoy!

Punta Cana 2011

Punta Cana is one of my favorite places to go.  Fresh fruit and lovely landscapes are great but lack of modern life makes it brilliant.  Sure they have internet, but you have to work at it.  Which means you aren't going to have anything to do but sit back, relax, go enjoy the locals, the beautiful water, a tropical drink and fabulous weather! This year we went with our friends Kristen & Kevin.  Here are a few photo's and then the video I put together.  The video is a little long, but I was covering memories for all of us!

Vacation Video



Family Pictures!

As part of the family get together in Dec for my grandparents Golden Anniversary we had family pictures made.

The quotes from Christmas Vacation were rolling, along with a few reenactments.  We may have been laughing too much for the photographer at some points!

My precious grandparents

My family

My cute parents

All the Aggies

The big family picture

The Q cousins - your never quite sure what's going happen next!

The Hogan family

They are so cute together.  Jamie always looks out for Dylan.

Cousins doing Blue Steal.  Look at Dylan's interpretation!

HE IS STILL HOLDING HIS NOSE LIKE THAT!

Oh, good times!

Grandparents 50th Anniversary!

In December 2010, my grandparents celebrated 50 years of marriage!  May we all be so lucky!  The whole family got together for a weekend of, well, family!

My favorite little Christmas tree -  a tradition at Gran's house.

The entire family together - top row: John, B, Susan, Mike, Diane. 2nd row: Dennie, me, Becca, Matt, Brian, Jamie.  Front: Gran, Dylan and Grandad! (more of these to be shared later)

The YUMMY cake! and a video of cutting the cake:

http://youtu.be/4KHKisS5lKM

Complete with Diane screaming "shove it in his face mom!"  haha!

The full set up!

I made Gran hold out her ring for me, and style has circled back, it's a classic!  I just love it!

 Me and Becca

Living with paparazzi again...

One camera wasn't enough for B - so he had 2...

Fun times!

Big Buddha - Oct 2010

Brandy, Cameron and I get in the cable car for the trip over and up. 

We had a glass bottom, and that is a fishing boat under us.  We were still pretty low at this point.

It was beautiful as we climbed higher, and got really nice views of the mountains.

The Big Buddha from where we started walking.

This is abut half way up the stair climb, we took pictures to cover up the much needed break!

He is HUGE!

These crazy tree's were everywhere on this mountain, and I thought they were awesome!

The view back provided a beautiful sunset over the mountains!  A great couple of hours for sure!

This is the final decent down...

Winter Fun!

We have really enjoyed our new neighborhood.  Last spring, B and our neighbor started a tradition "Front Porch Saturdays".  We don't make it every week, but we try to get together about once a month to hang out.  It has evolved to Front Porch Fridays and we had 6 families come out in April!  But back in Feb, when it iced, we all got together for sledding and winter fun!  Enjoy the little video I put together.

http://youtu.be/AyM0TkSnJhE

B & I love these girls!  especially the scream at the end!

Hawaii

Better late than never? Here's the problem with going on vacation with the paparazzi - you never get the pictures back.  They take thousands, but they don't share.  So here is the best of the pictures I took (which wasn't many - I assumed they had me covered).

Brian & Brian aka paparazzi

This is captain Scott from Blue Water Rafting.  We would absolutely do this again, and for sure request him.  Really nice, great crew. And they took us to some great spots, and gave great advice for other things to do.

 Blue Water Rafting took us the back side of the Molokini Crater - and it was BEAUTIFUL!

We also swam with giant sea turtles.  We (Brian S and I) went body surfing, but I have none of those pictures.  We also did the Road to Hana, and I have none of those.  And we did the north side of the island, and I have none of those...

 Brian S enjoying a drink at our Luau.

Me and B.

And here's the video Brian S put together of the trip. BUT don't judge me - I didn't know he was filming.  There is a moment that is REALLY awkward - I'm reenacting the guys taking a leak off the cliff.  One on each side of the cliff...

http://youtu.be/ZoagMim-6k0

We will be going back, for sure.

Aloha!