Houdini has done it again!

I went home for lunch today and Toby greeted me at the door! He was very excited to see me until he saw me look at the new hole in his play-pen, to which he coward away. I had to get mad at him at first so he would know it wasn't okay (which he obviously already knew) but just look at that face! No one can stay mad at those pUpPy EyEs! I love this little guy no matter how crazy he makes me sometimes!

Toby's 1st hair cut!

Toby got his very first hair cut on Aug. 4, 2010! I wasn't very happy with it when I saw him right at first (I thought he looked a lot like a Schnauzer) but after a few hours I got used to it and now I love it! The hair on his face has fluffed up more since this picture so it's round and super cute! Now that his hair is short he looks bigger which is weird but I think it's just because you can actually see his body! Regardless of his cut he's still pretty darn cute!

A day at "hOgLe ZoO"!

Us and 2 of our good friends decided to have a day at the Zoo on Aug. 7, 2010. We had so much fun! Marcel and I love looking at all of the animals and enjoying the atmosphere. Who says you need kids to go and enjoy a day at the Zoo?! ;)

Our favorite is probably the silly monkeys! They always crack us up!

They have an adorable baby elephant named Zuri! Baby Zuri is a female African elephant born to Utah's Hogle Zoo on August 10, 2009. She is very silly to watch because she is so playful! It was so cute watching her use her little trunk to eat the hay and push her toys around!

The felines are awesome too! They are usually pretty lazy but they're still fun to look at. Marcel tells me that the only way we will ever get a cat is if it is a lion or tiger! Geez....! The wolfs are HUGE compared to a normal dog. I compared them to Storm and Demon and those wolfs tower over them! They are beautiful though.

Birds are very silly! Along with seeing them throughout the Zoo we were able to enjoy the bird show! It was so neat seeing all the different birds and the tricks they can do. They even have a parrot that talks and sings a bit! So much fun!

Most of the critters are pretty cute! The one in the picture to the top left looks like a little vampire! Kinda creepy. The bats (bottom left) were pretty big. They also stunk REALLY bad! Marianne, one of the friends with us, is pregnant and she almost lost her breakfast to that awful smell (as did the rest of us)!

Marcel's good at getting these close-up pictures of the reptiles. There was a little lizard he was trying to get a picture of (not pictured here) that kept following the camera along and trying to attack it through the glass! I've never seen one do that before so it was funny to see!

Here are the friends we went with, Marianne (Manny) & Alex. Our camera stopped working towards the end of the day so I didn't have a chance to get a pic. of them there so this is one of their engagements! Our picture was the last one the camera worked for so that's us in the back seat on our way to lunch!

For lunch we all agreed to go to

You can NEVER go wrong with Olive Garden! Oh man I love eating at this place! I love their salad and I've never been disappointed with anything I've tried. My latest favorite is the "Lasagna Fritta". It's actually on the appetizer part of the menu but there's enough to fill one person up. It is SOOO delicious! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it, Mmmmm....! :) It just melts in your mouth and is so very yummy! The description reads: "Parmesan-breaded lasagna pieces, fried and served over Alfredo sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese and marinara sauce". If you have never tried this, you should!

Over all we had a great day! We even ended it by looking around Cabela's for a bit before heading home (that's where we met up with our friends to car pool to the Zoo)! Good times!

Happy B-Day Marcel!

For Marcel's 26th birthday he mentioned that he wanted a "Minion" cake. So being the wife that I am I thought I'd give it a shot! I was pretty excited about the way it turned out!

CAKE: I mixed yellow cake batter together, separated it, colored the separated mix with food coloring, swirled it back together for a rainbow type affect and threw together a random design. I made the frosting and separated it for different colors. I had also bought tons of candy so I used Nerds for sprinkles, Jawbreakers around the base and Skittles around the top.

MINIONS: I used regular Hostess Twinkies, froze then cut them for different heights, used blue colored frosting for overalls, stuck googlie eyes on with frosting, for the hair, glasses and arms I used pipe cleaner, the feet were junior mints, their mouths were chocolate frosting and I used cut wooden skewers to stick them on the cake so they wouldn't fall over.

SIGN: I cut wooden skewer sticks to the desired length, got scrapbook paper which I just tore the edges for the effect it has, and sticker letters. I taped the paper to the skewers, stuck them into the minions and wrapped their hands around it to look like they're holding them!

Even though it doesn't really look like it, this cake took up most of my day to make but the end result was totally worth it!

VIOLA! Before I would let Marcel see it I grabbed the camera and made him close his eyes until I was ready. This is the look that was on his face when he opened his eyes and saw it for the first time! Needless to say he was surprised because he had no idea I was making it and he absolutely loved it!

To celebrate his birthday we decided to go up to my families cabin in Faiview for the weekend with our families! We all headed up on Saturday (7/24/10) in the early afternoon. Here's Toby on our way up! He LOVES sticking his head out the window whenever we go anywhere! He has kept it out up to 68 MPH before! What a goof! Once everyone arrived we had a lunch that Suzanna and Uli provided. It was chicken salad sandwiches on croissant rolls with fruit and chips. Very yummy!
After lunch Marcel opened presents. He got a fun board game called "Blokus", 2 cool shirts and a pair of pants, some random Japanese food/goodies, and a pair of basketball shorts with a matching tank top, along with some silly cards! He loved all of it! We ended up singing happy birthday with the cake the following day, which was his actual birthday. I had stuffed 26 candles onto the cake for him to blow out and I thought I had placed all of them far enough away from the paper sign but the little sign with his name on it ended up catching on fire! He blew it out before it was completely destroyed but it gave everyone a good laugh! Everyone really enjoyed the cake. It ended up being really moist and combined with the homemade frosting and candy it was scrumptious! Pascal and Suzanna had brought up stuff to play Badmitton and Horse Shoes so we set it up in the open field across from the cabin! We had lots of fun hanging out in the great weather together and having a great time! Me and the silly birthday boy! :) After playing games for a while we decided to go to the swing! The swing is down through the trees from our cabin. We're not sure who built it or when but my siblings and I discovered it on one of our many adventures when we were younger and we've been visiting it every time we go to the cabin ever since! The swing is so old that the trees have grown around the steps they nailed to them and they've grown a bit too tall to use but the swing is still good! Toby and Jack enjoying nature! After playing outside all day some of us went back to the cabin to start cooking dinner, provided by my parents. We had delicious Angus hamburgers with yummy corn on the cob, juicy fruit and chips. While shucking corn we discovered something interesting... Yeah I know, CrAzY! None of us had ever seen anything like that before! We cooked it up just the way we found it and I decided to try it. It was actually pretty good! It tasted just like the little baby corn you put on salads! All in all dinner was delicious and everyone was stuffed!

Once everyone was finished eating we all just hung around and played games, including Toby and Jack!

That night we made a fire and sat around roasting marshmallows, laughing at each others jokes and enjoying each others company. Toby was so tired from the fun filled day that he fell asleep almost instantly!

In the morning we made Mountain Man breakfast, provided by Marcel and I. For those of you who don't know, Mountain Man breakfast is really good and super easy to make. It consists of scrambled eggs, bacon (or sausage, or both!), hashbrowns and cheese! We paired this with fruit and milk/juice. After breakfast we cleaned everything up, packed all of our things, and headed home. Marcel had a great birthday and it was a fun weekend for everyone!

Houdini

So the other day Marcel came home from work to Toby greeting him at the door. This is a problem. Let's go back so that you understand exactly why....

Right after we brought Toby home we bought a play-pen to keep him in while we're gone. It worked pretty well for a while until one day he started getting out. We figured out that he was using his nails in the mesh netting to climb out. So, easy fix, we trimmed his nails! That worked for a while and then he started getting out again. We figured it was the same reason so we trimmed his nails again but he was still getting out. After putting him in the play-pen and "leaving the room", we saw that he was simply jumping out. Marcel went and got the door sized glass window that goes to our screen door and put it over the top so Toby can't jump out (and yes it does look very redneck!). It has been working very well until, like I said earlier, Marcel came home the other day and Toby was out again! Well this is what he found... Yes our little Houdini had done it again! To fix this new problem we just flipped the play-pen around so the hole is facing the wall and can no longer be used as a doggy door! So now we are just waiting until he does it again to the other side. This little guy is way too smart for his own good!

Tucanos

Marcel and I are in the Tucanos birthday club which means that every year we get 2 free meals from Tucanos (we go in April and in July). Well we decided to go on 7/27/10 and, as always, it was delicious and we ate so much that it hurt to breathe!

My absolute favorite thing they serve is most definitely the BBQ pineapple! It is always amazing and so very juicy! I wish they would just leave the entire thing at my table when we go!

My second favorite thing is the mashed potatoes. They are really YUMMY (especially if you poor the Alfredo sauce on them! It sounds odd but don't bash it until you try it!).

The best drink has got to be the Brazilian Lemonade, granted it's the only beverage I've ever tried there other than water but still! It would be pretty hard to beat!

Then you grab a handful of their scrumptious little chocolate mints on your way out the door to hobble to your car and the experience is complete! It was fun because we ended up running into my aunt Ruth and uncle Allan! They were there to "get away" as he put it! They are two great people and we don't see them nearly enough so it was really good seeing them! All in all we had a great time and I can't wait to go back again next April :)!

Stampede Weekend/Frogger Returns

The Stampede this year was as fun as it always is! On Thursday we decided to go out and watch the horse parade for a bit with Toby because he'd never seen a horse before. It was pretty entertaining to watch his face as they passed! He didn't take his eyes off of them the whole time we were out there (silly puppy)! Marcel and I got tickets to watch the rodeo that night and it didn't disappoint! For the halftime show they had two motorcyclists doing jumps and tricks off of a big ramp. I was tense the whole time because I was afraid they were going to crash, which cracked Marcel up, but they were awesome! We had a blast!

Friday Jessica came over to watch the parade with me and Toby because Marcel had to work. The parade was great this year! My dear friend Carolyn did an awesome job getting all of those entries! Also, it was fun watching all of the little kids chase after all of the candy that was thrown! That will be fun in the future when I'm watching our own kids doing that (plus then I can snatch some pieces for myself ;) )! After the parade we walked around and looked at all of the different booths. I didn't end up buying anything, not because I didn't want to, but it was still fun to look! After going home and eating some yummy Mac&Cheese for dinner I got a call from my good friend Ashley Koyle saying that they had 2 extra box seat tickets for the rodeo that night and wanted us to come so they wouldn't go to waste. So Jes and I got to go and watch the rodeo from up close! It was awesome! I also got to play with this adorable little guy almost the whole time!This is Ashley and Justin's little guy Keyson! He's such a good baby! He was just as entertaining as the rodeo! I told Marcel that we may have to pony up a little extra money next year for some box seats because it was awesome being so close to the action! After the rodeo I reluctantly gave Keyson back to Ashley and Jes and I went home and watched a movie before going to bed!

Saturday Marcel picked Austen up from my grandparents house in Holladay so he could go to the car show with us (the guys favorite part)! When they got to our house, everyone got ready and we headed over to the car show. There were a lot of awesome cars there, not as many as last year but it was still a good turn out. We hung around there for a while, walked around a few times and ran into quite a few people we know, then we headed back home to get out of the heat! Jes and Austen went home and then Marcel and I went back to look at the booths again (my favorite part)! I was determined to find a new purse that was both cute and functional but was unsuccessful in my quest :( . We did however find a new pair of awesome sunglasses for both myself and Marcel! They were only $5 each which is an awesome deal so we couldn't resist! We also got one of those lemonade twist drinks which cost $6 (Holy Moly I know)! It's a large drink and it tastes good but I personally don't think that it's $6 a cup good. Like I mentioned before it was really hot so we ended up going home soon after we purchased our lemonade to cool off inside.

We don't usually watch the bathing beauty parade but this year Marcel's sister Dani (a gorgeous 17 year old) was one of the contestants. We missed the beginning of the parade and didn't realize she was #2 so we missed her but Marcel's brother was able to snap some pictures of her on stage!

That night we were on call for the rodeo with Ambulance so we got in for free! No one got hurt so we were able to enjoy the whole rodeo and we had pretty good seats other than the fact that we were right by an entrance so people kept making Marcel scoot over so they could get up to their seats even though it WASN'T an isle! Yeah no hard feelings there at all ;)! After taking the Ambulance back to the station we went home, let Toby out and had a surprise visitor!

Yep, that's Frogger! He came back to our bug buffet! Marcel got him back in the box and took him back over to the creek. We haven't seen him again since that night so he must have found a better bug supply elsewhere! We couldn't believe he came back! It gave us a pretty good laugh!

It was so much fun going to the rodeo every night! It never gets old! We had a great weekend and can't wait for next year!

Frog Encounter!

On July 13, 2010 we were letting Toby out one last time for the night and we were surprised by a little visitor! There was a frog/toad just hanging out and indulging in some of our plentiful supply of bugs! He was pretty big (as you can see in comparison with my hand) and Toby was going crazy trying to get close enough to figure out what it was! We watched it eat bugs and hop around for a bit and then Marcel got a box from the house, ushered him in it, then we walked him across the street to the creek in the park where we let him go. Marcel said that he has never seen a frog anywhere near here the whole time he's lived here so it was a fun surprise! This frog/toad cracks me up every time I look at it because it looks so much like the Hypno-toad from the TV series "Futurama"! We would've loved to let him stay at our house and help with bug control but we were worried that he'd end up dying because of the lack of water or trying to cross the street. Also we decided to name him frogger for making it across the street (if that's where he came from) without being hit by a car!

*~DaTe NiGhT~*

Little Caesars "Hot-N-Ready" pizza, $5; Tickets for the movie "Despicable Me", $15; A great time with the love of my life and best friend, Priceless!

I had been craving Little Caesars pizza for a few weeks and we were both counting down the days for Despicable Me to come to theatres so we decided to make it a date! We didn't end up going opening night but that's okay. A few days didn't kill us ;)! It ended up being just as good, if not better than we had anticipated! We absolutely LOVED this movie! I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so we can watch it over and over (I'm as bad as a little kid)! I highly recommend this to anyone of any age!

Also can I just say as impossible as I know it is, I wanted to take the little girl in the middle (Agnes) home with me! She is SO adorable! "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die"! Haha! So cute! She, along with the minions, kept us laughing the entire time!

Trail Camera Success!

Success! Marcel picked a great spot for the trail camera. It has high traffic of deer and elk (mostly elk which is kind of a bummer because the bucks don't come around as much). Another plus is Marcel found the buck that he tried to get last year! He's the one on the left. He has been nicknamed Barricade and the one on the right is Optimus! Out of the two times we've checked the camera they've only been captured once (we got a few pictures from the one time they've been there) and Marcel thinks it's because of the elk. He believes they're still close though because this is where they were last year. I hope he's right!

Here are some silly elk! One mocking the camera and the other one saying "Cheese"!

Here's the big guy! Perhaps we can get an elk tag next year....!

There were tons of pictures so I just picked a few of the best ones to show off! Marcel is going to check it again soon so we'll see if the big bucks came back!