Sunday, September 18, 2011

Bake Day Sunday

     Right now our life is pretty scheduled.  Nothing new happens besides throwing in a few tests here or there in a week.  We have the same routine over and over again.  When people call and ask us what we are up to, I tell them "I will give you one guess".....homework.  Even though our life is pretty nonchalant right now, we sure do love learning.  School is intense, but we are both finally starting to feel like this $45,000 times 2 per year is starting to pay off....haha.
     Sunday is pretty much our favorite day.  Ryan and I do not study on Sunday and it is our NO School Day, just OUR day!  I look forward to Sunday once Monday starts.  I also have very little time to bake during the week so of course we have to bake on Sunday.  Today I taught Ryan how to make homemade Oreos!  They are delicious!

     This is how Ryan makes the Oreos, by siting on the couch watching football

     And the final product....

     I love pumpkin anything and since fall is here with 100 degree weather I decided that it is time to start baking the pumpkin yummies!  We made Pumpkin Whoopie Pies! (aka pumpkin oreos)  And they are really DELICIOUS!  Here is the recipe that I used.  I tried to make the frosting in this recipe but the heat down here in AZ just did not let it sit up very good so I used good ole Pillsbury cream cheese frosting.
Ryan making the batter

   
     Here are some of the pumpkin Oreos, I didn't get a picture of all of them.  We gave some to our friends who came over for Sunday dinner.  Overall it has been a great Sunday and only 7 more weeks left of school til Thanksgiving break!

We are EXPECTING......

     That's right folks, We are EXPECTING......A NEW SILVER KIA FORTE!!!!

     SO after the few thousands of dollars we had to put into Ryan's car to keep it alive and it still was not trustworthy, we decided to get a newer/trustworthy car!  We needed something that will last us for a while and be trustworthy for when we both have rotations in a year and will be driving all over the phoenix valley.   She is a lot of fun and drives like a beauty!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Skinner Treeunion Pictures

     While at the my family's reunion we were able to get a few family shots.  Here is one with all of my extended family, we are probably missing around 10 people, but I have a very good relationship with everyone of them.  That is why I love my family a ton.  My grandparents were very adamant about all of their 7 kids being close, so we will always have a reunion every year!  My dad shot this one real quick so you can tell we weren't really ready for this one....

     Next the Hess Clan, we are missing my bro-in-law and my niece, but we are definitely growing, some would say exponentially (thanks to Kindi and Kodi, haha)


     We always have to have the Sister Picture...

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Much Needed Vacation

     After a crazy first quarter of Pharmacy school, I can say I finihed with all A's, woohoo!  Only 7 more quarters to go and then a year of rotations.  I took my last final at 8 am on Thursday and then we flew to Utah at noon to start up our 10 day vacation with my side's family reunion.  I think Ryan was a little nervous.  I have a very big family on my mom's side and we are all really close and a bunch of "rednecks" in Ryan's eyes.  We usually are always camping and playing in the mountains in Idaho, but this year it was held up Provo Canyon, Utah at Timpanogus Lodge.  I personally think that I have the coolest family ever and I am pretty sure Ryan now agrees after spending a few days with them, haha.  This Reunion was unique in the fact that it was dedicated to my Grandmother who just passed away this past spring.  I was able to learn a lot about my grandparents life.

     We went to 7 Peaks swimming resort for a day.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone thought it was way hot but we enjoyed the 90 degree weather without breaking a sweat.

Jami and Harper Jo
Gunner wasn't very excited to go down the slide
     The next day we went to Timpanogus Caves in the morning.  It was a fun hike and very interesting.

Taking a drinking after the hike up

Inside the caves, Ryan looks high in this pictures
My Sister and Me
In the background Ryan is pointing to the largest Stalactite, it weighs over 2 TONS!

My niece Dakota, Jami, and I
     I just love our family reunions.  My Aunts and mom are some of the best bakers ever, so of course we ate tons and tons of food.  It is so nice to be with family.  There was a lot of chatting and late nights of sleep.
     After the reunion, we headed up to good ole Idaho!  This is my favorite time of the year, HARVEST!  I love harvest, Ryan not so much since he is pretty much allergic to anything, but I am working on that.  I love all of the rolling hills of golden grain and barley, seeing green fields of potatoes and sugar beets, and the best part is the smell of Fresh Cut Hay, nothing can beat that.  If I could find a candle that smelt like that, trust me we would have one in every room!  We headed up to Island Park to hang out in our cabins for a few days.
     I am trying to get into road biking like Ryan is.  So we took some Specialized bikes up to Island Park to take a few rides.  Lets just say the bike I road is worth more $$$$ than I am worth, like $4000 worth.


   
     I was sold after the first bike ride, the only problem is they are a little out of our price range, we will see what happens.   The next thing was Ryan trying to convince me that "Fake" Horse power aka Dirt Bikes are more fun then real horses.  Pretty sure he didn't win but they were a lot of fun.
Ryan
Jordy giving me a "pep" talk on how to ride
     We ate a lot of food and had a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying all of the trees and clean air.  We headed back home after a few days.  Ryan and I were able to take his little nephew Tanner for the morning, so we went horse riding!

     Tanner loves my horses.  It reminds me of when I was little kid and riding horses since I could walk.  I can't wait for when we are able to have our own horses for our kids to grow up on.  

Tanner on Rival and Ryan on Danny
     The horses love when Tanner comes because they get more grain then normal....


     Tanner also loves my dad's mule, so Ryan and him took a few drives out in the field...


     Then we had to water the garden....

Haha this is my favorite picture cause of how he is holding the hose!
     It was so much fun to spend the morning with Tanner and riding horses.  We played everyday!  It was such a fun vacation, but it was coming to an end as always.  We ended the week with Ryan's new niece Kennedy's baby blessing.

     It was probably the best trip to Idaho so far for myself.   We will be back in 12 weeks (after our trip to cancun, woohoo) I am so excited!

Jordy's Visit

     After the "Man Hike" Ryan's little brother Jordan and his friend Tanner came to Arizona to stay with us for a week.  Not just any week, but MY FINALS week!  I am so glad that they came, we had so much fun, but it was a little hard with studying all the time.  We started off the week with a hike up in the hills to get a whole view of the Phoenix valley
Tanner and Jordan

     We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse....
Enjoying their Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri and Ribs
Then they had to tryout the best Italian/Pizza place called Oreggano's....


For Dessert.... the best Pazookie ever!
     They also ate at Chik Filet TWICE, Tanner's first time ever eating there, and of course In-N-Out Burger.   I am totally addicted to PINTEREST!  And lets just say that Jordan and Tanner became addicted with it to so we had a few baking lessons....
Learning how to make Strawberry Lemon Bars

     We didn't get a picture of the final product but they tasted really good and looked something like this..
   
They then made Cake Balls!!!!!  They decided to make strawberry with white chocolate and sprinkles...
mixing the cake and frosting together

dipping them in the chocolate
Adding the finishing touches
     After all of the eating out and baking goodies, the boys wanted to go golfing.  Ryan took them to the golf course that he golfed on all summer long...
Ryan
Tanner 
Having too much fun driving the golf cart
     Ryan then took them to Sedona to Sliding Rock.  I unfortunately couldn't go do to a big test but they had a lot of fun and Ryan and I will for sure be going there in the near future....



Lunch Break
     The didn't even get pictures of the actual "sliding rock"part so here is a pictures of what it is like.  Its like a natural made water park.

     Last but not least, the vacation wouldn't be complete with out some 007 James Bond Nintendo 64 playing...

    Ryan and I were so glad that they came to play with us.  Those two boys are the best kids ever.  Thanks for the fun time Jordy and Tanner!