Frozen Bites of Heaven!!!!

These seedless red grapes are straight from the freezer. No sugar added, that is the FROST! These are delish, the kids and I love them, they freeze like mini popscicles and the texture is amazing! They are healthy and a very refreshing snack for my boys in the summer time!

The Super Moon!

Not Your Grandma’s Meatloaf (It’s Better)!

I am not a fan of meatloaf, it's bland and boring and not really something I enjoy eating but for some reason I was craving it, strange I know. I decided to make up my own recipe and this is what I came up with! I have to say it's out of this world! I used a base recipe that included the meat, eggs and ketchup. I pulled the rest of the ingredients out from other recipes I researched and added some cheese, because let's face it, everything is better with cheese. I added a little spice because my family loves a little heat and voila.... a masterpiece recipe!

Not Your Grandma’s Meatloaf (It’s Better)!

1 ½ pounds of ground beef or turkey (I use turkey)
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of herb seasoned stuffing mix (crushed semi-fine)
1 (1 oz) packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
¼ cup ketchup or chili sauce (I use chili sauce)
1 cup of shredded cheese (I use Colby-Jack)
½ onion finely chopped (OPTIONAL)
½ of one RED bell pepper finely chopped (OPTIONAL)
1 cup of mushrooms finely chopped (OPTIONAL)

Glaze sauce & Topping:

¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup ketchup or chili sauce
1 tsp. yellow mustard
1 tsp. of lemon juice
1 tbsp. of Siracha Hot Sauce (Optional)
1 (6 oz) can of French-fried Onions and ¼ cup of shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. In a large bowl combine meat, eggs, stuffing mix, Ranch seasoning, ketchup, cheese and diced veggies.

3. Shape into a loaf and put into a 9 x 5 loaf pan or make 8 mini loaves like I did.

4. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until cooked through (large loaf will take a bit longer)

5. While loaves are cooking make the glaze by combining brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, lemon juice and Siracha hot sauce in a small mixing bowl. Wisk well.

6. When loaves are done, remove from oven, blot grease off with a paper towel and then cover the loaves with glaze. Then sprinkle with cheese and crushed French Fried onions and return to oven to bake for about 10 more minutes.

Rodeo Fever!!!

Some of my favorite pictures from the Tucson Rodeo!

Rodeo!

I have lived in Tucson my entire life and I have never once been to the Rodeo. Today was my 36th birthday, my birthday always falls on rodeo weekend. Growing up I marched many birthdays in the Rodeo parade for Band and Poms but never have I been a spectator or cared much about it! I suppose it was because I had the rodeo in my backyard. I had plenty of dirt and horses around and I didn't really care much for either!

This year for my birthday I wanted to do something special, something different with the kids. My boys had been talking a lot about the rodeo and cowboys and horses. Carter and Grant both wore "cowboy clothes" to school for Rodeo day and they couldn't have been more excited. I love seeing them happy and excited about new things and I love spending time with them, so I got the genius idea to take them to the rodeo. I got all three of my little buckaroos dressed up in their western gear and despite my driving phobia we made our way out to south Tucson for some dirt and horse action.

It was one of the BEST times we've ever had!!! We had an absolute blast! Gabrielle and the boys loved it and so did I. I had no idea I could enjoy ropin' wranglers so much! The weather was gorgeous, not to hot. We had stadium food and lots of it: hotdogs, hamburgars, nachos, Eegees and sunflower seeds. I bought Carter a cowboy hat of his very own. Grant insisted on wearing Gabe's. Carter wore my cowboy boots and Grant wore his own pair. Both boys had on their wrangler jeans and shirts and they looked adorable. Gabrielle dressed in theme also and wore her cowboy hat... even though she let me wear it most of the time. We had to leave before the bull riding event because Gabby had to work but it didn't matter, the day was perfect and best of all, I got some AMAZING pictures!!! My birthday was wonderful. I got to spend it with my three favorite people and i got to take photographs all day long.... what could be better?

Together We Thrive!

The Newspaper in the stand reads "City Starts its sad Farewells" with the flags above lowered to half staff!

City Hall

The City Bus Stop "together we thrive"

Tucson City Court

Fox Theater

St Augustine's Cathedral

I was at work, NW hospital, the day of the mass shooting here in Tucson. I was less than 5 miles away. I was there when the tones went off and the announcement was made: "Code Triage External", which to the hospital staff meant "disaster". We didn't have any other information, we didn't know what was going on, but we knew it was bad, it was really really bad. Then slowly we started getting pieces of what was going on. First we heard there was a shooting, next it was a political gathering, then Gabrielle Giffords was shot too, and then we heard she was dead. We would later find out that she was in fact not dead but that 6 others including a 9 year old girl were. A total of 19 people were shot in a Safeway parking lot that day, and the city of Tucson began to cry. Not one person was unaffected. Everywhere you went people were talking about it. The media were everywhere. Tucson was national news, a CNN headline. All ages were touched by the loss. If you didn't personally know a victim, you at least knew someone who did, or you knew someone who was there as a first responder or a medical employee who tended to the victims. Memorials were started and funerals were planned and as a city mourned the world watched and waited with baited breath for the Congress woman to recover, to speak, to move to do anything to give us hope. As for me and my family, we were very lucky that day! Gabe was moments away from being there in that parking lot. Gabrielle's Boutineer and coursage for her Winter formal was at the Flower shop right next door to the Safeway. At 10 o'clock he was driving on his way there to pick them up for her. He could have been there, he could have had my children with him, it could have been our nightmare but thankfully it wasn't. I had a tough time in the days following the shooting, thinking a lot about what could have happened and a lot more about what actually did happen. It was right there across the street from Gabe's office, less than 100 feet from door to door, it was so close to home. Things like this just don't happen in our hometown. It was very surreal. It helped me to take pictures. I grabbed my camera, and drove downtown and captured the city at it's finest. Flags were at half staff and the memorial was in full glory, it was very sobering and very comforting.

Remember!

A memorial at University Medical Center where Gabrielle Giffords is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.