Dinner Is Served

I love following the blog by The Pioneer Woman. Earlier this week she launched an additional website for recipes called Tasty Kitchen, so of course I had to try something for dinner! I searched through thousands of options but selected Chicken Bacon Pasta Bake. Believe me, it tastes as good as it sounds! I was able to use my new, bright-red, 7-quart, ironclad baking dish, which I love. It was an authentically home-cooked meal and had everything yummy in it. It was comfort food for sure, containing onions from our garden, corn, celery, chicken, bacon, sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese all over, then popped into the oven to bake to perfection. John chipped in helping and is a Master Bacon Maker. He went back for thirds, which is always a good sign. It was delicious and fun to make. I love cooking!

Sunsets and Ants Don't Mix

My wonderful husband (golly, I start so many posts that way) found some free online courses from HP teaching me how to improve my digital photography skills. It has been so much fun to learn more techniques as well as all the functions on my camera. I love this thing! I got a Canon SD1100 IS Digital Elph about this time last year to replace my Nikon Coolpix. Avoid that one like the plague, folks! Just these past few days, I have discovered so many abilities my Canon has! Those Japanese technology gurus are on to something, I tell ya!

While watching John play church basketball last night, I thought I would sneak outside for a few minutes to try out some sunset shots (now that I finally found the hidden sunset mode that makes my life so easy!). I sat down in the grass to position my mini-tripod (a present from Charloe...thanks!) for some sky shots, and two seconds later felt some stinging on my hand. Who would have thought I would pick the only place in the entire church parking lot that had an ant nest?! I was bitten twenty times at least before I could get all the little buggers off me. I have now ceremoniously added ants to my "I Hate These Critters" List, which is constantly getting new additions. The top two list items have been there for years...1) scorpions and 2) anything with eight legs. I would have never guessed pesky ants would make number three! After completing my shots and heading inside for better light, I was amazed to see my arm all swollen from the bites. Those little guys mean business! Unfortunately, it was a business of which I wanted no part. It feels better today.

Anyhoo, the online classes teach me how to frame a shot better, how to play with the light, and how to make my photos more dynamic. I am a photo-taking maniac, so these classes have been perfect! I have learned a lot. It's nice to have a husband looking out for me all the time! I just hope my camera can keep up with all the photo-taking insanity on the way!

I Like My Siblings

It is a blessing, really, that we get along so well. Today I spent a few hours with my older sister, T'liese, and my younger brother, Jeff, shopping for some new clothes for T'liese as she begins to get all maternity-like and big (due in February...she is a planner!). We wandered around the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Paradise Bakery (Jeff had fake chicken "meat" at Panda Express). Dillard's had a purse that T'liese just had to have (it was on her shopping list). Out of the five dresses she tried on, T'liese found one dress that she liked and got it. We accidentally found the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got some treats to share while we sat to watch people. It was fun to chit-chat and "bond" with my sister and brother. She is two years older than me, and Jeff is exactly one year younger. We were very close growing up, but not just in age. We were best friends and did everything together. They both lived in Phoenix when I moved here 2.5 years ago. I am so lucky to have such fun members of my family so close! Now if the rest of them would get the hint to move to town, all would be well! You know who you are!

I like this picture with Jeffy, except it confirms that I need to brave the crazy temperatures to get more of a tan. Thanks for the lovely afternoon, Sibs!

Sin City and the Golden State

What a week! Terry and I departed late Tuesday evening with Joe and JT. We flew to Vegas, which I have never visited in the Beechjet! Even better, I had time the next day to explore The Strip! I walked up one side and down the other, and my feet still hurt! I visited the M&Ms store (no surprise there), saw the Bellagio water fountain show, and even saw monster-size pictures of Donny and Marie Osmond on the side of a casino! If that doesn't make a day worth it, I don't know what does!

That evening we flew to Van Nuys in Los Angeles. It was a late flight, as always with Joe. The following day allowed us to find a yummy Indian restaurant for lunch. I don't know if I will ever get enough Chicken Tikka Masala in me! Later, I got to see some of the airplanes of aviation legend Clay Lacy, which were showed to me by his grabber-and-feeler best friend from long ago! It was worth the occasional pinching...I got to see some amazing airplanes! We spent the rest of the day waiting for Joe and JT to arrive for our next flight...to SAN DIEGO!

I haven't been there since I was a kid, so I was very excited. Unfortunately, we had to leave early on Friday to return to Los Angeles (LAX airport this time). One of our Eclipse 500 jets met us as well with three other passengers. We hung out with pilot, Darryl, who worked at Eclipse for a year shortly after I left before being discovered by Bruce, our boss. It was fun to swap stories, and we both felt grateful that we were out of there and had great flying jobs with a wonderful company.

Joe was just having too much fun (a.k.a. working up a storm) on the road and warned us on Friday that we may stay through Saturday. He doesn't kid about stuff like that, so we prepared for another night on the road. We flew to San Francisco airport late that evening. To avoid flying over the city and waking all the sleeping people, we did a visual arrival and got to follow the bridges between San Fran and Oakland to arrive at our runway. Very fun! I have been there once but it was five years ago. It was neat to catch up on some landmarks, though I didn't have time to visit the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory. I am sure everyone involved was grateful. I could spend hours in a place that just randomly hands out chocolate! I feel fifty pounds coming on...but it would be worth it! Have you HAD Ghirardelli Chocolate?! I won't even go into detail about their hot fudge sundaes. Anyway, back to the city. Terry and I visited the Golden Gate Bridge, which was fogged over in typical summer fashion. Also, it was freezing. About half the temperature back in Phoenix!

We got back to the airport in time to prepare for our flight home. On arrival into Phoenix, we were able to overfly the airport to prepare for our landing on the south runway, which provides us the shortest taxi to the ramp at Swift Aviation. It was hot when we opened the door at the completion of our trip. Despite working through the weekend, it was yet another wonderful week at work!

Phoenix to Las Vegas to Van Nuys to San Diego to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Phoenix.