I'm Hooooooommmmeeeeeee!!!! (for a little!)

A Lesson on Reading Facial Expressions

Let's take a look back at some moments from my summer in Ecuador, shall we?! 

This is my why-am-I-here-I-haven't-had-any-solid-calories-in-days face! 

It was actually a really cool lookout and afternoon. I drove with my family through Baños and we hiked all the way down (and aaaalllllllll the way up) to see this waterfall. It was gorgeous! The hike would have been a piece of cake normally, but I had been sick the few days proceeding and was running on empty. 

I kinda just wanted to curl up and die. And I'm pretty sure I was crazy homesick at this point. I normally don't get homesick, but when I feel like shat I definitely do. 

This is my it's-noon-and-the-boys-are-already-drunk face! 

The tour of the pyramids was interesting..  the first time around. The second? Please no! Solution? ALCOHOL. Oooh goodness. Being the sober photographer was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world. 

This is my the-boys-are-drinking-at-noon-and-we're-taking-photos-with-alpacas face. 

Enough said. 

This is my how-the-heck-am-I-supposed-to-eat-all-of-this-without-dying face. . 

On Sundays my family would always cook a very large lunch as part of their family tradition or maybe just for fun. I always got up and made and ate breakfast at a pretty decent hour (7 or 8 maybe?). This particular Sunday we started cooking pretty early but didn't end up eating until around three!

My stomach went from gnawing hunger to not very hungry AT ALL. Before this plate we also had a really thick tasty soup which was already filling me up. 

I, however, shut this lunch down! It tasted incredible. I ate it all. Yeeeaaaahhhh. 

The yellow circles are llapingachos, a Ecuadorian potato and cheese cake type of thing. Holy yum! I want to make some with thanksgiving leftovers this year. 

This is a holy-wow-I-have-never-felt-more-beautiful face. 

This was near the summit of a crazy mountain/hike that I went on with one of the boys. Not only did I feel amazingly accomplished at making it this far (the total hike was over 4 hours- in the crazy Ecuador altitude. That stuff is seriously not to be messed with), but there was a group of Chinese tourists that made it even better.

They asked to have their photos taken with me. With me! Seriously I felt like a celebrity or something, and I know I looked rather sketch that afternoon (no makeup- hello!), so I'm not sure what it was. But I have honestly never felt prettier than I did when this photo was taken.

This is my I-can't-believe-it's-not-the-death-of-me face. 

Hiking up into the clouds (can you see them?!). Yeaahhhh!!!!

This is my I-am-really-super-duper-excited-but-kinda-sad-that-the-fish-had-to-die face! 

This is the first fish I have ever caught in my life! Okay, it was in a stocked pond, but the fishing rod was made of bamboo, fishing line, a hook, and raw bread dough for bait. 

It tasted soooooo good. 

This is my if-I-had-a-little-brother-this-would-be-him!!!!! face.

Steven, little man, you rock my world, and I am proud to share a birthday with you :)

This is my this-rocks-but-what-if-it-attacks-me-or-has-bird-flu face. 

There were so many different types of birds running around at the indigenous community where we stayed. They were all so cool! This one Daniel caught and it let us hold it for a little.

More Ecuadorian moments to come in the future....... :D

Baby Steps

Let's break down the steps to a happy night, shall we?

Step One:
Go to ZUMBA!

Step Two..... walk home in the rain..

Step Three: turn oven on to 400ºF and put a sweet potato (¡pierced with a fork a few times!) on tin foil on a cookie sheet and place in preheating/ed oven.

Go and take a shower for Step Four (See step one as to why)

Step Five, put some pj's on! And mix some canned black beans with some freshly cut jalapeño and cumin then microwave for 30 ish seconds until nice and tasty.

Step six! Remove Sweet tater from oven after letting it bake for 45 minutes, carefully cut in half, and put black beans and cheese on top! Then put back in oven after turning it off to let the cheese melt for a few seconds.

Step Seven= serve with sugar snap peas because they are amazing and should be renamed CRACK peas. Seriously. I can't stop!

BE HAPPY :-)

I went to town on this puppy. And now I'm eating even more snap crack peas.

Thankful, part III

I am thankful for photoshop, and all the fun it lets me have :)

I am thankful, part II

I am thankful for my Alice. 

I love you more than I ever thought I could love anything or anyone.

Get that ear up.

I am thankful, part I

I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful for my sister and best friend (in the entire universe!!!) Georgia Mae.

I look up to you more than you can ever know. You are so beautiful, intelligent, and I miss you always.

I am thankful for my mama, and other best friend.

I can only hope I'm lucky enough to grow up to be you. Thank you for always being there to Zumba with, go to yoga, talk, parent Alice, teach me how to cook and bake, plan every last detail for everything, clean house, put up with my craziness, and everything else you do so well.

I am thankful for my wonderful Daddy-o!

Thank you for instilling me with your sense of humor, drive for success, and awesome red beans and rice making skills. Thank you for making it possible for me to follow my dreams, go to college, and have a bright future to look forward to. Someday I hope to be as successful as you are.

p.s. I love it when you call me from airports. I'm always sad when I miss those calls :)

I LOVE MY FAMILY SO MUCH. 

I am so thankful for them. 

Feeling Snacky

Where has the year gone?

How is it November already?! Seriously!

Here's a bit of what I've been up to lately...

cooking eggs! One egg... two yolks.

This happened three times in a row! That's cool.

I went on a scavenger hunt of sorts. One of the items? A funny headstone. Get it?!?!

Halloween!!!!! I was a 50's pinup girl (my hat and sunglasses are inside for this photo unfortunately)

 How my friends described me (cards on the left) and my friend (on the right) using green apples to apples cards. My friend is a guy (note the feminine adjective..:)

I get to see my family and dog (!!!) in two weeks!!