The San Diego Walling Family

Thursday, March 17, 2011

St. Patrick's Day

Happy, Happy St. Patrick's day!! Today is the day to dress in green (and pinch anyone who is not), eat green snacks and speak with an Irish accent! In the spirit of this "holiday" I accessorized with the biggest green jewelery I could find in my closet (I don't seem to own any cute green clothing).

Here's a little close up of the "green-ness"...

Not only is today St. Patty's day, it was also my day to bring food to work for the appetizer club I am in. So, again, sticking with the green theme I made rice krispie treats in the shapes of shamrocks and green funfetti cupcakes. The tops of the cupcakes were decorated with piped butter cream frosting to resemble a cloud. The I took a Rolo and put yellow frosting and gold sprinkles on top, to resemble a pot o' gold. I cut multi-colored sour ropes from Sweet Factory into short strips and attempted to arc them on the top of the cupcake.

These did not quite turn out the way I had hoped. I think i was supposed to cut the sour ropes a few days ago and lay them over something round to get hard and mold into an arch, because when i put them on the cupcakes, they fell flat. After i took them into the office and dropped some off at daycare, I had a thought... "i should have stuck a tooth pick in the cupcake and under the candy to prop it up into the arch." Oh well, live and learn!

I also made green shamrock shaped rice krispie treats. Can you really go wrong with rice krispies treats? I think not. These were a HUGE pain in the butt to make, however. The cookie cutter i used kept getting really sticky, so after every one i cut, i had to clean it under hot water. It was a long process!

The end results!

Again, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs
XOXO Brogan Lee

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Florida in February

FINALLY!!!! In mid February I was able to see my hubby again!! AND... for 4 1/2 whole days! I few to Florida to see him on a Thursday night and was able to stay all the way until Tuesday. This may not seem like much time together but in comparison to the 40 hours i spent there on my last trip out, this was a DREAM! And i love our kids, but it was really nice to just have some husband/wife time. <3 Price really hates when i take a million pictures so i don't have a lot of documentation of our long weekend together, but i was able to snag a few shots when he wasn't looking. HA HA HA!!

We stayed in a town called Niceville, which basically had only a Taco Bell, a pizza joint and a few gas stations. So when we were itching to get out and do something, we had to go for a little drive... (see below, Price driving his "new" very old truck...aka his current piece of work)

The nearest town was called Destin and required a drive over a long toll bridge (approx a 25 minute drive away). The view below the bridge was pretty cool...

We were feeling a little adventurous and decided to try seafood for lunch. I have not been known to be a big seafood fan, but i thought I'd give it a try. We found what seemed to be a little "tourist" spot near the bridge that goes to Fort Walton Beach. It was called 'Crazy Lobster'. And like the few places I've been in Florida, the outdoor dining view was B-E-A-utiful!

Our sodas and lobster bibs (which Price refused to put on, but i proudly wore with my hair pulled back and my sleeves rolled up)...

UUMMM salad and seafood. Our meal could not have been more colorful!

This is the single serving bucket ,which we didn't even come close to finishing. And for anyone who knows Price's eating abilities, that's really saying something! It had one blackened lobster, two king crab, one corn on the cob, two potatoes, one pound of the biggest shrimp i have ever seen, one pound of clams (yuck) and one pound of oysters (again , yuck!). It was kind of fun to crack those bad boys open and eat with our hands! AND, I have to admit, I couldn't help but play with the lobster and crabs claws while making silly voices... ah to always be young at heart!

So back to San Diego I flew on Tuesday morning not to see my wonderful husband again until the end of March when we fly out to Washing DC with all of my siblings to visit my EXPECTING :) sister Ashlee and her family and to celebrate my other sister Karlene's DIRTY THIRTY!!! The weeks just can't pass quick enough!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs!!
XOXO Brogan Lee

Valentines Day

AAHHHH Valentines Day! Im not so much a fan of this day other than it is a great excuse to eat a lot of chocolate and make some yummy treats...AND that is EXACTLY what i did!

Preston got a BIG OL' KISS from him mama and a special cupcake with his initials on it...

I tried using silicone cupcake molds for the 1st time and was not too impressed with the results, AND i was way too tired to care about decorating them too well.

These were cherry chip flavored cupcakes filled with buttercream frosting, then dipped in a glaze and decorated with regular vanilla frosting.

These are lemon cupcakes filled with lemon frosting and dipped in an almond glaze.

With the extra batter i made regular cupcakes. I was a "over" the cupcake molds, ha ha ha.

... a close up...

Even though they were not the best looking snacks, they sure tasted good! Preston actually ate the entire thing, not just the frosting like usual!

Hope u all had a great Valentines day.

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Preston is 4!

Yesterday my big boy turned 4! AAHHHH!! I can't believe it! Where have the past 4 years gone? I feel like we just brought him home from the hospital yesterday, now he's getting ready to start preschool! :(

On Wednesday we had a little party for him at daycare. Pinata, pizza, cake and all! Unfortunatly I had to work so i was not able to get any pictures of him and his friends celebrating :(

This is the cake i made him...surrounded by home made donuts for breakfast (i also made these).

When we got home there was a package from is Aunt Ashlee and Uncle Jeff. I walked into the back room to change and when i came back to the kitchen, he had a fork and was stabbing away at the tape. To say he was a little anxious, is a SERIOUS understatement!

Some of the party stuff...

After the daycare party, and after I got off work, we headed over to Chuck e. Cheese for a small birthday bash with a few friends. I was a little nervous to be shut in a room with that many kids and that many loud games, but it was actually much calmer than i had anticipated. AND it was a lot of fun!

Preston, Jackson and Parker were in heaven playing all the games. This was a whole new experience for Preston, so he payed close attention to the other two boys who were pros!

Ethan found a "phone booth" and spent a good 5-10 minutes having a conversation with Mr. Chuck E. Cheese... :)

Preston played a little b-ball, but i think he is still a little too short to be super successful at this game...

Ethan rode the carisal, and waived hello...

There are a few simulated roller coaster rides at C.E.C. When i asked Jackson and Parker what the ride was called, they replied "we don't know but it gives us a good massage!" Ha ha ha! I love what these kids come up with! They had me laughing all night!

Preston enjoyed a little roller coaster riding of his own.

Tickets, tickets, tickets... the key to getting the good toys at the end of the night.

Life on the big screen...

Dinner time: Pizza and soda. YUMMY, what kid doesn't like pizza?? Preston didnt want to finish all his food, so Jackson told him to plug his nose while he chewed and then he wouldn't taste it and would be done before he knew it...then he could have dessert! Jackson then demonstrated with a olive, because he "doesn't like olives". Like i said, these boys kept me cracking up all night.

BBRRRRR this ice is C.O.L.D.!!!

CUPCAKES!!! We mixed it up a little since he had cake at daycare earlier that day. My favorite flavors were the Black Bottom Betty and the Lemon. YUM

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..... make a wish!

Ethan eating his vanilla cupcake...

Parker and his chocolate cupcake...

Presents!!...this boy is SOOOOOOO spoiled

Preston in his Iron Man helmet...

Mommy and the birthday boy... What a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us!

Happy Birthday Preston Barrett Walling!! We love you!!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Years Eve & Day

It's New Years Morning, we're up at 8am, struggling from the previous late night out. After breakfast, baths, and torturing the boys for 10 minutes to get the below photo, our little family hit the road and headed to the Las Americas outlets.

The boys were surprisingly good ( i think the outlets are hell on earth to these boys), so as a treat they got to go on a few of the rides.

I think Preston was watching the other shoppers a little too closely at J. Crew, because i caught him checking himself out in the mirror...SUPER cute!

After shopping, we all went home and relaxed (it was much needed), then Price and i went to our friends Zack and Lindsays house to get ready to go out.

The soon to be Bride and Groom!!!

Price and Zack met about 4 years ago while they were both stationed on the USS Peleliu. Zack is still stationed on the ship and just recently (2 weeks ago) got home from a 6 month deployment.

Lindsay moved down to San Diego from Sacramento while Zack was deployed and she and i have become pretty good friends.

Zack (who decided to role play and say he was from New Jersey) kept us cracking up on the cab ride to dinner. I think the cab driver thought we were NUTS!!

Yummy dinner at The Yardhouse, Price looks really drunk but i swear he wasn't, i think he was only on his 2nd drink of the night. Here I was introduced to my new best drinking buddy...a little blue beauty by the name of "Adios MF" I'll abbreviate it so as to not offend anyone.