THE FOOD AT SUZ'S SPA

Going to Suzannes, to me, is like going to a Spa. Well except I never get a massage or a pedicure...so she'll have to work on that!! ; ) However, her family really lives a healthy lifestyle. They are vegetarians, & they love to exercise. So I am always excited to see what we are going to eat! I only ate meat one night, when Suz & I went out for dinner. But that was because the restaurant had Chicken Marsala & I LOVE THAT!! It did have mushrooms & fresh vegetables for pete's sake! And to tell you the truth, I did not miss having meat the rest of the time AT ALL! And this is why....



When we got back to their house from the airport, Suz made us a little snack, one of her favorites. Its a rice cake with almond butter & bananas. It is really filling & tasty! This is Brandon enjoying his. (fyi: he has a balloon tied to his wrist)





They eat raw eggs for protein. So "when in Rome", I had to have one. This is Suz mixing it with grape fruit juice, (ruined grape fruit juice for me let me tell ya!) Honestly...blended up, it just tasted like an EGG! I would recommend drinking it plain, without the juice. It wasnt bad at all!

Several mornings Suz & I had a protein drink. It was pretty good as well. She likes to drink hers in a mason jar. I was laying on the bed in "Auntie Janets secret hideout" playing with Bre & Brandon, in this photo.

BONES ARE DELICIOUS!!! This is Joel & Tiffs (Suzannes brother & sis-in-law) recipe for pizza crust, turned into breadsticks & then dipped in marinara. I could eat these all day! Wait...I think the marinara was homemade too!

This is Ricki (Suz mom) putting the finishing touches on the pizza...look at all of those MUSHROOMS!!! I WAS IN HEAVEN! In MY house, my family feels mushrooms are a fungus...& not to be eaten!! They don't know what they are missing!!! Oh & THANK YOU RICKI SO MUCH FOR DOING SO MUCH WHILE I WAS THERE!! I had planned on helping out & learning more...but ended up playing with the kids or distracting Suzanne & you ended up doing all of the work! AND IT WAS DE-LI-CIOUS!

Ok, by this shot you may not realize just how ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL this is! But I'm here to tell you...IT WAS!! Its a cinnamon roll dish that we had one morning. Walnuts, raisins, brown sugar & Rhodes rolls. YUUUMMMMM! I think this is a Joel/Tiff recipe as well.

Home made tortillas! She made me HOME MADE TORTILLAS!!

And then filled them with this! Spinach, olives, tomatoes, onions. Its ALL GOOD!

The next night, she took the remaining tortillas, & filled them with this. Its potatoes & onions & cheese &...some other stuff, I can't remember, cause I was playing with the kids & missed the rest!

OH...YOU HAVE TO GET ONE OF THESE!! Its a vegetable steamer! It is wonderful! Vegetables have never tasted so good!! So we had veggies on the side...of this:

OH MY GOSH!! SO GOOD!! Home made enchillada sauce! I'm not kidding here!

And then Suz "plated" it! Beautiful!! A work of edible art!

And this for dessert. Its a wonder I didnt come home weighing 10 lbs more!

And not to mention the grapefruits & lemons that we ate that Suz & Brian had just picked off of a friends tree & the freshly squeezed orange juice that we had. There was also a juice with spinach & lemon & apple...that was unbelievable!! Who knew that that combo could be so good!?!

Is there any wonder why I love to go to SUZANNES SPA?!?!

ARIZONA LANDSCAPE

I love going somewhere that has a completely different landscape than I'm used to. And boy is Arizona different! They dont have to shovel in the winter, or mow in the summer for one thing!



This is the view from Brelynne's window. Her & Brandon got me up one morning so I could see what the sunrise looked like on the mountains. I am so glad they did!



Suz & Brian have 3 windows in their foyer overlooking the mountains. I thought it was pretty cool that it looked like a triptych.



It really was beautiful, this was on our hike in the White Tank Mountains. It looked like an overgrown golf course.



This is also on our hike. If you look real close you can see the petroglyphs on the rock.

If you squeeze between these rocks, there is a waterfall back there. It was also about 20 degrees cooler here, than on the rest of the hike.

We counted 13 of these little lizards on our walk...it was a record! The most they had seen before was 5 of them.

Vistor center on the left.

One HUGE saguaro!!

Ok...you dont see THIS every day!! At least not in Ohio! I made Suzanne turn around & go back here. I couldn't believe they sold cactus for your yard!

But of course they do!! Just like you can buy a pine tree here...you can get a cactus there!

Yep...its says 88 degrees in the rearview mirror! I was thrilled, but the Arizonians weren't happy that they had high 80's temperatures in February already!

AND THEY SAID IT WOULDN'T LAST...

What a great excuse to order cupcakes!!!! These are carrot. Get it? 22 Karat (carrot) 22 years.

Yah...I know, I won't quit my day job!

Most people would have scanned a picture from the wedding...I have a picture of food! Its how I roll...

THE THREE AMIGOS Winter

On this, the last days of winter (THANK GOODNESS!) is the winter season portrait of the 3 Amigos! Boy was it cold, windy & nasty the day I took this!


I can't wait to see the spring view again!!! ; )


Click here to see the the fall version of The 3 Amigos!

WE COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD...

Madi got a new job!!! Its at Maggie Moo's... an ice cream place only about a mile from our house. Today was her 1st day & they must have sensed her ability to act & so for her "initiation"
she got to show off her talent!!




The people could NOT wait to see her!!!



She was just so ADORABLE!!



Really getting into character here.



Everyone wanted their pictures taken with her!





They were even waiting in line to be with her!

Like I said....we could not be more proud of our little girl!!

~~she is soooo going to kill me for this! ; )

FREAK SNOW FALL

I looked through the blinds yesterday, & thought..."wow...is that bugs flying around?" "Ash from something burning?" "What is that!?!?" It was flying in different directions, up..down...sideways! The sun was out, it was fairly warm...what is going on!!? And then I opened the blinds & realized that it was SNOW! With the sun shining through it. Like Morgan said when she was little...."will there be a snowbow?" I didnt see one...but the snow ended shortly after this...so I may have missed it!

MY FAVORITES FROM ARIZONA SUZS...

Its hard to pick just a few favorites out of about 100 pictures per day of some of your favorite people!! But I figured that I would start with these & maybe have to have a 20 part series!!
Some of these are taken at a distance...so again...if you'd like a closer view, just click on the picture.


This is one of my favorites because both Brelynne & Brandon are laughing. I'm not sure why...but you can never tell with kids! They are holding their "count down to Auntie Janet" cards.


We went toy shopping & got Brandon & Bre cowboy/cowgirl hats. Brandon makes an adorable cowboy...even if he is wrangling a lion & a lizard & a cat &....



Bre hanging from the monkee bars!!



Bre, Brandon & I playing.


Bre wanted all the girls hair to look the same. I was under the impression that her mother was going to STYLE our hair the same...but no...i only got home made pony tails!!! But I still think that together we looked adorable!



As you get older...sometimes we forget things. Like where our sunglasses are...Suz had lost hers, but LUCKILY found them again...they were on top of her head!! ; )



Brelynne & Brandon & Bre's puppy Wags (who barks...& he did a great job of barking everytime another dog showed up on the trail!) hiking in the White Tank Mountains.

Us on the trail.

POISONOUS SNAKE & INSECT SIGN!

Suz showing what you do WHEN you see a POISONOUS SNAKE OR INSECT on the trail. Actually this is a reenactment of what she had to do the last time she was here & really saw a RATTLESNAKE!

I saw THIS a lot on this trip!! Usually with a SNORT attached to it. Bre & I would go to tell each other a secret..."i have a secret...come here", but then we'd SNORT at each other. I dont remember how we got started but it sure was great for a laugh!!! ; )

Ok, honestly...THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE!!! It makes me think of the "NAKED CHEF" in a totally different way!

Suz & I before our girls night out.

My girlfriend Suzanne at dinner. 2nd or 3rd Martini Suz? My favorite thing she said that night was & I quote... "I NEED A BIGGER PURSE..BECAUSE IF I STAND UP, MY PANTS WILL FALL DOWN"!! I know that its a quote, because I wrote it down on a napkin so I wouldn't forget it! I dont know what it means, but I know that I couldn't repeat it back to her because I was laughing too hard!! Ok...Maybe you had to be there!