Happy Mother's Day

I spent a nice Sunday with my parents. They came to church with me and then over to the house for a Mother's Day feast. I made kebabs on my indoor grill (shrimp, chicken, turkey, peppers, onions, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, & pineapple). It was delicious! For dessert we had poached pears. I've always thought that was such an elegant dessert. They turned out really well. For you cooks, my poaching liquid contained no-sugar added cranberry pomegranate juice, pure vanilla extract, cinnamon sticks, & the zest of one orange.

I also bought my Mom 2 sets of flowers (roses & irises). Now here's the funny part about the day. Mom & I both dressed very similarly. We're wearing a very similar pattern/color combination except that my print was on the top and hers is on the skirt. I swear we didn't plan this one!! Check out the pictures below.

Finally, an update on my eating plan progress. Today is Day 2, Week 4 of no sugar no added fat. Things are going quite well for me and I have lost a couple of inches and several pounds. I got a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit on Saturday. It is so much fun. The Wii Fit has a built in scale on the balance board and you can track you weight progress and goals. Plus the games are really fun. So far I like the hula hooping and the yoga stuff the best.

Amanda is ready for lunch (leftover kebabs, mmmm)

He's My Daddy

My parents are serving a Family History mission in SLC right now. I've spent more time with them over the past (2) months then I have in the past (2) years. Normally I only get to go home once or twice a year (depending on how many other vacations I'm taking). It has been pretty fun so far. Anyway I decided it would be fun to make one of my postings all about my father.

My father has a very dry sense of humor and certain jokes never grow old for him. When I was a kid and we were deciding where to eat out, he would ask me if I wanted to get something out of the cracker machine at the Shell station. As a little girl I didn't always know he was joking so I would get quite aggravated.

He loves to read and so do I. One Thanksgiving we (Mom, Dad & I) were all at my grandmother's house sitting in the living room reading. My grandmother complained it wasn't a good visit because we all had our noses stuck in a book. To this day, my family can be found spending time together while we are each reading a different book. My father also enjoys writing. He has written (3) books and he belongs to several creative writing groups back in Arkansas.

He enjoys old movies. Some of my favorite memories of growing up, revolve around spending time with my dad watching old movies like "Angel & the Badman" (John Wayne & Gail Russell), Phantom of the Opera (the 1925 silent version), and Tulsa (Susan Hayward). During Phantom of the Opera, he would always ask me to turn the sound up (now remember this was the silent version).

He also loves to buy movies from the bargain bin at Wal-Mart. I confess that when I pass a bargain bin I feel compelled to dig through all the movies like there is some treasure waiting for me at the bottom. Show me where I can buy Jumanji for $6 and The Baby-sitters Club Movie for $5.50 and I say jackpot!!!

We can both be very stubborn and certain that we are right. I'm an only child so I didn't have any siblings to blame my messes on. I tried blaming them on my dad, but you can only do that so much before your mother catches on.

My dad can drive me crazy when I am trying to show him how to do something on the computer or anything electronic for that matter. He wants to learn how to do it himself and I want to do it myself because it will be faster. Hmm, that is an interesting role reversal from when I was a child.

Even though I am 30 years old, I call my father Daddy or Papa and he calls me Sunshine. We have a special thing we say to each other. One person says "I love you a whole bunch". The other would then say "How much is that?" The reply would be "A bushel and a peck, a squeeze on the shoulder, and a hug around the neck". My dad does drive me nuts sometimes but I always know how much he loves me.

Enjoy this is a funny commercial about a father.



Amanda is a lucky girl. Her Daddy loves her!