Laughter & Tears....Fudge & Margaritas

That’s a pretty good summary for my time away.

To start off the weekend, my sister Rachel and I decided to go get our hair “chopped.” I realized after we were done that she and I have very different definitions of that word. Here are the before and after pictures and you can see what I mean:

I decided it was time for my mom to pass down her fudge recipe. It’s not as simple as just writing down a recipe. There are very few ingredients. But it’s an hour long process that requires your full attention and constant stirring. There is an exact moment in time when the chocolate is ready to be poured out to set. Too soon and it won’t set up right. A few seconds too late and it turns into fudge right in the pan.

The latter is what happened the first time and this is what it looked like… a big pile of ---- according to everyone.

But, hey, it still tasted mighty good and we managed to eat the entire plate that night. I tried it again the next day and I poured too soon. Still delicious.

All the girls went to get pictures done over the weekend. My mom took a few before hand just in case. My mom’s not in these pictures because she is now the skinny chick that no one wants to be placed next to. We did make her hop in for part of the actual portrait session, so I’ll have to post those once we have them (if I get her approval)

My brother did not make it out of bed in time for the portraits (because they were at 1pm, and…seriously...who could be expected to get out of bed at that ungodly hour?)

So Mom insisted on a few pictures of the five of us the next day.

And here is a little snapshot of Mr. Excitement himself:

Well, I survived Marta!! Thank heavens for the ipod tip. I was in between someone talking gibberish and a lady eating a caramel apple. That struck me as so odd… a caramel apple at 8:30 in the morning. Of all the portable snacks to take on a trip, that would have to be on the bottom of my list. Anyway, I was sitting there listening to music feeling especially sad to leave, when out of nowhere I started crying. I quickly realized…now I’m the crazy lady on the train! That made me laugh…and probably appear even more nuts. So, let that be a lesson about being judgmental of crazy people on a train!

~~~
Other highlights from my trip - creating a new blog for Rebekah... all five girls sitting in a row getting our pedicures... a fight over cookie dough:~)... seeing my mom flip another driver off for the first time in my life (and then spending the rest of the day apologizing profusely for her bad manners)...Rachel, ummm, how shall I say, moving on with her life... Bethany spending an entire day in a kimono -and installing my PhotoShop - woohoo!!...Me, feeling ever-so-grateful to have these women in my life. When I'm with them, there is nowhere else on earth I'd rather be.

To the only non-family member, who I'll bet has made it down this far... Dolores -I wish you a very happy birthday today. I don't know how you can even stand being this old! I love you my dear friend.