Saturday, April 30, 2011

Good Times Camping

One time we went camping at a really beautiful place. There was lots of relaxing, hiking, delicious food, nature admiring, and fun with two STARS!
Home away from home
Super STARS
Deer
We also saw a wild Turkey

Everything we cooked was out dutch oven. I only used our camping stove to boil water for hot coco and cider. If we ever had to live outside for the rest of our lives we would be set as long as we had out dutch oven.
Cinnamon Rolls
Pineapple, bbq chicken, and green peppers
Mountain Man Breakfast
Steak, potatoes, and asparagus

Hope to camp a few more times this year. If you would like to join us next time let us know and we will get something planned.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Muppet Monday-Camping

We are going camping this weekend so I decided to find some Muppet camping videos. Here are a few of my favorite.

I love rough camping, so I am no Miss Piggy when it comes to camping.


I also came across this link to Muppet books. Something I will have to look into more so we can get them for our kids to read.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Muppets_Go_Camping



Needless to say most of these videos are from John Denver and The Muppets Rocky Mountain Holiday. Check it out. It was fun and I cannot wait for our camping trip this weekend. Too bad The Muppets won't be there, but we will have fun anway.


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Muppet Thursday and Thoughts

This week I have been commuting to LA everyday and will continue to do so for the next week or so, until my new site is fully staffed and trained (hopefully sooner rather than later). It takes about an 1 to 1.5 hours to get there and 1 hour and 15 minutes back home. I wake up at 5 am ish and leave around 6 am ish and pull in about 7:30 ish. Then I leave at 6 pm ish and pull in about 7:15 ish. That is a lot of ishes. I don't mind a whole because I know it is temporary and a change from the norm will help me appreciate the norm. As long as I have my tunes to listen to I am all good. So this video was fitting for this weeks Muppet Monday because that is exactly what I am doing...Moving Right Along. On a deeper note I have learned over the years that you have to "Move Right Along" an sing with what your are working with because stopping to complain and stamp your feet don't help. You have to just push through even if it sucks. Things get better or at least your attitude can. Something to think about if you are also finding yourself in a situation that may suck. Life can still be good, just sing, dance, laugh, and smile it away! :)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Madsen Family Visit


Last weekend Lars' father, step-mom, and little half brother visited for the weekend. I was very excited to have them over as they are the first family to visit us since we have moved out here. We had a blast. We visited the La Brea Tar Pits (which was fascinating) and the Los Angeles Temple. When we weren't out an about we were relaxing and hearing stories about how Ivan came to America. Lars' Dad, Ivan, is a Danish immigrant and has a really cool story about his youth and how he came to America. I had always heard different versions from various family members but had never heard the story directly from Ivan. So I asked him and he took a few hours and told me and very kindly answered my questions. I always wanted to know and I think it is important to know his history as it will be apart of our kids history too. I am still writing it down and will share it in a future blog. It was so much fun to talk and get to know each other more. I am so glad that Ivan did come to American because Lars was later born because of this.

Please enjoy the pictures from our Madsen Family visit adventure.
Trisha, Ivan, & Lars checking out the Moroni on the top of the temple
My little brother Glenn. I have never had a little brother before and now I have two of them. I very much enjoyed teasing and talking to Glenn throughout the trip. Being a big sister is fun and I have a lot of catching up to do since I have only been a big sister for 8 years now.
Outside one of the Museums was a cluster of lamp posts. I think it was something artistic. They were fun to play on and take pictures with.
Ivan spent a lot of time checking out his camera and setting it up for pics.
Glenn spent a lot of time with his phone and other gadgets he kept in his pocket. Like Father like Son ;)
Lars was so cute and played hide-n-seek
Peek-a-boo
The first picture was everyone naturally standing
Ivan jokingly asked me to take the picture again because he wasn't sucking in his stomach. LOL can you see a difference between the two? :)
Tar
One of the excavation pits
Sorry elephant. You became a fossil and we dug you up.
These were all along a wall. It was really cool looking.

Rock Climbing and ER trips

On April 1st, after we fooled many people into thinking we were moving back to Utah, we went rock climbing to celebrate our friend, Marly's birthday. It was quite an adventurous evening. I haven't been rock climbing in years. The first climb was the scariest. Lars was a natural and super fast. I stuck with the easy to moderate walls. The last wall was the coolest because it was tall and tough and made me feel real good once completed. I was glad I ended on that one.

Near the end of the rock climbing one of our other friends fell out of the cave hole that the place had for crawling and broke her wrist in the fall. The rest of the evening was spent in the ER, but ya know something, it was the best ER experience I ever had. The friends around us made it fun and Karen was so brave. We all chatted, goofed off, ate Italian ice, and had such adrenalin soaring from climbing and the action afterwards. Our friend that broke her wrist is going to be okay too. Karen is tough and awesome and nothing can keep her down.

Here are some pictures from the evening and a video of me climbing.
Hope you like my butt shots.
This is Marly, the birthday girl!
Lars climbing down
The girls taking a break
The whole crew


Sam and Princess Parties


In April we had some friends come stay with us for a bit. They were in town to be extras and background for various movies and TV shows and they were the such awesome house guests.

Meet Sam
Sam is the nicest guy. He makes everyone laugh and is super smart. I once described him as a vampire with the ability to make people feel at ease (Like the ones in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series). Only he isn't a vampire (that I know of), but he does have a way to make people relax and have fun.

Meet Megan
Megan is fabulous. She and I have soooo much in common it is too crazy. I swear she is a younger version of me, just more successful at acting. We are both the youngest in our families, both love acting and singing, both take a long time to order food of the menu, and both love Oreo Reese's buttercup milk shakes. It was so much fun getting to know her. I feel like I got to know myself more in the process.

Megan is also a Princess.
Yes it is true.
She can come to your child's party in Utah and soon to be California. She will sing to your child's party, have a tea party, teach them a princess dance and manners, play games, and make crowns and so much more. She does more than birthday parties too. She will do corporate events and weddings. She has many Princesses and other fun characters. Let me tell ya. This girl is talented too and she will put on a good time for you at any event you hire her for. Plus her prices are very reasonable. Check out her website and throw a party today.
I am already planning my party.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

MUPPET Monday



I always thought it would be so cool to be on The Muppet Show. Performing with puppets would be fun. Maybe thats why I want to go on Yo Gabba Gabba and do one of their dances. :) This week gets two videos because I couldn't decide between the two.