Israel's Photography, Happy Birthday to Me!, Fish Stix Puzzles, and It's Fall

Israel is a true budding photographer. He really enjoys creative pictures and had fun at this climbing site on Old Woman Springs Road.

So, I forgot to blog my birthday. I turned 31 and had the super great present of my friend Liz coming over from AZ for New Years. We played Pandemic (one of my all time favorite games that Stan got me for my birthday-thanks love!) put together puzzles, and enjoyed Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. We pulled taffy for New Year's Eve before letting off little poppers in the back yard and running around our back yard (at 9am) shouting Happy New Year with the kids. Notice the red on my hands and the kids lack of shirts? red food coloring is not to be taken lightly:)

On the Hidden Ranch Hike. Liz and I climbed into this little archway- Israel was our photographer

cutie patuty Julia wearing Stan's hat My cake is a cranberry pudding recipe I got from by friend Betsy. It was a caramel sauce. Not much could be better than this! I posted the recipe here.
This 500 piece fish stix puzzle was given to Eliza. The giver (who will not be named) insisted that it looked hard, but was really easy because of the fish stix design. This puzzle took at least 10 combined hours to complete. Super fun, different, and so challenging. Eliza said we could have it and to give it back to her on her 17th birthday. If you're looking for a puzzle challenge-it would be a good one.Sorry the video is sideways. I rotated it, but it didn't stay rotated. You'll have to rotate your head instead:)
Happy 2010 and remember- it's only 21 Days until Groundhog's Day. Don't forget to have a big party, eat groundhog stew (we're hoping we can catch one in CA) and watch one of the best movies of all time.