My Summer Movies

I am a movie-fanatic!! I love going to the theaters or sitting on my couch watching them on Netflix. Either way, my favorite part of a movie is talking about it later and seeing if other viewers agreed with my critiques of the movie. With summer comes summer movies. I haven't seen that many yet, but I have a list and will share it with you and hope that you will post your comments on them.
The first, and only one, that I have seen so far is Snow White and the Huntsman

This movie was ok. Charlize Theron is amazing as the Queen and really shows the evil side of the character while portraying a beautiful and power-hungry villain. Kristen Stewart, in a word, eh. She seems to play the same awkward and annoying character that she plays in every movie. I understood that she was Snow White, in that she was unaware that she was beautiful, but when the viewer is starting to root for the queen because she has more personality and emotion to overcome her obstacles I start to wonder, "Why is she in this movie?" In one statement, once was enough for me.

Here is my list of movies that I am ready to see this summer:

My "Kid At Heart" movie of the summer

 I think this looks like such a cute movie with a good message. I love anything that Disney and Pixar do together and this doesn't look like it will disappoint.

My "Inner Vampire" Movie of the Summer

This just looks like a crazy mash-up of the latest vampire craze and throwing a historic spin on it. I'm sure this has a lot of gore and violence, but sign me up.

My "Guiltiest Pleasure" Movie of the Summer

I know that the storyline will be shallow and fake, but heck I don't think anyone cares that is going to see this. Let's face it, anyone going to see this movie is going for the hot men, rockn' bodies, and a night out with their girlfriends.

My "I Can't Wait to Laugh My Bootie Off" Movie of the Summer

This just looks laugh out loud funny. I love Family Guy and Mark Whalberg and think that this will just be so hilarious. It's definitely not for kids, as the squishy teddy bear may lead some to believe, but seems like it is for anyone looking for raunchy humor.

And for my MOST ANTICIPATED Movie of the Summer

I love this entire trilogy!! Christopher Nolan does not disappoint as the Dark Knight rises this summer. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out with the new additions of Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This movie can only be great and I will be there opening night to see it.

Those are my picks for the summer. If you've seen some already, let me know what you thought.

Cooking By Numbers

I am by no means a fantastic cook, but I like to try new recipes so I'm not making the same meal over and over. I love Pinterest and I love finding easy and delicious recipes.

I decided to try these oven-baked breaded mushrooms last week:

These were fantastic! It was a little icky dipping the mushrooms from milk, flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, but they were overall easy to make. I had no complaints and they were all gone by the end of the evening.

To go with the mushrooms, I made Taco Pie.

This was a hit! The crust was the hardest to make and that wasn't even that hard. It had a lot of spice and flavor that went well with the veggies and cheese on top. I would definitely make this again.
I am trying this tonight:

Spinach and pepperjack stuffed chicken breast

And this another night this week:

Taco Ring
I will post how I made or ruined them soon.

Family Vacation in South Padre

For our Christmas present, my parents wanted all of the kids and spouses to go to South Padre Island, on the border of Texas, this summer. We decided to go Father's Day Weekend. My little brother had arranged for us to rent a beach house from a coworker in Port Isabel, Brianna arranged for us all to fly free per Southwest, and my mom and I took care of rental cars. Because we were standby, we split up and half of us went on Wednesday afternoon and the rest on Thursday. On Wednesday night, we stopped at a gas station and I found my new favorite drink.

 After picking up the rest of the family on Thursday, we got our rental cars and headed for the beach.

   We stopped at a watermelon and pineapple stand on the side of the road.

 Once we got to the house, we just wanted to hang out.

We headed to the beach and were met with rushing waves and cool water. Something inside of us told us to find the surfer within and ride the waves. We went to the closest Wal-Mart and bought boogie boards. I wouldn't say we were the greatest surfers, but we had a blast doing it. It was definitely a workout. My abs and thighs were sore and I had bruises on my stomach and legs.

 Since we had a few watermelons, we thought corking one would be a great idea. None of us had ever corked a watermelon before, so we all watched in amazement. Mom and Joshua decided to just cut one up and eat it the old-fashioned way.

Chris got the urge to fish off the dock outside the house. He didn't catch anything as he later found out that the bay was very shallow.

 When we needed a break from "surfing" we made a sand fort. 

On our last night, we went to Mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Port Isabel. It was a beautiful church. I had never seen a church with a seashell and ocean mural behind the altar. I told Brianna that she should have had her beach-themed wedding at this church.

Our last meal was at a seafood restaurant called Daddy's. It was delicious and we all enjoyed our last night at South Padre Island.

I hope that we can do this again. Even though we had our squabbles (what family vacation doesn't), it was nice to get away and be together.

Canning Pickles with Grandma

     I am so far behind in my blogging so I'm going to try and catch up with a few blogs today. First, one of favorite memories of the summer so far has been canning pickles with my grandma Mikula. This woman is such a hard worker and always has been. Listening to her reminisce about growing up on a farm, having a full-time job, working in the garden, and mothering her 3 sons, just gave me so much admiration and aspiration. When you're the grandchild, it can easily be forgotten that grandparents were young, like you, and worked hard to keep their family afloat. I just hope that she will continue to tell me her stories that will someday lose their author.
     We had so much fun learning from her, but it was very soon figured out that she is in control of her kitchen. If you did not do things the way she told you, WATCH OUT!! I got my hands jerked away from the pickle pot several times so she could do it the right way. She was getting so controlling that at one point it made me think that she may have worked for a few years in Germany. After awhile, she loosened up and let us make our own mistakes and fix them too. Around 11:30 a.m., she looked around and said, "Y'all want some wine?" I knew my good-loving, Bohemian grandmother would know how to lighten up the mood. Once the wine came out, we really got talking and laughing. I only took this one picture of pickling, but you can see my hardworkin' grandma in the background. I love this woman and just pray that I will learn as much from her as I can.

Still Caring for Mr. Bates

This little baby is milking every ounce of sympathy he can get from us, including his sister, Doris.

We felt bad for him and let him stay in our bedroom while we were out one evening and came home to this.

We were pretty upset and made him sleep outside. That is until he started barking very late in the night and didn't seem to be stopping, so he slept on the floor. Chris said that he could fix the headboard and pointed out that I didn't like the color of the top square anyways. He may be right.
Even though he is supposed to be taking it easy, he has been playing around, jumping on the couch and bed, and running around the house. Well, he got out of hand and he or Doris took off the scab from his stitches. He needed to go back to the clinic to get it taken care of. He whined the entire way to the clinic and clung to me like static. This is where he decided to sit the entire time.

And here.

And I just figured we might as well take a real picture together. Can you tell that he loves me?

When we got to the clinic they said that him licking the scab is normal and gave him antibiotics and tightened his collar. He now must wear it for an additional week. He is not too pleased with that, but it's his own fault. He should be healed by next week and until then he will be milking the sympathy from us and Doris.