he is:

♥ the pop to my corn

♥ the sprinkles to my white chocolate mousse

♥ the peanut to my butter

♥ the milk to my cookies

♥ the ranch to my hot wings

♥ the caramel to my apple

♥ the twizzler to my peanut m&m

♥ the cheese to my quesadilla

♥ the chocolate to my cinnamon bears

♥ 27 TODAY!

happy birthday love! i must've done something good in heaven to deserve you. something really good. you are an amazing man and i am on lucky lady. i hope all of your birthday wishes come true! i'll love you forever and always best friend!!!

we won!

Mekenita won!!!

Thanks you for all of your votes. For those of you who haven't actually eaten at Mekenita, come visit me and I'll take you for a deliciously fresh and flavorful fiesta.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

one hour

There's 1 hour left in the "Taco Tournament", we still need your votes.

Mekenita came up from behind, this has been the toughest competition by far, over 2,500 votes! Right now we are behind by 1 vote, 1 vote. I'm sure it'll be a tough one to win, and that's why we need your help!!! Vote for Mekenita!

PLEASE VOTE HERE

friday's favorites: etsy treasures

one of my all time favorite things: etsy

it's like a big giant treasure chest full of artsy goodness.

it'd be even more of my favorite thing if I actually owned a few of these beauties, but until then...

a girl can dream, right?

art to stare at:
flower pic

so very happy

utopia

art to wear:

aqua and peach necklace

flirty bird earrings

Lucy's love headband

art for your furniture:

black and white flower pillow

black and white funky pillow

orange swirl pillow

white pillow with yellow bird

art to hold your goodies:

flower tote

laptop bag

floral clutch

{What are your favorite etsy finds? Do you have a favorite seller?}

TOP 2!

Mekenita made it to the championships, and now we need your help again. This is going to be a tough round so every single vote will help even more!

VOTE HERE

Thanks for all of the votes so far! Whatever the results- making it to the top 2 is a great success, and much of that is thanks to you! Keep those votes comin' in!

{and no, this hasn't turned into a Mekenita blog... normal programming will resume soon. {wink}}

final 4

Mekenita made it to the final four! Thank you for all of your votes! The last two restaurants to battle it out brought in over 850 votes, that's crazy! Now, we need your help, again. Please. Vote as many times as you can (you may have to wait anywhere between 20-60 minutes to vote again), voting ends tomorrow around 2pm Eastern time.

VOTE HERE

I'll keep you posted. Hopefully, I'll be asking for your vote one final time to make Mekenita the "Taco Tournament Reader's Poll" champion!

**NEW update: 9:46am Eastern time Mekenita's at 311 and Mema's is at 213. We have the lead for now, hopefully it will last. But, please keep voting!! Thanks!

Please, VOTE!

Mekenita is up for the vote, AGAIN! They are doing great in the Taco Tournament and are now in the "edible eight". Thanks for all of your past votes, the last round was the biggest victory in the entire competition! This round will be to advance Mekenita to the Final Four! They are up against their toughest competition yet so make sure to vote as much as you can.

VOTE HERE

Be prepared to vote again later this week to help Mekenita make it to the final championship!

Thanks!

Happy Birthday Elder

The people of Brazil are lucky to have this cute missionary serving them and teaching the gospel. It's his birthday today, and we are thinking of him and celebrating with cinnamon rolls!

(ok, maybe I'm just addicted to cinnamon rolls...)

We are so happy for Trevor and all that he is doing. He's changing lives and making the world a better place because of who he is and what he stands for. We are grateful to have him as a brother!

We love you Trev, and hope you have a very happy birthday!!

omedetou Chad!

Chad will be Elder Martinez on June 20th and headed off to serve a mission in {Japan}!!!

We are so excited for you, Chad! You will be a great missionary, the people of Japan will be very lucky to have you! We love you!

round 2

Mekenita needs your help again, this time to make it to the top 8 of the 'Tournament of Tacos'. Thanks for all of your votes during the last round, they crushed the competition and came out with the 3rd highest votes of 32 restaurants.

VOTE HERE

You can vote all day today and until noon tomorrow. Thanks for the support!

how to gain weight:

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 (1/4 oz) package dry yeast

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup margarine

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

4 cups flour

Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/3 cup margarine, softened

Icing:

8 tablespoons margarine

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1 For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.

2 Add sugar, margarine, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well.

3 Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour.

4 Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough as doubled in size.

5 Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approximately 21 inches long by 16 inches wide.

6 It should be approximately 1/4 inch thick.

7 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

8 To make filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

9 Spread the softened margarine over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface.

10 Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

11 Cut the dough in 1 3/4 inch sliced, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.

12 Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.

13 While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients.

14 Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.

15 When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

(recipe found here)

{When I made these I used butter instead of margarine. And in the icing I used a little less vanilla and added a drop of almond extract. My dough took about 2 hours to rise, not sure why... but it did and they also took about 15 minutes to bake, not ten. But they were worth every single second!}

Let me know if you try them! But, be careful. Thank goodness I have no more yeast in my house and I'm too lazy to go to the store right now, or I'd probably be in the kitchen making these again. They didn't even last long enough for me to take a picture to entice you with.

They are trouble.

serious trouble.

don't say i didn't warn you.

friday's favorites

plain and simple:

falling asleep listening to my favorite music.

and then cuddling with the music man.

hello, adulthood.

My baby sister is no longer a teenager! Today my little kissy Chrissy is 20, not 20teen, just 20. She is a big girl now, all grown up, good bye teenage years.

We've been cruisin' side by side for many years, my little sis and I. Went right along through all those years of matching first day of school outfits and puffy bangs. Sharing toys and fighting over toys. Sharing clothes and fighting over clothes. All the commotion of who got to sit in front, or choose the movie to watch, or what restaurant to eat at. We managed to survive pulling weeds and raking leaves, and we'd make up songs and commercials while we washed the dishes.

One of my very favorite things is when we finally let our heads hit the pillow in the late hours of the night and my eyes would shut and little Chrissy's mouth would open. Those were always the most open conversations, the times when I'd get all of dirt.

Now my little Chrissy- you are 20 years old. We have had a lot of fun memories through our years and I can't wait for all of the years with many more memories to come. I am so grateful to have you as a little sister. You know just what to do to make me laugh. You're so talented in so many ways. I love to see you bloom and blossom and I'm so excited for all that your future holds. I hope you have a great birthday, wish I was there to give you 20 giant spankins'!

I love you!

we need your vote!!

For all of you in the Tampa area, you know about Mekenita Mexican Grille and their quality food and awesome owners. (ok- I may be a little biased seeing that my sis and bro own the place... but hey, even if they didn't... it's that good!) For those of you not in the Tampa area, you're just gonna have to take my word for it, they have some seriously yummy tacos!

Mekenita is a contender in the "Tournament of Tacos" along with 32 Tampa Bay Area restaurants. Today's the day to vote for Mekenita so please click on the link below and vote!

Vote for Mekenita

*added: I was able to vote again today. I'm not sure how long you'll be able to vote until the next round, but if you don't mind clicking on the above link and putting your vote in, that'd be great! Thanks!

one whole hand

My little Mekena Grace is beginning to not be so little anymore. She turned 5. FIVE! She's a whole hand old now! It doesn't seem possible.

It was only yesterday that I would lay her chubby thighs and smiley eyes in the stroller for our daily jaunt. Chiso would accompany us on his leash. We'd walk for a bit and then we'd run. Looking at the green and feeling the sun's rays. Chiso would get tired and jump in the basket under the stroller for a break. Kena would get tired and close her little baby eyes. Then eventually, I would get tired and we'd turn around and run home to a glass of Gatorade and a cool washcloth.

Then she started crawling, and eventually walking.

Then she was dancing and skipping.

and then she could write her own name.

And now, those same sweet smiley eyes belong on the body of a little lady with curls galore. Who is five, and fancy. {very fancy}.

She had a "Fancy Mekena" birthday party- and it was {exquisite}!

They had a tea party with {frilly} toothpicks.

They hit the pinata and all the little {darlings} ran for the candy.

Mommy and daddy gave her a brand new Hannah Montana towel- she was {ecstatic}!

Her and little Kirra helped decorate this absolutely {posh} cake. Extremely fancy.

No fancy party would be complete without cucumber eye treatments, a foot soak and a good foot rub. Oh, and of course the fancy fury purse, fancy pearl bracelet and fancy 'tea' hat. Each girl left with a belly full of parfaits and a greater desire to be fancy.

❀My sweet little Kena,

I can't believe how big you are. I love you so much and each day I love you more than the last. You are such a good big sister and I love that you help mommy out so much! You are beautiful, smart, creative and fun! I love hearing your knock-knock jokes and seeing the cute butterflies and families you draw. You will always be my little buddy! (And you know why I love your tongue? Cause it's pink!) I love you past the moon and back 5,349,087,204,472,003,498,102 x infinity!

mommy's magic

My mommy, my sweet mommy... she is the greatest!

She works so hard to make everyone happy.

She's funny and charming.

She's super duper cute.

She always loves me, no matter what.

She is creative.

She is a best friend.

These little ones are so lucky to have her spoil them. We all had a great time having her visit!

{I miss you mommy! Thanks for all you do for us! I can't wait to see you again soon!}

picture party

What a journey we've been on the last couple of weeks. Jeff's parents came to visit and then my mom was here. It's been fun and crazy, all wrapped up in one giant package.

Jeff's parents are always so fun to have around. We did a lot while they were here, and you get to experience it backwards! (for some reason I'm having a hard time moving my pictures around right now... so bear with me)

They left on a Saturday afternoon. That same morning we left the house around 6:15am and headed to downtown Tampa for the "Gasparilla" races. Jeff and his dad ran the 15k and me and mom ran the 5k. Yes, we actually ran and we were so proud of ourselves! We thought we were signed up for the walk, a nice relaxing 5k walk. But, that wasn't the case. We all had a lot of fun- well, I guess that is my assumption. I know I had a lot of fun, much more than I had anticipated!

The Friday before we spent the day at the "Kennedy Space Center". I left with a brain on information overload.

The picture below does .000001% justice to the size of that rocket- it was HUGE!

Our personal chef, a.k.a. my handsome husband, treated us to a delicious authentic Spanish paella and Spanish tortilla. It was his first time creating the paella and he gets a big 5 star rating! As you can tell we had no problem consuming the entire pan!

We took a trip and drove to St. Augustine while they were here. It is supposedly the oldest city in America. It is definitely a cute city! Lots of shops and neat buildings.

We were walking to check out a menu for dinner and saw a couple of dolphins jumping really close so we walked out onto the boat dock and the dolphins were only a couple of feet away from us. It was almost like they knew we were there so they were putting on a show for us. It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. (and I have no pictures to do it justice. boo.)

We climbed all of the stairs of this lighthouse up to the very top, it was quite the hike! And the top was extremely windy (if you couldn't tell from the last picture!) and amazingly beautiful.

This is the view from our hotel room- it was a great room! There were no waves to surf, but that didn't stop the guys from taking the boards out to the ocean for a swim.

It was so much fun having them come back and visit us again. Dad was "Mr. Fix it" and mom cooked and cleaned. I guess parents don't really understand "vacation". They spoiled us, as always. We miss them, but we are so happy we were able to create so many fun memories!

Thanks again for everything- we love you two!♥