Show Us Your Life - Pets

I am always writing something about my pets on here! They are my kids for right now and sometimes it gets hard to remember that they are dogs. But then I watch Cesar Millan and try to whip myself back into shape! :)

Bayla is my sweet boy. He is very much a mama's boy. If you want to take a nap, he will snuggle up in no time! Even if he's already been sleeping most of the day!

Then there's Rylie. She will stay awake all night long if someone is awake with her. But she is also a very sweet cuddler. And she is a sucker for some towels or blankets right out of the dryer. I'll get them out of the dryer, throw them on the couch, and she will bury herself in the pile of warm towels.

And she's my little bird hunter. This was two weeks ago at Black Gap in West Texas. She was on alert the entire time!

Check out the 'Dogs' label for more posts on my sweet babies.

Show Us Your Life - Dessert

Anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely love dessert! I can eat until I am stuffed, but will always find room for dessert, whether it is ice cream, cake, cupcakes, pie, cheesecake, or even a piece of candy. And it runs in my family. Josh says that he has never seen people who love sweets so much! We had a joint birthday party for my grandparent's birthdays and there were 4 homemade cakes!


Finding only one recipe for this was so hard. I have so many good recipes for desserts, but my absolute favorite go-to recipe for family functions, pot lucks, or get togethers is Cream Cheese Sopapillas! If you are watching your weight or worried about being healthy, stop right now, read no further, and hit the 'Back' button because this is not the recipe for you! However, if you love dessert and don't really care about what goes into it, keep reading because this is the recipe for you! I hope you enjoy it!


Ingredients:
2 packages crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups plus 1/2 cup sugar
3 packages 8 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 stick butter
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

* Heat oven to 350 degrees
* In a 13x9 greased pan, spread one can of crescent rolls on the bottom
* Cream 1 1/2 cups sugar with 3 packages cream cheese
* Add vanilla
* Spread mixture to pan
* Spread other can of crescent rolls on top
* Melt butter and pour on top
* Mix 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle on top of butter
* Bake 30-40 minutes or until the top is no longer moist

It is the absolute best right out of the oven, but is still pretty good after it has cooled or as leftovers. I'm sorry there are no pictures. The last time I made this was last Christmas and I couldn't find any pics!

Show Us Your Life - Vacation

This was very hard. I'm not a world traveler by any means, but I've been on some cool vacations. Mostly around the state of Texas though. My absolute favorite trip, however, was actually my study abroad trip to the Yucatan.

I did my Master in Landscape Architecture work at Texas Tech. The summer after my first year, one of the professors put together a study abroad design trip around the Yucatan Peninsula. When I say "around the Yucatan" that is almost literal as we were all over the whole peninsula! This trip was four years ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy on some of the details. And I had a really hard time going through the pictures!

The trip was also a way for us to study eco-tourism, so we were able to visit a few eco-resorts and lots of ruins.

We started out and Merida and kind of used that as a base that we came back to a few times. One of our first outings was to Celestun on the west coast

We took a little boat ride to an area in a mangrove forest where the fresh water & salt water mix, and we got to take a little dip in the cool water.

And then on the way back, we got to see a huge flock of flamingos!!

We got to see some ancient haciendas.

We climbed and toured lots of ruins. I believe this is Uxmal

I can't remember exactly where this place was, but I believe it was on the outskirts of Celestun. It was an eco-resort that let us hang out for a few hours on their beach.

We went all the way down to the south end of the peninsula to Calakmul, which is about 20 miles from Guatamala. These are the views from the top of the tallest ruin.

We stayed on the patio at Hacienda Tabi in hammocks!

Touring more ruins

The "vacation" part for us came when we got to spend a few days in Playa del Carmen!

Touring Tulum

We also got to take a tour of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. It was so cool because we got to float down man made Mayan canals.

The ruins at Chichen Itza.

We also got to go to Xcaret. If you ever get to that area, Xcaret is an awesome place to go!

The main reason for our trip was to redesign two different town squares (zocolos) for the villages of Yaxunah and Yaxachen. This was a really cool and interesting part of the trip. We were able to interact with the locals villagers to learn what they wanted in a zocolo and also to learn more about the culture.

In Yaxachen we were able to make homemade corn tortillas with a few of the villagers.

One of our favorite activities was taking a break to swim in the cenotes. This one was in Yaxunah.

I believe this one was at Ik Kil

The last place we stayed was Kaxil Kiuic Bioreserve. We were the first group to ever stay there!

And just to prove that we did do design work while we were there! When we were in Yaxunah, a storm came through and knocked out the electricity, so we had to finish our work by candlelight and flash light!

It was definitely the trip of a lifetime and I would love to go back some day, if even just to visit of few of the places we visited.