Look who's 21!

That's right people, I am officially 21! I can easily say that this birthday was the absolute best one I have ever had. Thank you to all of the people who made my day perfect :)

My big 21st fell on a Monday this year which made celebrating a little difficult. Sunday night at midnight my mom and I headed to Pechanga to purchase my 1st drink. 

 I decided on a Lemon Drop to start the night. We had a really good time and even won a little bit of money gambling!

On Monday (my actual birthday), all the neighbors headed to Pechanga to celebrate :)

Wednesday brought on my Long Beach celebration with my lovely fam from my old sorority. We had several stops planned for the day with the first being the CSULB bar on campus, the Nugget. After class I met them up at the Nugget and was greeted with 3 girls wearing matching shirts with my face on them, posters, and of course birthday decorations for me to wear.

Must Salute Absolut!

  

My Big Sis and I at the Nugget.

My beautiful car that they had decorated for me :)

 We left the Nugget to head to our 2nd stop at Yankee Doodle for dinner. We played shuffle board, watched the World Series game, and had some very yummy food...

 3rd stop was Murphy's Pub to begin our passports. This pub serves 70 different beers from all over the world. 

 Every time you have one from the list you get a stamp in your passport.

4th stop was Legends where we met up with some of my friends from work.

Our 5th and final stop of the night was at Panama Joes to dance the night away :) 

We had SO much fun and like I said, it was the best birthday anyone could have :) I love my family!

Jimmy Buffett 2010

The Via Saltioville gang ventured to the Jimmy Buffett concert last month for my mom's 45th birthday. Three jam packed cars filled with over 20 people, tons of hawaiian decorations, and even more "beverages" made the way to the Verizon Amphitheater for the concert. We had an absolute blast! Attending his concert has become an ongoing tradition amongst the neighbors... one we plan to continue for many years :)

The "mommas" of the block.

 Family Photo :)

 The birthday girl & her cut out friends. Bobby & Janis weren't able to make it to the concert so we decided to make sure they were there in some form. 

 Happy Birthday Mom!

Cheer Rep 2010

These past 2 weeks have been so busy, fun, and have flown by. Our first day of traveling was extremely long. We got up at 3 am on Saturday to head to LAX and didn't get to Montreal until 9 pm because of all the delays throughout the day. We were exhausted when we finally got there and the very next morning camp began. Monday through Friday were nonstop teaching days for camp number 1. It was very tiring but at the same time very enjoyable. I taught stunts this year which was a nice change from baskets last year.

Wednesday nights were the coaches hang out night. The first week the theme was a traditional Quebec Christmas and the second was through the decades. Both were SO hilarious and fun. Stephania and I weren't exactly prepared for the decades theme so we went as 2010 :)

Thursday nights were pie nights. I was picked by a girl named Allie the first week; however I won the game and was able to pie her in the face :) .... the second week I wasn't so lucky.

 

What a mess!

Friday was the talent show night. Some of the girls performed their talents, the camp counselors did a dance, and the coaches performed a dance to Footloose to end the evening.

On Saturday we had the BIG performance for the cheerleaders' parents where the girls showed off all they learned throughout the week. It was so hectic and tiring but all the girls did great during my stunt rotation. After the girls were all finished with their rotations the coaches performed.

My second trip to Cheer Rep was even better than the first. It was great to see the friends I had made the year prior... we all picked up exactly where we left off. Thanks to all the coaches and cheerleaders of Cheer Rep 2010 for making my little work vacation so much fun!

Canada Bound

Wanna get away? Why yes, yes I do! & what better of a place to go then to Canada? Tomorrow I'll be heading to Montreal to teach a cheer camp. I'll be gone for 2 full weeks so that sadly means no new blog posts for me for a while, but I am very excited to go and will definitely write about my trip when I get back. These 2 weeks will be a much needed vacation from all the craziness. This is the 2nd year I'll be coaching at this camp. The first year was so much fun and I am sure this year will only top last. Who knows, maybe I'll even be on the shirt again? lol

We are literally in the middle of the woods.... TONS of trees, a lake, a grocery store about 30 minutes away, and little to no cell reception. It's definitely not like the cheer camps we have in the states but it's an experience I thoroughly enjoyed and am looking forward to. The Canadian coaches and girls are all extremely nice, I really can't wait to see them again.

The four California Girls that went last year :)

Turtle Cheesecake

Yesterday I decided to make this Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake recipe that I found from the Gourmet Mom on-the-go blog (recipe found here). Needless to say it is now in the "make again" pile. It is SO yummy, very rich, and best enjoyed with a big glass of milk. It's a must try if you like cheesecake, carmel, and hot fudge :)

(photo from Gourmet Mom On-The-Go)

Camping... Via Saltio Style

The Via Saltio Gang ventured out into the woods this weekend for a camping trip. We went to a camp site right outside of Julian called Lake Cuyamacca. We pitched our tents, went fishing for hours, visited the town of Julian, built our fire, and played catch phrase till midnight over our 2 day stay. We had a good time considering the intense humidity, tons of bugs, and baby rattle snake nest that sat right behind our campsite.

Viva Las Vegas!

I have been quite the vegas tourist over the past 2 weeks. Last week I went with Jessi, Philly, & Emma for their bowling tournament & to see Staci :) This week I managed to go again with my 4 best friends to celebrate Cara's birthday. We had a blast!

Craig Morgan!

Carrie!! She was AMAZING!!

Lys started the trip by asking all of us to be her bridesmaids, of course we all said yes! Can't even wait for that wedding!

here's Carrie performing :)

Mom's Chicken Dish

This is one of my favorite recipes. It has 3 of my favorite things to eat (broccoli, cheese, and rice) in it. SO YUMMY! It's a simple dish, but very tasty in my opinion. So if you'd like to give it a try here's the recipe.... 

Ingredients:
1 can of Cream of Chicken
1 can of Cream of Mushroom
4-5 Chicken Breasts
1 package of Cheddar Cheese
1 bag of Broccoli cuts (frozen)
White Rice

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

Cut the chicken into cubes. Mix the cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, bag of broccoli, and cut chicken all together in the pan, making sure to coat each piece of chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top and put it in the oven.

While that cooks, make the white rice. I just microwave a cup of rice with a cup of water for 6 minutes.
Finally, scoop the chicken dish over the cooked rice and enjoy :)

It may not be the most esthetically pleasing but it tastes so good!

Favorite Site

I am loving kevinandamanda.com. This lady does it all. She has recipes, photography tips, digital scrapbooking stuff, and best of all, free downloadable fonts on her site! I have a thing for cool fonts, always have, always will. She takes the handwriting samples people send in to her and turns them into fonts COMPLETELY FOR FREE! Its perfect for those of us that don't exactly have the cutest handwriting (me included). She just posted new fonts so go check it out (to go to her font site click HERE!) I just changed my blog font using one of her fonts :)

the happenings....

I feel like all that I have been doing lately is studying. School is consuming my life. So when I get the opportunity to do something other than homework and studying for upcoming exams I'm pretty excited about it. I have 3 main obsessions in life. The first, taking pictures. The second, desserts. And the third, babies, and Brooklynn is no exception. I LOVE holding her and looking at her, as I do with so many little munchkins. So here are some combinations of 2 of my obsessions.

Brooklynn on her 1 week birthday :)

Gavin and Emma at Lucille's

Here is where my third obsession comes into play. On Saturday, I went to dinner at Lucille's with Jessi, Phil, Emma, Janene, Nick, and Gavin. It was my first Lucille's biscuits and apple butter encounter and it definitely will not be my last! Talk about tasty! Im craving them right now just describing them. The sweet, flakey, warm biscuits with apple butter heavily layered on top are like a dessert for me. I ate way more than what a normal person would or should consume but I just could not get enough.
For now its back to the grind of studying and doing homework. Hopefully there will come a day that I am all caught up and prepared for school... hopefully.

Bob Hope Classic

This weekend me, lucy, my mom, dad, and a handful of neighbors headed to La Quinta for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament. The rain was in no way on our side but we still managed to have a good time. The whole reason we go to this tournament every year is to see all the celebrities that play on the course that the Dippolds' house sits on. We're able to just sit in the backyard and hold up fun signs to get the celebs' attention. Last year I got pictures with Evan Longoria (MLB player) and the guy from Burn Notice and autographs from a ton of other people. This year the tournament was pushed back a day due to the rain and we couldn't even see the celebs. O well... maybe next year. I did manage to get Arnold Palmer's autograph :)

(the group + Jessica on Skype and a creepy clown that was walking around the course, random!)

Lucy found out what a duck was today. She had a BLAST chasing after them.

Me and my puppy

(Lucy mid-air) She was great entertainment for us this weekend seeing how the whole golf thing didn't quite come through.

My Puppy

My little Lucy is nearly 4 months old. Its crazy to think that I've had her for this long already. I must say that I have LOVED every minute of it! She is such a sweet pup. She keeps me company while I'm in Huntington and have nothing to occupy my time with, she wakes me up every morning (as long as Jessi doesn't beat her to it, haha) so that I don't sleep the day away, and she makes me laugh every time I look at her because she is just so darn cute! I never thought that I would be a pet person, yes my family has 5 dogs, a cat, and 3 snakes however, I have never had a "pet" of my own. Lucy was my first pet and she's perfect for me. All she needs is a little love and attention and she's a happy puppy. My favorite thing about her is when she sees people that she hasn't seen in a while (they just entered the room, or she forgot they were there and is reminded), she gets SO excited and starts jumping up and down and licking you. It will brighten anyone's day with ease.

(4 months old)

(3 months old)

(1 month old)

I am more thankful everyday that I have her... its true what they say, dogs are a [wo]man's best friend!