Fifteen Minutes Of Fame

Do you see who I see?

No? Look again...

How about now?

Yup, that's Dillon and Ryan Seacrest (or as Dillon calls him, Ryan Seacrust). We happened to be at Disneyland on the day that they filmed the Christmas Parade... no, they don't actually film it on Christmas. I think it was in November. I don't remember the exact date, but I do remember that it was like eighty degrees out. I felt bad for Ryan in his long sleeves and sweater. But I guess when you're getting paid bookoo bucks you get past it.

Just Call Me The Paparazzi

Ever since I got my camera last year for my birthday I have been dying to do a photo shoot with some people who are not named Dillon. Don't get me wrong...I love taking pictures of my handsome little man but he doesn't take direction well and ninety percent of the time he is striking some strange rock star pose with his tongue sticking out. I wanted real, bonafide, Guinea pigs subjects.

As one of David and Kara wedding or shower presents, I'm going to make their guest sign in book. I wanted it to be full of pictures of the lovebirds, so I told them that I was going to take a few pictures of them. Little did they know that a few would be somewhere in the neighborhood of four hundred pictures. They were my willing subjects as I dragged them around Bishop during our Thanksgiving trip. Four locations and some pictures taken in the middle of a few streets.

I am absolutely thrilled with how they turned out. Jason was joking that I should charge them for the pictures. So, here are a few... and don't worry - I won't post ALL four hundred. Just some of my favorites.

Favorite Food Friday:Famous Salsa

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Jason's friend Brett got into a dirt bike accident and broke himself. So, while he was recovering we would go to his mom's house every Sunday and watch football with him. Brett's mom, Pat, always put out a yummy spread, but I totally fell in love with her salsa. I would crave it during the week and couldn't wait until Sunday to scarf it down. On Sunday, I asked her for her recipe. I was sure it would be super hard to make and contain a trillion ingredients because it is to. die. for. But, it's not. It only has five ingredients. Yes, five. Easy Peasy. And did I mention that two of them come in a can? This salsa is so delish no one every guesses that it's not a hundred percent fresh ingredients. Out of all the things I make this salsa gets more requests than everything else. And not only does it taste great with tortilla chips, it makes an awesome dressing for a taco salad!

what you put in it:

1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can Rotel Mexican fiesta tomatoes, drained

1 bunch green onions (cut into fourths)

1 bunch cilantro (minus the stems)

garlic salt to taste

how you make it:

Put both cans of tomatoes, green onions and cilantro into a food processor. Pulse until everything is chopped small and mixed together. Add desired amount of garlic salt and pulse a few more times to mix it in. Enjoy!

(To play along with Favorite Food Friday click here!)

Polar Bear

Dillon started back at swim lessons this week. Yes, it is winter. Yes, the pool is outside. But, yes, the pool is heated. And, while most of the country is covered with snow it's been in the seventies here. So, no, I don't feel bad.

But, he is the only kid in his class, so apparently I am just a physco mom who thinks her kid is a polar bear... I, however see it as an opportunity - private lessons for half the cost. Oh, and the pool isn't totally empty. There are people swimming laps and after his lesson they have water aerobics and that class has at least ten people in it.

Totaled

So, I just got the dreaded call from our insurance company letting me know that our car is considered totaled. I honestly feel like crying. That car has so many memories attached to it. It was my first new car. Picked out especially by me. I chose the colors I wanted and got all the options that I wanted. It was blue and beautiful. It was the car that would bring a newborn Dillon home from the hospital. I remember riding in the backseat with him and trying to convince Jason that his choice of music (Korn) wasn't fit for his little ears.

Even though my perfect car was no longer driven as my primary car, I still loved driving it. It was just four thousand miles short of hitting one hundred thousand miles. Jason kept joking that he was going to pull over at the milestone and jump just like they used to in the old Toyota commercials.

The guy at the body shop called earlier today to ask a few questions and the first thing he asked me was if everyone in the car was okay. When I told him yes, he was surprised. I am so thankful that we are all okay and that God was watching over us. It could have been way worse. We were lucky and after all - the car can be replaced and we can't.

The Holidaze

This holiday season has really just sped by me in a blur. We were gone for five days at Thanksgiving. We went to Vegas for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary two weeks after Thanksgiving. The next weekend was the Slagle family Christmas party on Saturday followed by Christmas dinner with dad, step-mom, David and Kara that was at my house - meaning that I did all the cooking. Two days after that we were back in Bishop to celebrate Christmas - this time for six days. Home for a day and a half. Back on the road to ring in the New Year in Havasu. In Havasu for four days - got in huge car accident on the way home. (You can say that this year is off to a smashing start.) Somewhere in the mix we managed multiple trips to Disneyland, a family photo shoot, I hosted a table at my Bible study Christmas brunch, shopped for gifts, wrapped them all, decked the halls...

That being said, I enjoyed almost every minute of the big blur...

Thanksgiving was fun, despite everyone but David and I getting sick. The strange thing about everyone being sick was that everybody had different symptoms. Weird, I know.

Jason and I had a great weekend in Vegas. It was the first time we have been away together for more than one night since Dillon was born. We had a lot of fun doing not a whole lot. We went to a concert and saw Dead By Sunrise and Alice and Chains, but mostly we just did nothing... a little bit of gambling (I totally *heart* the Deal or No Deal slot machines) and what seemed like a ton of eating. Our room had a ginormous bathtub and I begged Jason to let me bring it home. It was paradise.

the bathtub:

Our Christmas was a white one! It snowed about a week or so before Christmas and there was still snow on the ground (not a lot - but it totally still counts). There was tons of snow about ten minutes from my mom's and we took Dillon to play. The first thing he did was throw himself on the ground and make a snow angel. He also tried to swim in the snow but that didn't work so well. Dillon scored a new wardrobe for Christmas - too bad it's in the high seventies and he can't wear anything yet.

Slagle Christmas Party:

Christmas in Bishop:

(yes, Dillon is sledding in a box. We're ghetto like that. Actually, it was Christmas day and being in a small town nothing was open and we couldn't buy a sled.)

New Years was so relaxing. It was like a big movie marathon. I watched so many movies - it was awesome. Some were old and some we new and some I had already seen. But it was like a breath of fresh air to just sit and vege. I saw Julie & Julia, The Ugly Truth, Night at the Museum 2, Sleeping Beauty (Dillon watched it for the first time and when they showed the princess as a baby in the cradle he started yelling: Look, Baby Jesus! It's Baby Jesus! How sweet was that?), Cars, Monsters Inc., Ice Age 2... I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but you get the point. A. Lot. Of. Movies. Dillon spent the weekend playing / feuding with Addison, one of his favorite little people. They built forts, played with Batman, Barbies, and Disney Princesses, and just plain ran amok. To prevent them from further tearing up the place, we took them to the park. It was so cold (for us parents) so that idea was short lived.

On a side note... I must really be getting old. I barely made it to midnight. I was so tired. And we were in a different time zone. As in it was only eleven o'clock at home.

So... I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!!