No More Frosted Animal Cookies?!?

Troy called me with sad news this morning. Mother's Cookies Company shut down abruptly last week. With the rising costs of materials, and the frozen financial market, it appears they couldn't borrow money to stay in business. This is very sad news! Mother's Cookies has been in business since 1914. That is 94 years! This means the frosted animal cookies that I so fondly remember as a favorite childhood treat are no more! The scrumptious cookie mix with chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, fudge sandwich cookies, and animal cookies is no more! Well, I don't know about you, but I am going to the store today and buying a couple bags if they are still available. Jackson needs to know the sweet goodness of a frosted animal cookie!

*To read more on this story, CLICK HERE.

Our Staycation

You may be asking yourself, "What is a staycation?!?". Well, to define it, a staycation, as I was told be Troy on Saturday, is when you can't go away for a vacation, so you stay near to home, but get "away" anyway. That is exactly what Troy, Jackson, and I did this weekend. On Friday morning, we headed to Disneyland and spent the afternoon there. Then we headed to the Hilton in Costa Mesa and checked in for a one-night stay. After checking in, we headed out to Corona Del Mar beach for our church's annual beach night. We stayed at the Hilton one night, and in the morning, we headed to Roger's Gardens in Newport, and to Ruby's Shake Shack at Crystal Cove. We topped that off with a Harvest High School Reunion to visit all of Troy's friends he had in the Harvest youth group back in high school, and a trip to Chick-fil-a. All in all, I had a wonderful weekend spending time together. Troy has been working on Tuesdays and Thursdays (teaching/lecturing), so I have missed him! Here are some picture from our "staycation." Enjoy!Jackson looked awfully cute in these sun glasses...too bad he wouldn't keep them on!Me, Jackson, Troy, Michael and Genevieve on the Train. This was Jackson's first time on the train and he was absolutely amazed by it!Jackson and Uncle MikeJackson and Troy having some fun in the hotel roomJackson was very excited about staying in a hotel room. The first thing he did was jump on the bed and squeal. The next thing he did was crawl from one end of the room to the other. After that, he discovered the sliding glass door.Jackson looks into the sunset at Corona Del MarPastor Robert shows off the rattle snake he killed and skinned on his property. He brought it to cook on the fire. Yum. The guys all said he tasted like chicken. I must admit, I had no interest in verifying that.One of my favorite things to do at the beach...singing around the bon fire.Me and my boy!Genevieve and IKirsty and IKirsty and Jackson looking at the waves (funny...they both have the same expression on their face. )The Autumn display at Roger's GardensIf I were to buy a garden hat, I would buy this one.This was the most amazing rose I have ever smelled! It's too bad you can't smell it!Troy and I enjoying the relaxing ocean breeze while sitting in the gazebo at Roger's Gardens. Here is a random fact...the gazebo there is actually the original Disneyland bandstand. It was originally right at the beginning of Main Street, and was moved due to the fact that it blocked the view of the castle. It was moved several times to different locations in Disneyland, then finally moved to Roger's Gardens in the 70's.The view from Ruby's Shake Shack at Crystal Cove

Why?

Why do people care so much about the happenings of famous people? Why do they care if Britney Spears is talking is an English accent? Why do they care if Kirsty Alley has cankles? Why do they care if Lindsay Lohan takes a swig of wine? Why to they care if Paris Hilton has a new boyfriend? Why do people care if Nicole Richie is starving herself? Why do they care if Paula Abdul messes up while judging on American Idol? It is all very sad, I'm sure. Not to be insensitive here, but it is just because they are famous. And people like to gossip. That is it. I have to admit, I was watching TMZ the other night (just because it came on TV when Troy and I were on the couch...not because we regularly watch it). We were convicted pretty quickly to turn it off as soon as we saw the clip of Kirsty Alley's cankles. My heart goes out to these suffering people. If their faults weren't in the spotlight so much, would they be so bad off? Even though some of them thrive on this attention, weather it is negative or positive, I think those TMZ folks should leave the famous people alone! I mean, what ever happened to the classy kind of Hollywood?

Tagged!

So, Robyn "tagged" me today...

1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
Life in Blissfulness

2. Post these rules on your blog.

3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.

a. I was born in Loma Linda University Hospital in 1984. My mom was transfered there from Riverside because they were the only hospital in the area that handled premature babies (My mom was 31 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to me and my twin brother.)

b. My bedroom is decorated in lavender and sage...the same colors I had in my wedding.

c. After high school, I lost 60 lbs....now, if only I can do that again!

d. I grew up in Moreno Valley, which was actually called Sunnymead until 1984 when Moreno Valley became a city. So, if you do that math, I am the same age as Moreno Valley.

e. My favorite ice cream is Thrifty's Black Cherry Ice Cream. Coming in at a close second in mint and chip. I had fond memories of eating ice cream cones in front of the Thrifty's in the Von's shopping center on Sunnymead Blvd. I don't think either store is there anymore. Sigh.

f. Ever since I was little, I would lay in bed and look up at the popcorn ceiling and try to make out shapes in the ceiling. In the last apartment I was in, I found Abe Lincoln in the ceiling! Now that is random.

g. My favorite book when I was a child was "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. I also loved "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" by Dr. Suess. My aunt bought me "The Giving Tree" when I was little, so I still have that book, but I need to buy the Wocket book for Jackson because I don't have a copy.

4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Seven...thats a lot...here are four.
Troy at Troy Story
April at For His Glory and My Good
Kimm at Life with Littles
Lori-Lynn at Life.. on and off the road!

5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting on comment on their blog.