Pasta Salad

I love pasta salad! It is one of my most favorite side dishes. And this summer I have made it for a lot of potlucks, it's super easy to whip together under 30 mins and always a hit. and since I have never blog a recipe I figured it was about time I start!

Recipe
Ingredients:
1 12 oz box of rotini (I use tri-color rotini)
1 container of grape tomatoes, halved (diced roma tomatoes work too)
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
2 bell peppers, diced
1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 c pepperoni, sliced
1/2 c parmesan cheese, shredded
Olive Garden Italian dressing (any Italian dressing will work, but I love OG's dressing and highly recommend it!)

Steps:
Boil water, cook noodles according to box directions, rinse with cold water when cooked, set aside
While the noodles are cooking I prep all the other ingredients
In a large bowl mix everything but the dressing.  add 1/2 c of dressing, more to taste (I like a lot of dressing!)
Refrigerate for 30 mins and serve.

If we are having pasta salad for dinner I will add in 2 shredded chicken breast! Logan always requests pasta for dinner during the summer, which I love because it keeps the house nice a cool.

Reunion Auction

This past weekend, my family in Arizona specifically my dad's side, had a family reunion. We wanted to go but since we just got back from Logan's family reunion in Nauvoo, we decided it would be okay to skip this one. Plus two weekends in a row of driving is not something we can handle just yet. Months ago I had decided that I wanted to make something special for the reunion auction. I have been playing around with water colors and decided I wanted to recreate one of my favorite photo of my Great grandparents. Years ago they posed on a red couch in a sheep corral for a photo series that documented people from all over the world seating in said red couch. I had seen the photo when I was younger and loved it! And recently seen family members post it on Facebook, I knew I wanted to paint it. So one night after the boys were in bed I sketched it out. Then I let it set out for a few more days not knowing if anyone would buy it at an auction. Finally I took a picture of it and sent it to my mom and asked if she would. If no one else wanted it I would be okay with my mom taking it home. :) luckily she said she would love it and thinks others would too! So a few weeks later I finished it up and painted it. I so enjoy recreating such fun pictures! Especially family. I was able to meet my Great grandmother, she only spoke Navajo so we couldn't communicate as much but I do remember seeing her when I was little. As for my Great Grandfather he passed when I was a lot younger and I don't have any memory of him, besides what my dad has shared. He was very close to both and spent many summers with the two. When I finally finished painting I loved it. I wasn't sure if I could send it off for someone else to buy, but if I loved it without having a strong relationship with my grandparents when they were alive, then someone who did would love it too. I have been wanting to make more fabric dolls but haven't had any chance to do it, so finally I had one, I made three dolls for the reunion all were from scraps I have saved from projects or snatched from my mama. I drew out some patterns, started cutting fabric, and before I knew it they were done. (Logan was working out of town so I sent the boys to bed early and I stayed up super late to finish all three) Fabric dolls are my favorite! I was obsessed with all the skirts, I loved that I could look at them and remember what scraps it was made of. To say the least I was satisfied with how they came out. I was off to the post office the next day. I sent off all three dolls and the painting so my mom would get it in time before she left for the reunion, unfortunately the package somehow got misplaced and didn't make it to her mailbox. Luckily I have a fabulous mom and she tracked down a number for the post office and made she the package would be delivered the next day. My wonderful brother recieved it the next day and drove the dolls and painting to the reunion! I was so releived when he told me it was recieved! My niece claimed one doll and the other two were auctioned off with the painting. I wish we could have been there it see all the family and spend time with my parents and siblings.... Maybe next year :)

The Bliss Family unites in Nauvoo

This year I was in charge of organizing a family reunion for Logan's dad's side. There are about 100 family members, finding a location that can accommodate 100 people is crazy difficult when you try to consider all incomes so all can attend. In the end we decided to go to Nauvoo, Illinois. We were going for 4 days and 3 nights. The plan was to see the Pageants, visit the historical sites, visit the temple and spend as much time together as a family! About 50 people were able to show up, and we all had so much fun. It's fun to see cousins interact after not seeing one another for many years. Nauvoo was beautiful except for the rain. I had heard that Nauvoo was super hot in July, so I had been praying for cooler days while we were there, I had forgotten to include no rain. It rained the first night and the last day, which made traveling a little difficult, but we all made it safe. I loved all the historic sites, there was so much to see we didn't even get to see everything. James and Boston loved the pioneer games! Logan just liked being with family, and seeing our excitement, since he has been to Nauvoo before. We also were able to visit the Nauvoo temple while we were there, one of Logan's brothers was sealed to his wife and children, it was such a special moment. After 4 days of exploring Nauvoo we were ready to make the journey home. It was so fun to spend so much time with family!

theme park + zoo = walking about 25 miles!

Since we have season passes to Silver Dollar City we are able to go quite often, James and Boss love the park, they both have their favorite rides and least favorite. James does not like any ride that evolves water and that may go fast or be in the dark, Boss would love to just go on any ride he could, the faster the ride the better but thanks to height restrictions he had a limited amount of rides he can ride. We hit the park early, we arrived right before the rides opened, and hurried on to the roller coasters so that we wouldn't have to wait later in line. The weather was perfect, it rained a little here and there which helped when it got a bit warmer. By the end of the day we were all tired and ready to go home, we all walked a ton! The next day we were off to the St. Louis Zoo, which also included a ton of walking. We choose a pretty good day to see the zoo, since it was also cooler thanks to rain predicted in the forecast. It sprinkled/misted most of the day. I loved that there were so many animals, Boston loved the birds and James loved running around with cousins.