darcy and the cone of shame

If you've ever seen "Up!", you might remember the above title.

The dog got spayed - FINALLY. And THANK YOU GOD that He answered my prayers and it was free! The only problem is my 50 lb. puppy kept ripping open her incision so it's taken twice as long to heal, with an extra helping of antibiotics, a bandaged torso, and diarrhea...yeah being a dog owner :) But I'm very glad the vet's been nice and not charging to see her post-surgery. Thanks Guadalupe Vet Clinic! (and for being right down the street from my house!)

Now Darcy's pretty much all healed up, and I wanna take her camping on this, my last weekend of summer. (I can't believe training starts next week!) So now I'm at a loss as where to go!!!

This is where I actually want to go:
[thanks to longest acres for the pic]

But that doesn't exist in Arizona.  Any ideas on where I could go?  I don't wanna drive all the way up to Flagstaff, and I wanna end up somewhere coolER with water so the dog and I could go swimming.  Please give any and all ideas! 

the decadent cake

It came out looking very beautiful and moist. I was going to top it off with some powdered sugar, but forgot :) I like the brown cake on that plate, though- huh??

this one's my fav

FYI, it's not a super sweet cake. It tasted great, but when I paired it with the dulce de leche, it was almost bland. Great on its own or with coffee...mmmmm

Camping with the community

I love my church. They are my family...along with my family. A great camping extravaganza was planned, got diverted when the mountain closed down because of fire danger, but actually happened when they reopened the mountain again.

So up to Mt. Lemmon we went! I actually didn't stay the night (didn't know if the dog would play with others calmly), but did end up getting a lovely nap amongst some pine needles.


Cute moment with Ronamaki



Jesse thinking intently



Ahhh mighty Settlers



Steve notices but Eric doesn't



None of the Brunson children can get married soon enough :)



It was a lovely time with games, watermelon, great salsa, and dear friends. Listening to Karen and Jeremy tell stories was an absolute delight. They're very laid back people but the go-back-and-forth as they tell stories is HILARIOUS. Also, a small group of us hiked up to the ridge near our campsite (thanks H & S for making me go!) to watch the sunset. Of course, I forgot my camera, but it was GORGEOUS! And then I actually felt COLD - really! I couldn't believe it. The drive down at night accented the cool air, making it one of the best moments of the summer.

for a sweet craving...

Yesterday I made dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk (see yesterday's post on "Banoffee" for the specific recipe. Well I boiled two cans, instead of one and thought it'd be fun to try on chocolate cake :) Ahhh summer...how I will miss you when you're gone and can't make random chocolate cakes in the afternoon.

So thanks Food Network for the below recipe! I made the following changes: I didn't have Dutch process cocoa so I just used regular (which apparently there are some chemical reasons for the recipes calling for it :/), Cloves & a little Cinnamon instead of cardamom, no currents or chocolate chunks, and instead of instant espresso (which NO ONE should ever buy or have)- I put in actually grinds. Which I now realize wasn't what they intended and I should have made espresso with my Aeropress and added that to the cocoa. WOOPS. We'll see how it is...

Decadent Chocolate Cake on the Food Network

Baby Banoffees

Baby Banoffees

I made this today...mmmmm....

They were REALLY amazing and really rich. I topped them with nutmeg instead of cocoa.

Try it! It's so easy!

...for the rainy evening

Summer Survival in the Sonoran Desert

Make your own horchata pops! :) It's perfect for the summer...