Camping Weekend

A few weekends ago we had a Thornton family camping trip.  Chase, Beau's brother is stationed in Minot, ND with the Air Force.  He and his wife, Aubree, were in Arkansas for a few days staying in a cabin on Lake Ouachita.  My in-laws took their camper and we took ours and made a long weekend out of it.

I got some pictures but in true Kendall fashion, they're mostly of the dogs.

 Here is our precious angel at the table awaiting her breakfast.  We do not serve her at the table but she seems to think otherwise.

 Chase and Aubree's dog Linus.  We adore him.  He and Mamie are BFFs.

 We went out on my in-law's boat a lot. 

 Mommy-Mamie Pic

 Love this. 

 We are trying to determine when to break the news to her: "Oh by the way, Mamie.  You're a D-O-G, not a human!"

 Linus had it made.  Note the strangers in the background who came to pet Mr. Leisure

 We stayed at a private group camping area.  Check out the swanky fire pit.

 I had to get a picture of how clear the water is at Lake Ouachita. 

Miss Baywatch.  She also tried to get on the raft like Cousin Linus, not realizing she has about 30 pounds on him.  Not wanting her to get a weight complex, I held the bottom of the raft in the water so it would not sink.  She never caught on.  I would have taken a picture but, again, I was trying to prevent a doggie Titanic.

Virtual Dress Up

There is a site called Polyvore.com and it literally lets you play dress up virtually.  I discovered it through my new website obsession, Pinterest (introduced to me by fellow blogger friends, Sara and Chassity).  Pinterest allows you to view different pictures for ideas (decor, clothing, recipes, holidays, etc.) and if you like the pictures, you pin to your profile for you to refer back to.  The pictures take you to the sites where you can see the recipes or the "how to" make directions.  You must check it out

Anyway, from that site I discovered Polyvore and checked it out and quickly fell in love. Here are a few of my virtual outfits that I have put together since last night:

It's better than Barbie.

Hold a Grudge, Much?

The following conversation took place yesterday between Mom and I:

Mom: "I'm having a hard time deciding who to root for in the Women's World Cup.  I know I need to cheer for USA but Japan is reeling from a horrible earthquake and winning would lift their spirits.  I need you say something to make me cheer for our women."

Me: "Pearl Harbor, Mother."

Mom: "Gooooo USA!!"

Come to find out, she would have had better results cheering for Japan.

The 2011 Thornton Christmas Card Picture

But first, before you see it, I need you to get in the right frame of mind.  Therefore, I am providing background music.  It comes with special instructions so read carefully.

After you hit play on this video and the music starts, wait about five seconds before scrolling down.  

Keep Scrolling

Scroll some more

A little more

Behold the Beauty of Nature:

That's no pot of gold ladies and gentleman. 

A Small (Very Small) Piece of My Childhood

I was reminded the other day of Polly Pocket.  It is a line of toys for little girls.  Today Polly Pocket consists of Barbie-size dolls and accessories but when it first came out, Polly Pocket literally fit in your pocket.  It was a small doll house with teeny tiny accessories and dolls.  Like this one below:

When you were done playing with it you could close the house and stick it your pocket and skip away (skipping just sounded very 1993 Mattel commercial to me). Aaaaaand speaking of cheesy 90's commercials:

I freakin loved me some Polly Pocket.  I was obsessed with the whole small toy concept. I wanted to be the girl in the commercial who had the complete collection.  Everyone jumped on the esophageal-sized toy train.  Even McDonald's.

My question is this: Where the heck was the Consumer Product Safety Commission?? Eventually, the Polly Pocket line disappeared from toy shelves for several years and resurfaced to what it is today. I'm sure it was banned and for one of two reasons:

1. Hundreds of children chocked on the toy accessories
or
2. Moms.  What do I mean?  Imagine how many Pollys and her gang got sucked up by vacuum cleaners.   I remember hearing Mom start the vacuum and running through the house, arms waving, screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"  It was even more torturous hearing the tinging of the toys going up the metal vacuum hose.  Growing up we had a Rainbow Vacuum (Google it) which used a water filtration system so anything sucked up went into an attached water tank that you dumped after.  It was always pleasurable searching for Polly (or an itty bitty chair) in the dumped muddy water.

In addition to the vacuum hazard I remember Dad yelling, "IF I STEP ON THESE DADGUM TOYS ONE MORE TIME!!!...."


Awwwwww, memories.  Maybe if you're lucky someday, I will blog about Magic Nursery Dolls.

Fourth of July Weekend

Here are some pictures from the weekend

 Me and BFs went to Lake DeGray where Courtney's in-laws were camping.  We didn't get much lake time because of rain. :(  Booooooo.

 That cutie on the right is Anna Kate, Courtney's little girl.  AK looks just Court's husband, with pigtails.

 Something about July 4th makes me want to have fruit pizza so I made one.  The base is a sugar cookie (a can of cookie dough and bake), the icing is a package of cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Use whatever fruit and cover with a mixture of orange juice, lemon and sugar.  It helps preserve the fruit.  YUM!!

 Mamie also went out on the boat for the first time.  We went with Beau's dad.  His mom was at home with their dog Rommel who just went through his second leg surgery.  He is now the Bionic Dog.

 She did like the boat was glad to make it dry land that evening.

Too much fun in the sun.