Pistacho Pudding!!!

Funny story...

So for Easter Sunday, my cousin Sarah hosted Easter brunch at her home. I offered to bring Pistachio pudding as my dessert. So I'm making it the night prior, you know...adding the pineapple's, the cool whip, mixing, and it smells oh so good! Love that scent! And like the directions state, it must chill for an hour or so. In this case I'm thinking, great, I've got all night for this to set.

Well...Sure enough the next morning I go to take it out of the fridge and it's sure is moving a lot. So I think, well, it tastes like pistachio pudding and it looks like pistachio pudding, so it must be fine right?

By the time I get to Sarah's on the other side of Phoenix, what jiggle was there is now completely gone. We now have Pistachio soup on our hands. I couldn't figure out how I screwed up the directions? I mean, yes it was my first time making it, but seriously, how hard could it be? Right?

Needless to say, Sarah's hosting 4th of July. So me being the woman that I am, refuse to let my pistachio pudding incident hold me back! I will make this dish correctly darn it! Even if it kills me!

So last night I asked Justin to bring me a "tub" of cool whip while he's at the store. Which he interprets as a "tube." So right of the bat I'm thinking Oh Lordy I'm Doomed! But as it turns out it works just fine. Then I proceed to read the directions yet again. ONLY this time I realize it says add "a Package of Pistachio Pudding." NOT make the pistachio pudding with all the ingredients (add milk). Duh!!! So last night we had our first successful batch of pistachio pudding with pineapple, cool whip from a "tube," marshmallows and of course maraschino cherries!

YUM-O!

St. Louis Trip for Jason & Mary's Wedding

We're in St. Louis for Jason & Mary's Wedding Weekend! Let the fun begin!

First day in St. Louis! Our hotel was literally across the street from the Arch. So we decided to check it out.

Lindsey, Spaulding, Sarah, Me and Sheri!

Spaulding & I holding up the arch. It's a tuff job but someone's got to do it!

We tested our college degree's while walking through the history museum underneath the arch. Turns out I'm the one with an actual degree IN History and had no idea what we were looking at! So we just had fun and checked out all the cool stuff.

For instances....A Buffalo! Now that's some historical stuff! My date for the night Miss Sheri! We had so much fun! Dinner, dancing, laughing, giggling, facebooking and texting at 3am! Oh goodness what fun!

The luckiest groom in the world! Check out these fine looking ladies!

Spaulding, her baby bump aka "Mini Mart" and 2 random guys being really weird...Not sure where they came from?

The beautiful Bride, Mary and her handsome new Husband, Jason

Sheri and Ken being silly towards the end of the night. We had so much fun, met some new people, saw some old friends and over all just had a blast. Who knew St. Louis had casino's within walking distance, 4 lane bowling allies that are SO much fun, Starbucks that are closed on Sunday and a giant river running through it! What's that big river over there? ....Uh, the Mississippi? Oh...

Cribbage - Mom vs. Me

I skunked my Mom in Cribbage! This never happens so YES I'm blogging about it! So excited! Whoohooo!

Easter Sunday

Our beautiful Easter Princess, Miss Sedona Rae! The second I walked in the door she came running over and gave me a big hug! This, by the way, is the only way to be greeted. So CUTE! She of course showed me every single egg she received from the Easter Bunny as well as her chocolate bunny.

Of course Easter with the Robison Family is never complete without Bunny Cake! Aunt JoAn made two beautiful cakes this year. One chocolate and one strawberry so of course we had to try them both! Poor Sedona's pig tales kept falling into the icing as she ate. So Grandma Julie pulled her hair up into her head band. It was pretty funny. She loved her bunny cake! Hard to believe this little girl is already 3 years old! She also showed us how she knew the capitals of the United States! Especially since I know most of us were thinking uh...Las Vegas? And she'd blurt out Carson City! So impressive!

Spaulding & Tim's Baby Shower

Our good friends Spaulding and Tim are having a baby! Mom and I attended their baby shower and had no idea we'd be eating putting in garbage bags and blind folds! Mom holding Declan, literally all night long! She was SO happy!
Let the fun begin! Here's the Grandma to be! As you can see it was quite a messy ordeal. The idea was, you stand across from your partner, blindfolded, wearing a garbage bag, while trying to feed each other pudding as fast as possible. Jeremy & Lindsey Smith were the big winners of the night! Craig and I didn't have a chance against them!

The next game was to see who could chug beer out of a baby bottle, yes nipple and all, the fastest. Here's Daddy to be showing off his skills! :) Go Tim!

Tim, Brittany and myself are all sporting the same hair cut! BANGS! We love our BANGS! :)

Good times! Definitely some of the best baby shower games played yet! What a wonderful shower! I'm so excited for Brittany and Tim and to be an Aunt again!

The McConkey Dogs

We shaved Roxi! Well, accidentally that is. The lady asked me how much I wanted off. I thought I told her about an inch off. She took that as, "leave and inch of hair!" Poor thing looks ridiculous! At least she'll be nice and cool for the summer. Crockett and Daddy have a new game. "Catch the Golf Balls!" Justin uses his pitching wedge and takes 9-10 golf balls and practices his swing. While Crockett runs, catches them, and brings them back. It's awesome! The best part about it is he's tired out after a good 10 minutes! Crockett has also recently decided he's part Bassett Hound (or is it that he found out his Mom wanted a Bassett Hound?).

We've just recently learned that Crockett has a hidden talent that we never knew about! After we go to bed and have been sleeping for a while, around 6am Crockett likes to practice his singing lessons. So we'll hear the weirdest sounds, not so much a howl but more of a bad, drunk karaoke singer whaling at the top of their lungs! To top it off, Roxi feels she needs to interject her talent with a high pitched Bark! Bark! here and a Bark! Bark! there! It's quite a preformance!

It all seems funny, but at 6am it's not so hilarious! Oh the joys of "children." :)

Love this time of year!

The backyard is so beautiful and green! I love this time of year! I'm enjoying the great weather and loving my little home in good ol' Layton Lakes! It's moments like these when you realize how grateful and lucky you are to have what you have. Mom and Justin are on their way over for a home cooked meal. Yes, I cooked! As it turned out it's one of my best meals yet! I'm adding it to the list of top favorites. Love my crockpot! :)

Grandma and the iPhone

Showing Grandma my new toy! The iPhone! She's so funny she just laughs at technology. Mom, Grandma and I met for lunch at House of Tricks by ASU. We all just happened to be in the same area at the same time and said let's meet up! I love sitting and chatting with Grandma, you just never know what she's going to say. I hope to be just as fun spirited when I'm her age. Love you Grandma!

Maui 2011

Maui 2011! Yes we just got back in October '10, but that doesn't mean anything, we're going again! So we did! We booked our tickets and the next thing you know we're riding in style (due to my air miles) in first class and on our way to Maui! Starting the trip off right with a screw driver for breakfast! These smiles are completely genuine! We're definitely excited!

We couldn't wait to get to our favortie spot for happy hour to watch the sun set. This is our favorite table and what do you know it was open and waiting for us!

Awaiting our first drinks at Japenga, the new and improved restaurant at the Hyatt. Great sushi, good drinks, yummy desserts and an incredible view!

Nothing like a little PDA from the Hyatt's penguins. It was so cute I had to take a picture. Poor guys couldn't even have any privacy.

This was taken our last day near Mama's Fish house. We like to come and watch the surfers. There's also a lot of sea turtles and swim around here. Not to mention since it's whale season we saw a few out playing further out.

One of my favorite places to work out, the Hyatt's gym! Not only is the view amazing they always have ice water with sliced fruit. It's the little things that count and make a difference.

Daiquire pool side! Couldn't get enough of these! Justin orders the Classic Mojito. More rum more fun! Ahhh, the infamous Gazebo restaurant! The above is the view from our table. One of the many perks with this restaurant. However the pineapple macadamian nut pancakes are to die for! There's something amazing about their whip creme. Which they will tell you, it's not whip creme, so my question is, what is it? But then again who cares it's so good!

Our favorite little restaurant, the Gazebo.

Always a line at this popular place. We waited almost an hour to get in this time! Day after the Tsunami hit so everyone was anxious to get out and about and enjoy life.

Us waiting in line at the Gazebo.

One of our favorite things to do is lay in one of the hammocks by the beach and star gaze. I know it sounds cheesy but it's so relaxing.

The Lahaina Grill! Same place we had our rehersal dinner. This place never dissapoints!

Getting read to enjoy our "Road to Hana" dessert.

Lamb Chops for Justin and Ahi Tuna for me! My mouth is watering just looking at this picture!

Playing on the Plantation Course in Kapalua. I sat co-pilot and read my numerous magazines. Best part of the Kapalua course was one of the guys challenged me to a driving contest, of course from the Ladies Tee and he from the mens tee. And guess what? I beat him by 3 feet! Whoohooo! Not to shabby for not playing in a few years!

Gotta look good in the co-pilot's seat!

Teeing off at the Plantation Course!

Great day to play with the exception of the wind! Lots and lots of wind!

Heading out to our favortie chef, David Paul's Island Grill. The best butternut squash raviloi I've ever had. I told the table across from me, with her 2 kids, it was orgasmic! Whoops! I couldn't stop myself before the words were flying out! But she agreed because she had ordered it too. Too funny!

The Sea Watch where we were married in '09!

Our last stop on the trip, Mama's Fish House! Amazing food! Wish it was closer to our hotel!

Oh Crockett...

So Justin had just mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned the enitre house for me. Which was an AMAZING surprise! Only for Crockett to go outside, dig in the mud and bring it every where! It's on the couches, (yes he jumped on them) the freshly mopped kitchen floor, and the just proffesionally cleaned carpet! Damn Dog! Of course when you see this face, along with his muddy paws and muddy nose, you can't help but only love him more. He's so stinkin' cute!

Our Kitchen's back to normal!

YEAH! Good News! Our kitchen nightmare is finally over! We now have our cabinets and countertops back in! January 7th is a GREAT day for the McConkey's! No more looking at our slab while cooking! Or reaching for the silverware and forgetting it's not in that drawer because there is no drawer. Oh it's so nice to be able to have a completed, happy home! Thanks to my favorite construction manager James for getting everything finished with very little hassle! You're awesome!