Bananagrams

We love Bananagrams! My parents gave Josh and I this game for Christmas and it has been a blast to play. I would recommend this game to anyone. It's like speed Scrabble, two or more players race to be the first to make words out of their letters and be the first to yell, Bananas.

 

Josh and I decided to play around tonight after watching the Denver Bronco's get beat by the New England Patriots. And I won!! Since I've been slacking on my New Years resolution of taking a picture a day and blogging more, I decided to share this game with everyone. 

Josh's Board

My Board

Yummy Almond Coffee Cake

So, I also love to bake and I was very excited when I got the The Perfect Brownie Pan from my husband, Josh for Christmas. I've made a few pans for brownies since Christmas but wanted to try something different this morning. So I made ABSOLUTELY ALMOND POUND CAKE MIX™ Coffee Cake.

 

You Make the pound cake following the instructions listed on the box. 

Instructions for the Crumble Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted
1 3/4 cups flour

 

Sunset at Venice Beach, Florida

Watching the sunset at Venice Beach is a great way to end the last night in Florida. The sunset was gorgeous, just enough clouds to make the sky colorful.

Watch out for the birds, they will attack if you have food. Mom and I each took a cookie with us to snack on while watching the sunset. As soon as we stepped out onto the beach, the birds swarmed us. We had to abandon our cookies and run the other way. 

                      

 

 

     Mom watching the sunset

  

Siesta Key's and Longboat Key's

Saturday, we made our second lunch trip to our favorite restaurant on the water, Pop's Sunset Grill. They have great food, it's on the inner coast line and mom loves the sea salt soap in the bathroom! After lunch, us kids headed to Siesta Key's and Longboat Key's to enjoy some beach time.

 

 While we were at Siesta Key's beach, we got to see the taping of a new show on Travel Channel called Sand Wars. It was neat to see the huge sand castles that the contestants built and while we were there they even blow on up. Keep you eye out for the show Keith, Elizabeth and I in the background! 

After getting our feet wet we headed north to Longboat Key's and found a public beach right off the road that was gorgeous. It was nice and almost felt like a private beach. 

Of course, I had to get some great pictures of my brother and sister-in-law, Keith and Elizabeth. They are such a cute couple.

Venice Beach, Florida

Happy New Year! My New Year's resolution this year is to start blogging and taking more pictures. I would like to create a project in which I take a photograph every day for the entire year. But knowing me, it probably will not happen. On that note, I will try to take a picture and blog as much as possible.

This Christmas was a little tougher this year, we lost my grandfather two weeks before Christmas and just two days after his 91st birthday. My family flew to Florida to be with my grandma and to celebrate my grandfather's life with friends and family of his. My grandfather was one of the sweetest people in my life. The love he had and showed to my grandmother has always made me want that quality in a husband. They were always so cute walking hand in hand or fussing over one another. I think we are very fortunate that my grandparents live so close to so many gorgeous beaches, it really helped to be able to go and walk on the beach and take pictures while we were there.

One of the life guard posts at Venice Beach, Venice, Florida.


The other life guard post at Venice Beach, Venice, Florida


Keith and Elizabeth taking a stroll on the beach.


Keith and I enjoying the water.