My Moose

Shades of "white" is the theme for this weeks game...And my moose dog fits right in! Meet Drake, he is our blonde lab...the best dog we have ever had (and those of you that know us, we have gone through a ton of them!) My husband wanted him to be his bird hunting dog, hence the name Drake after the duck, but when we found out that he couldn't really be around the kids while we trained him, we changed our minds, we had all already fell in love with him!

Drake turned 3 in January, we have had him since he was 8 weeks old. He was the cute little "fat, lazy dog" sitting in the corner of the pin with all his brothers and sisters...We knew immediately he was the one...He loves to go camping with us and LOVES to hang out in the front yard where all the neighbors drive by and give him the "whats up" nod...We swear he does it back! He is amazing with the kids and everyone adores him! My sister Sara had to have one when she saw how cute he was, and that's where Hannah came in to play...We are taking them camping this weekend and I know he will be in hog heaven!
Here he is after playing in the sprinklers with the kids and then rolling in the dirt!

Take my picture too mom!

Hope your staying cool, its 98 here in the Inland Empire!

"Green" Ingredients

Well the weekend is just about here and ours is packed full of celebrations!!! We have 4 parties to attend and Im bringing salsa to all of them! Our girls are going to a slumber party on Friday night for their new friend "Madie" she is turning 10 and is the sweetest little girl ever! We camp with her family and have been blessed to have made such good friends! Then from the slumber party we head to my nieces kindergarten graduation party at the park! It just seems like yesterday when she was born! From there we come back to the neighborhood to another graduation party for our neighbor Brandon Lin! He is graduating from high school tonight, Brandon was accepted to Chapman University and will be playing on their basketball team! Go Brandon! Later that evening, Hailey will leave that party and head over to another party in the neighborhood for her friend Alyssa! Good Grief! Sunday being Fathers Day I will probably make my hubbie and kids some breakfast and then we are going to my sister Saras house for a noon time BBQ with our dad...WOW, what a weekend we have in store for us! But it will be fun and Im looking forward to seeing everyone at each party!

Id also like to say a very Happy Graduation to my other niece Taylor who graduated from elementary school today! Good Job Taylor! Jr. High is so much more fun! You will love it!

So while making salsa today I was looking at my ingredients...well some of them anyways...and low and behold..they are all green! Mike and I also purchased a lime tree for our yard several months back and the limes are getting so big!!! Im so excited! Here are my "Green shots" for today!

There are like 5 bunches about this big!!!!
Have a wonderful evening!!!!

My Peanut...

This weeks color is green, and I dont have much of it around here at the house other than my baby girls green eyes...This is Makenzie Kay...otherwise known as "Kiki" she gave herself that nickname when she was barely old enough to talk...She also goes by Kenzie, Kikowitz or Peanut.

She is a spitting image of me when I was her age but has her Daddys green eyes..Both my other two kids have my blue eyes. Kenzie is a mommys girl, she always has been, she was the one that made me a stay at home mom...She is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade...She is at the top of her class with her grades and just recently was voted as their class president! I love you Kenzie Kay...

Arent they cute

I had to post some new pics of my babies...

These were taken yesterday as we were driving out to the concert..the one of my hubbie goes with our "final day of RED"

Have a great weekend!

Friday Families...

Today we stopped by my sister in laws house in Temecula and I couldn't help but notice all the red she too has around her house...Here are a few shots of the main things I picked up on...Shannon has great taste and her house is always done up so cute, my mother in law lives with Shannon and her family and between the two of them I always come home feeling like my house is so blah compared to theirs! Shannon also has a great green thumb like my sister Sara, they can grow perfect roses! I'm so jealous! I also owe Shannon a huge "Thanks" for keeping our kids last night while we went to the concert! We had an amazing time and it made it even better knowing the kids were in good hands and were having just as much fun! Thanks Shannon and AJ, and of course my niece Tator Tot (Taylor) The kids had so much they decided they were going to stay for the weekend! So, a huge thanks and a big "Im sorry" hahahahaha..Love ya...

Her pretty red roses in the front of the house...

This one has yellow, orange and red in it...So pretty
.
This is one of the cute hummingbird feeders she has around her yard..I love how it looks like a wine bottle!

Thanks again Shannon for keeping the kids last night!

Seeing red on day three...

When I look around my house, almost everything has red in it...Here are just a few shots of a few of my favorite things...

I got this sign at a store in Old Towne Temecula that was going out of business several years back...The store was called "The Olde Tin Box" At one time I collected bird houses and the colors just went perfect with my house, I asked the gal how much it was and she just kind of looked at me and said, "Umm its just our store front sign, its not really for sale" I was really bummed because I knew it would look perfect in my house over my denim couches...I begged her as well as my father in law, Jim did too...and she decided to sell it to me for $20.00 and a promise to send her pictures of it over my couch :) Poor Jim, aka "Papa" had to help carry it the rest of our shopping day!

This is our old antique bed, it is a hand me down that was given to us by Mikes parents...It was given to Mikes mom, Janice by his dad Jim for their 25th wedding anniversary..They upgraded to a bigger bed over the years and Mike and I inherited this one...I love it, and the red bedding makes our little lodge type room complete!

Not sure if I will post tomorrow as I'm going to my absolute favorite country singer of all times concert out at Pechanga! Gary Allan is the bomb! I'm so excited!!!! I'll be sure to post pictures when I get back home though!
Have a wonderful day! Check back in soon!!!

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Just wanted to wish my sister Lindsey a very Happy Birthday! Lindsey is away with her work training in Dallas Texas for her birthday...I hope she knows how much we all love her...She is the big 27 years young today! Lindsey is a great mom and a new wife...She excels at all she does and is truly a great friend as well as a sister...I love you...

Happy Birthday!!!!

Knock Knock...

Come on in...

My "I saw red" today is my front door! A few years back we decided to paint the outside of our house a deep mocha color, but I had to have a red door...Red doors just always seem so warm and inviting..Kind of like me, I'm always inviting people to join in the fun, sometimes it gets me in trouble cause not everyone likes to be a social butterfly!

Whats so funny about our front door is that it is always open, but if you were to ask any of our friends or family if they have ever entered through it they would probably say no...We love to be outside in the garage "watching traffic" as the men in my life call it...So most people just enter the house through the garage door :)

I also love this old vintage American Flag that Sara and I found at the Orange Circle, it hangs on the wall that faces the front door, so its what you see when you enter my home...I wish I had the video of Sara and I hanging this HUGE flag...What a hoot we were!

Well I'm off to attack the laundry today, I'm loving this blogging world so far and I cant wait to post more! Have a wonderful day and thanks for the visit, I love the company!

I saw red...SALSA

Well of course my first "I saw red" has to be my salsa

Join in the fun...stop by Sara Ducketts site to see what its

all about...http://sadieolive.typepad.com/.

MMMMMM...Now doesnt that look yummy!

Hi Friend~

My mom always tells the story of how when I was little, everyone was my friend..I would walk up to just about anyone and say "Hi Friend"...I think I'm still pretty much like that these days, but Ive changed my wording up a little bit :) I love meeting new people and from what Ive heard through my sister this is definitely a great way to do it...

So where do I begin?




My name is Denise and I'm in my early 30's, I am the mother to three amazing kids...Brandon is my oldest and he is 14 a month shy of 15, Hailey Bug is next in line at 13, and my baby girl Makenzie Kay is 8. I am married to my high school sweet heart Michael, we started dating when I was 15 years old and have remained together almost 19 years now..As a matter of fact the 9th will be our "19" years of being together anniversary! He is the love of my life and my best friend. This September we will be married 14 years. I couldn't imagine my life without him.



























I am the oldest of all my sisters...after that is Sara, Ginger, another sister Lindsey and the youngest of the bunch is Morgan...In between there we lost a baby brother when he was only 2 months old...he was a preemie and just didn't have the fully developed lungs to make it...His name was Hobie....My sisters, well except for Ging have all recently married and I have been blessed with 3 great brother in laws, Josh, Nate & Mike..Its so nice to have some men in our family! Growing up with all girls could be crazy at times!My husband has a brother and sister so Ive been blessed another sister Shannon and a great brother in law, Jimmy as well... Both of them are married as well so I have a bro in law, AJ and a sister in law Michelle too. Mikes mom Janice aka Momo is probably one of my best friends, I am truly blessed with a terrific family and I love them all so much.


I am a stay at home mom and have been for about 8 years now, with the exception of a year and a month where I went to go work with 2 of my sisters at the mortgage company, a whirlwind of a job, but I loved it...Too bad that didn't last when the whole sub prime industry went under, so did our company. But Ive enjoyed being back home with my babies...Ive dabbled in a few at home type of businesses, selling Cookie Lee jewelry for awhile, then started making these cute little can coolie cups for girls, called Floozie Koozies...but my newest venture is my salsa..Its a recipe that has been in Mikes family for years, but somehow the two of us took it over and then I just ran with it! I was making jars of it for holidays and giving it away when people started just raving about it and asking for refills and telling me to sell it! So my mother in law and I thought of a name (D-bomb, that's what Mike calls me) we had some labels made and Sara made me up some business cards, and in the last 3 months Ive probably sold over 200 jars! Its pretty exciting! I'm trying to figure a way to send it via the mail and still keep it fresh...any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I jar it in mason jars and its made fresh with all fresh ingredients so it needs to stay cold, but I think freezing it will ruin the taste..I'm going to do some experimenting this week!

Well I sure hope I havent bored you all to death, but those are pretty much the hi lights of my life, my family my friends and my salsa!

Now I'm going to go around the house and look for something RED so I can play in Saras game...(Dont think its going to be too hard, being my house is all Americana!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

My First Post!

I have finally joined the blogger world thanks to my extremely talented sister, Sara, yes Sara of Sadie Olive...I loved the idea of her new game she has going, so I asked her if she would "whip" me up a blog, and low and behold, she did it in an afternoon! Sara, myself and our baby sister Morgan, had a fun time trying to think of a blog name...Sara is the one that came up with it...
I'm truly an All American girl and I make and sell salsa so hence the name "Stars, Stripes and Salsa!
Thanks Sara! I cant wait to join in all your fun via blogger world and meet some of your new friends as well as make some new ones of my own!
I guess my next post will be to introduce myself as well as my family and give you all a sneak peek into my world....Looking forward to it!
Hugs!