Banana pudding

I love to cook. So I decided to make Friday my day to share a favorite recipe. Here's one I made recently that got pretty good reviews:

No bake Banana Pudding

1/2 12 oz. package of Nilla wafers

4 peeled and sliced bananas

1 8oz. cream cheese (room temp)

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 5oz. box vanilla instant pudding

3 cups cold milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tub Cool Whip thawed

Line a 9x13 pan with Nilla wafers. Place sliced bananas on top of wafers. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add the can of condensed milk and pudding and mix well. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. After it's mixed nice and smooth fold in half the tub of cool whip. Spread the pudding mix on top of wafers and bananas. Top with remaining cool whip. Chill for about 3 hours.

I hope you enjoy this. It's so super easy, which is something I look for in a recipe.

Father's Day

Here are some things I think about when I think of my dad:

Every Valentine's day he always had a card and box of Witman's samplers waiting for me at the breakfast table.

He would always tell me I looked nice every Sunday morning before church.

I always will associate coffee, raw peanuts, and crosswords with my dad.

He gave me my red hair.

I learned that being quiet and listening were a good trait to have sometimes.

Every little girl needs a good Daddy, and I had a great one.

I love you Dad!

YMCA

I use to be a member at Gold's Gym. I went there for over a year and really saw some changes. But in order to save some money I canceled my membership. To tell the truth I really don't like running on the treadmill. 30 minutes drag by. The only good thing I found from using the treadmill was that I could make myself run faster. So then I started running with my friends Kara and Jackie and also map out a route in my neighborhood to do by myself. I love running outside. It goes by fast and there is more variety. We also were able to buy a Bowflex off of Craigslist, and yes we use it, it's just not as much fun as the gym.

So last week my mother in law told me she added my name to her YMCA account. Awesome!! I have the absolute best mother in law. Morgan and I stopped by on Tuesday and picked up our cards and took a tour of the gym. Then Wednesday we went and worked out after work. It was great. Okay not the running on the treadmill part, but all the equipment there is great. Something about the atmosphere of the gym makes me forget I'm working out. But then I'm reminded when I wake up the next morning :)

Our plan is to go every Tuesday and Wednesday together. That way I still get to run with the girls on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Hopefully will have fun at the Y-M-C-A!!

The Object of my Affection

This is it. The ultimate camera. The Nikon D90 is my new obsession. Okay, so I don't own it yet, but I'm taking the steps toward saving up for it. This camera has it all. 12.3 MP, continues shooting at 4.5 frames per second, awesome ISO sensitivity, and a lot of other features that blow my Kodak out of the water. Four years ago I bought what I thought was a nice camera only to see that it was just a big camera. The flash is terrible, Pictures turn out blurry, and overall just a piece of junk!

Unfortunately, it cost a pretty penny. Last year we saved for about 6 months to get Morgan his guitar.

So this year we decided to save up for something else, something for me (although Morgan will definitly be using it). Now I'm now expert photographer. I'm amature at best, but it's my plan to take some classes and really understand what it takes to be a good photographer.

I think I come by it naturally. I can remember my Mom talking about her Dad loving to take pictures. Maybe even winning prizes. I don't remember my Grandpa Hunt, but I can tell his granddaughters took after him. My sister's and myself have always loved to take pictures. Even my 17 year old niece Leslie is getting to be great! So hopefully a year from now I can own the Nikon D90 and start on my path to be the next Ansel Adams!

Getting Started

So many people I know have blogs now. I read my sisters Stephanie's and Heather's blogs everyday. And though I'm convinced that my life is nowhere near that interesting I figured, what the heck. It will give me something to do while Morgan plays video games!

Speaking of video games, I'm convinced I'm missing some genetic code that you need to have to appreciate video games. Morgan usually will go 3 or 4 months without playing any games, but when he gets a new one it's all that's on for a week. There have been many conversations between us about how much fun they are, but I just don't see it. And I also get a little motion sickness when I watch it for too long. But I don't mind, it gives me an excuse to read or get stuff done around the house that I wouldn't if a movie was on.