Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

Nicole has been craving some Oreo cheesecake so I decided to make her some. I found a recipe on Pinterest so I decided to try it out. After work I stopped and got an oil change. While I was waiting I decided to walk over to Target and get the ingredients. The oil change took forever and I was worried about the cream cheese and sour cream melting but when I got home they were still cold so it was all good. I have never made a cheesecake that I had to cook before so this was all new to me. I used my stand up mixer to mix everything and used my Ninja to chop up the Oreos, I think I might have chopped them up too much. I put an Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake liner, it makes 16, then you top it with the cheesecake mixture then bake for 22-25 minutes. Mine didn't come out like the recipe showed, theirs were more white which led me to think that I chopped up the Oreos too much. Here is what they look like.

I let them cool in the pan for 15 minutes then moved them to a rack to cool some more. Then I crushed up the leftover Oreo cookies to put on top. The recipe didn't call for that but I decided to add some so I wouldn't be tempted to eat the remaining ones. Then in the fridge they went. All in all, the cupcakes were pretty easy to make. Here are some more pictures that I took playing with the Magic Filter on my new camera.

Sparkle

Fragmented

Pop Art

Soft Focus

New Camera

Last week I bought a new camera. I had a little Canon that I could throw in my purse for trips to Busch Gardens and anywhere else I would need a little camera for. Over a year ago my Canon got knocked on the floor and the lens got broken. That camera was awesome, it could take really fast pictures. I have been looking at the Olympus TG-630 iHS and Canon ELPH 130 IS for a month now. I wanted something that could take continuous pictures and do well in low light. I have an Olympus now so I thought a smaller one would be perfect since the settings would hopefully be about the same. The TG-630 iHS is water, shock and freeze proof which makes the camera ideal to take on outdoor outings. The Canon had a better zoom lens and you could load pictures to the Internet via WiFi which I thought was neat. So after weeks of going back and forth I decided on the Olympus TG-630 iHS. I guess the deciding factors were if I needed a zoom lens I could just use my big camera and when will I be around WiFi to load pictures directly to the Internet from the camera. Also, the TG-630 iHS is water and shock proof so if it gets dropped again the lens shouldn't break. I got the camera on Saturday and got to use it for the first time on Sunday at the Strawberry Festival. Isn't it pretty?

I haven't really got to play with the settings yet. I got a little set-up manual on how to load the battery and set up the day/time. Why don't they enclose an owner's manual anymore? They don't for cell phones either. I always have to go online and print one out. I got a CD with the camera that I finally decided to load to my computer last night and found the manual on there. I ended up printing it out because I don't want to have to sit at the computer and read the manual, not very comfy. So hopefully in the next week or so I will go through the manual with the camera and look at all the different settings. It has a Beauty Mode that lets you smooth out wrinkles, whiten teeth and add make-up touches. I can't wait to check that setting out!

Memorial Day

This day is dedicated to the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Thank you for all that you have done for our country. You will always be remembered.

I would also like to wish my niece, Felicia, and her husband, Nick
a very Happy 1 yr. Anniversary.

Kimberly and Jacob had a cookout for Memorial Day so we headed over there around 11:00. Jacob cooked some yummy bbq chicken on the grill and the rest of us brought some side dishes. The kids played in the water for a little bit.

Haylee and Brayden taking a break.

Popsicle time.

Trampoline time.

It was such a great 3-day weekend. I can't believe it's already over. I need an extra day off just to recoup.

Strawberry Festival

Every year we try to go to the Strawberry Festival in Pungo, it's held on Memorial Day weekend. On the way to the festival we stopped and picked up Dave, Nicole and Haylee as we were going over to their house afterwards. Plus we pass their house on the way to the festival so it just made sense. We met Kimberly, Jacob, Kylie and Brayden at the festival listening to Kimberly's friend, Kerri, sing.

Haylee and I listening to Kerri sing. We soon left there as the kids were getting restless so it was time to ride some carnival rides. It seems like the tickets get more expensive every year and most rides take three tickets even the kids rides. I just think that's crazy.

After the rides it was on to the agriculture area where they could ride ponies and pet some animals.

 

Brayden didn't want to ride any ponies so he just watched. He said "I stay here".

Haylee petting a five week old goat. He is a twin and his mommy only wanted one kid so the man holding the goat is his new mommy.

Brayden, Haylee and Kylie petting a rabbit.

After the agriculture area Kimberly, Jacob, Kylie and Brayden left to go to a cookout with Jacob's family and the rest of us went and found some good food to eat. After we fed our tummies it was time for more rides, Haylee had a few tickets left that she needed to use. Then we headed back to Nicole, Dave, and Haylee's house. Nicole had a few projects for Jeff to do. By the time Jeff finished the projects it was time for dinner so we went to Applebee's. Afterwards, we went our separate ways, Jeff and I went home and Nicole and Haylee went home. It was a nice day to spend outside with family.  

Chores

Today was a fun filled day of chores. Not much fun really unless you like that sort of stuff. It was the normal laundry, vacuuming, and moping a lot of hard wood floors. Now I know why I rarely do that, it's hard work people. You notice I left out dusting. Well dusting is definitely not on my list of fun or chores. Since I am allergic to dust and I lose my voice when I do that lovely chore I leave it to Jeff or when company comes into town.

In the afternoon I decided to spray the weeds around the fence line. These beautiful boys, Tristan and Alasdair,

decided to follow me around while I was spraying. Alasdair kept laying in the shade from the fence so I had to keep yelling at him to move. He wanted to be right where I was spraying, bad boy.

Today is our son-in-law's, Dave's, birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dave! May all your birthday wishes come true!

Enough with the Rain, Wind and Cold

I thought we were going to have to build an ark these past couple of days.

Out of the 24 days this month, 13 of them were raining. I say enough with the rain! I better not hear that we are in a drought come August. Today the rain brought wind and a cold front. Within 5-10 minutes the temperature dropped 10-15 degrees. I am ready for some warmer weather and seeing the sun.

Welcome

This is the beginning of our blog. I use to have a web site, many moons ago, that kept our out of town family updated on what was going on with our lives. I use to post daily and weekend reports, our travels, family pictures and just basically what was happening day to day. I have decided to start again since my family is wanting updates on a more timely manner. I couldn't decide if I wanted to start again as both our daughters have their own blogs and most of our posts will be the same but I decided why not. Let's give it a try and see what happens. I hope you enjoy getting a glimpse on what is going on with us and our family.