Trolls are back! Anyone remember those from the ’90s? I had a teeny one, but I remember my cousin had a ton of them. I would go over to her house and play with them. I told my BFF that trolls were back, and she was all, “What?!!” She was a troll fanatic. She told me all about all the different ways she would fix her troll doll hair, she even had trolls of all different sizes, some as large as her forearm. Now, those giant ones aren’t back, but these teeny ones can be can be found at Target, and I knew my girls would have a lot of fun with this quirky dolls. Strange and weird… they are all about it.

My sister called one afternoon and she said, “What are you doing?” My reply, “Playing with trolls.” She busted out laughing and said, “Oh mom life.” Since the BFF had told me about all the different hairstyles she used to create, we wanted to try them out, then we tried mimicking those hairstyles on the girls too.

Meet Pinkie. We gave her pigtails. Just part her hair down the middle and tie the ends with some ribbon.

To match Glow’s hair to her troll, we parted her hair down the middle and separated it into two sections. We majorly teased (tease, tease, and tease some more) one section at a time, then tied the ends with ribbons. True did all the ribbon tying because my hands have trouble with those tiny things.

Meet Candy Cane. We split her hair in three and braided it up upward, and twisted the end to set the braid in place.

To match Soul’s hair to her Candy Cane, we separated her hair in three sections, and did some serious teasing with each section (starting from the top and working our way down), then we braided her hair upward. Twist the ends together and add a bit of gel (or mouse) to keep the end in place.

Meet Chill. Chenille stems (or pipe cleaners) are needed for this technique. Cut out 7 pieces and each about 3/4″ long. The tiny pieces become tiny rollers, we used pink because it was similar to the pink foam rollers we have. We separated the hair into 7 small sections, twisted each section, then rolled it onto the piece of chenille stem. Once it was rolled, we folded the stem in half to keep the curl in place.

To match Brave’s hair to her troll Chill, we did an all over tease, then separated her hair into 7 sections and rolled them with pink foam curlers. She loved it so much she kept them on all day and even went to sleep with her rollers on.

Meet Rock ‘n’ Roll. To create her sweet bun, simple twist and knot the end together. Then, add a bright ribbon to keep in place.

To match True to her Rock ‘n’ Roll troll, of course we had to do the teasing to get that crazy hair, then we simple gathered it all on top of her head, twisted it into a bun, and topped it off with a ribbon to match her troll.

The girls were laughing and giggling about how crazy their hair was. They kept playing salon the rest of the afternoon, and then with all their do’s (my girls and the trolls), the played restaurant. It’s fun to see my girls playing with toys I have fond memories of as a child. I’m sure they would make their troll lovin’ Auntie Linda proud too.

The key to getting that crazy hair is in all the teasing, but the key to getting their hair back to normal is in the spray-in conditioner and a wide tooth comb. And yes, my girls are the ones that came up with the names for all their trolls. I wonder where on earth they get their crazy naming skills fun?! I have no clue. Trolls are such funny little dolls; I knew my girls would get a kick out of them. In fact, Glow brings hers everywhere and she even wanted to make sure to introduce Pinkie to my parents.

on brave & true: crazy hair don’t care shirt and rad troll dress, c/o target. troll dolls are only available in the store.

This post is sponsored by Target.  Thank you for the time you take to visit this space and support me and the brands I partner with.

Pretty much the only reason we keep going to the fair is to use the photo booth and take this picture. We don’t really care much for the food, and while the girls love the rides, the photo booth is our most favorite part of the fair. Here are some things I noticed about this newest picture versus the rest…

Soul is wearing the same dress she wore in 2013.

Brave still wears her faux glasses.

Ben’s wearing his signature shorts 3 years in a row (he has 3 pairs of these shorts). He’s such a simple dude.

My hair color is the same this year as it was last year, but just longer.

For the first time, Ben and I aren’t carrying any of the kids.

The girls are standing in the same order (from left to right, Soul, True, Brave, Glow).

I’m always standing to the left of Ben.

Read last year’s comparisons here.

For our second mini trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (the first was the Marfa, White Sands, and Phoenix trip), we headed to Bottle Tree Ranch and the Mojave Desert. Bottle Tree Ranch is this art installation in Barstow, California. It’s totally random and totally cool all rolled into one. It is such a unique attraction and I love how the artist included different types of objects into his bottle tree sculptures. My fave? The old sewing machine he had on top of one of the bottle trees. If you’re driving to Las Vegas, or doing a Route 66 road trip, I highly recommend stopping here to explore and of course take pictures!

Our next stop, was a couple hours away from the Bottle Tree Ranch and we headed to the Mojave National Preserve to visit the Mojave Lava Tubes. We did get sidetracked as we left the ranch because I saw antique shops along the road, but 2 chairs and a basket later, we were headed to the desert. The Mojave Lava Tubes are off an unmarked road, and internet was spotty, so google maps didn’t help much. We ended up going to Kelso Depot (the ranger station) to get more directions, and it turned out we passed the unmarked road way back there. Thus, we backtracked back to go find it. Of course, the ranger also let us know that it was best to have 4WD to navigate the unmarked roads. We had done some reading up on it online, so while we didn’t have 4WD, we did have an SUV, so we were kind of praying that was enough.

We finally found the unmarked road, and proceeded with caution… oh man, that was the scariest and bumpiest road we have ever driven on. It was really sandy and rocky, and we went super slow. After what seemed like a really long while, and lots of praying out loud, we finally made it to our destination. Hallelujah! We still had to do a tiny hike to get to the lava tubes, but we did finally make it! The best time to go the lava tube is midday, but seeing how I got distracted by antique shops and we kind of got lost on our way there, we missed that window of time to get the light hitting the tube just right.

It was kind of freaky going down the steps into the cave because it was pitch black. Ben had to use his flashlight function on his iPhone to guide us. When you get inside, you have to crouch and walk through this one area that’s only about 3′ or 4′ tall (in the darkness) to get to the main cavern. This is where you have the beams of light coming through. Even though we didn’t hit the ideal time to see the beams of light shine through (like in this post), it was still pretty cool. I guess that means we will just have to make it back one day, and next time bring the girls. I started getting freaked out under, so we didn’t stay too long.

We discovered this cool blog California Through My Lens as we were researching things to do for our anniversary road trip. It’s run by a “travel junkie” and he finds all these interesting spots to visit in California, and a lot of these unique destinations also happen to be free. If you live in California, or are planning to do some traveling here, I’d thoroughly comb through this blog because there are many great ideas of places to visit here in the wonderful Golden State. We used his tips here and here for this little road trips of ours, and we will be look forward to tackling lots of his other suggestions later too!

Turkey Burgers and Baked Onion Rings. Next time, I’d go lighter on the cornmeal for the onion ring breading, but this will definitely be getting made again. Baked onion rings are amazing, same delicious taste as regular onion rings, but without all that deep frying! I was really craving onion rings, so I thought burgers would go well, but I was out of buns, so I made whole wheat focaccia and used those as buns. I used this recipe and tripled it, so that I have plenty leftover to freeze for when we want some homemade pizza.

Spaghettini with Roasted Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, and Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs. This recipe with fresh tomatoes and basil from our garden was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend making this and tripling that breadcrumb recipe!

Week of 8/17 – 8/21
Monday: Wonton Soup
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thursday: Homemade Pizza
Friday: Tilapia Ceviche

I need some ideas of simple meals to make for large groups. I’m thinking lasagna, but have never tried that, so I would love to hear (read) any suggestions you might have.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Thankful for our church family and for how God is growing and stretching us.

I’m thankful for my momma and for God giving her another year.

Feeling nervous and excited about this coming school year. I’m conquering preschool, kinder, third, and fourth grade… eeks!

Okay, I think we have bed size down, and which mattress we are gonna go with, we are still stuck on bed frames though. #firstworldproblems

I think these are the perfect lace up flat.

I’ll gladly stuff this s’mores custard cake in my tummy.

I know it’s not the most flattering, but I really gravitate to loose flowy dresses (and shift style ones too).

I need to order more polaroid film.

We are learning how to balance our time with sharing life with others. We are praying over what that may look like and how that can naturally fit into our everyday rhythm of life. We are such slow learners when it comes to seeing our selfishness and surrendering that to Jesus, but we are praying God molds our hearts to be selfless for His kingdom.

Stay cool friends! It’s hot out there (at least here in SoCal).

After our adventure in White Sands, we headed to Arizona and stayed at the Saguaro to relax before heading home. We stayed at the Saguaro Palm Springs for True’s colorful hotel birthday (see here), and loved it, so since we were in the area, we thought it would be fun to try out the Arizona one. Of course, the Saguaro in Arizona didn’t disappoint. In fact, I think it might be better than the one in Palm Springs. The room had a few more interesting details, but the grounds of the hotel were equally as fun. We do love the restaurants at the Palm Springs one, but the reviews for the Scottsdale one wasn’t great, so we decided not to eat there.

When we are in a new city, we like to look up Food & Wine restaurant recommendations, so according to them, Phoenix’s Pizzeria Bianco was a must stop. I read a lot of reviews and articles on it (if you know us, we are notorious for researching everything), and people were even saying this might be the best pizza place in the nation. Thus, we thought we better give it a try.

Ben ordered the Biancoverde and I got the Rosa. Both pizzas were really yummy, and we thought we should have ordered anchovies on Ben’s because it would have gone well with all the arugula. My pizza had pistachios and I have never thought to make pizza with pistachios on it, but you bet I will be trying soon because it was so good. Their crust was perfectly thin and crispy, and it made me determined to get that type of crust next time I made pizza. Now as far as them being the best pizza in the nation, I thought it was good, but honestly, I think homemade pizza is just as good (that’s just me though), but I’m no pizza expert. I have had pizza in Italy, which was amazing, but I have never had pizza in New York or Chicago, so I’m definitely not one to judge.

Of course, if you know me, I had to have ice cream. So before we hit the road, I had to stop by Sweet Republic and get their toffee crunch ice cream (I don’t remember the exact name). I had it (twice!) at the airport when I was passing through a couple months ago, so I made sure we made a dessert stop while in town.

If you find yourself in that part of the Arizona, I highly recommend getting a good night’s rest at the Saguaro and trying out Pizzeria Bianco (oh and of course, get ice cream!). If you think you’d qualify as a pizza expert, I’d love to hear your take on their pizza.