Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was a busy one! Wedding and birthday party Saturday afternoon, wedding reception Saturday evening, lake all.day on Sunday (which led to an awfully painful sunburn), bonfire Sunday night, and back to reality (minus work) on Monday.

I didn't get any pictures from the wedding, but here's the rest of the weekend:



Nathan enjoying the lake




Chelcy and me catching the rays that resulted in us both having horrible sunburns on our upper backs.



Reggie dancing with his dog Chloe around the bonfire



Obviously Nathan was having a good time



This looks like the "Redneck Yacht Club"...never heard the song? Check it out here.

 Sunday while we were relaxing on the lake, Natalie was with her Mimi and Paw Paw:



I don't think we could've been blessed with a more wonderful kiddo!

Monday we took my friend's dog to spend the week with her parents before they leave for Gulf Shores. Natalie got to play with him for awhile.





Now Nathan thinks we need to get Natalie a little dog.



Show Us Your Life- Dessert Recipes

I love desserts. Hands down, sweets are my favorite.

Peanut Butter Squares

1 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3 cups graham crackers
2 cups peanut butter
24 1oz squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate

1. Line 13x9" baking pan with foil.
2. Melt butter in large microwaveable bowl on high 45 seconds until melted. Add sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and peanut butter; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.
3. Microwave chocolate in microwaveable bowl on high 1.5-2 minutes or until melted, stirring after each minute. Cool slightly; pour over peanut butter mixture in pan. Cool. Cut partially through dessert to make about 48 squares. Refrigerate 1 hr or until set. Lift from pan using foil handles. Cut all the way through dessert into squares.

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Oreo Cookie Dessert

1 lb Oreo cookies, crushed

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 gallon soft vanilla ice cream

1 pkg Cool Whip

1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

chocolate syrup

1. Mix crushed cookies and butter and pat into 9x13" glass dish, holding out 1 cup for topping. Slice ice cream and place on cookie mixture. Spread with cool whip and top with remaining cookie mixture and nuts. Drizzle chocolate syrup and nuts over the top. Keep frozen.

Snippets

I've totally been a Negative Nancy for the last few days, so I haven't felt like posting anything. My mind's been racing a mile a minute; nothing specific to write about today.

* We took Natalie to the STL Zoo for the first time last weekend.



* Yesterday was our 4 year wedding anniversary. Nathan worked late (well, till 6:00 pm), we didn't exchange gifts, and we didn't celebrate with champagne and peanut clusters as we had planned. (Yep, champagne and peanut clusters....low key and easy to please!)

* Natalie's daycare class made puppy chow today. Can you imagine making puppy chow with thirteen 2-year olds? Wow! Her teachers are brave. Natalie actually came home very clean and not on as much of a sugar-high as I expected. Apparently she had a lot of fun today (it was also pajama day in her class).

* It's Memorial Day weekend. We are going to a wedding in our hometown tomorrow. I'm hoping I can convince Nathan to go down the route for the annual 100-mile yard sale. Sunday we're meeting up with some friends on a private lake. They have a small boat, so we'll hang out with them and crash at my friend's in-laws' house for the night. Should be a good time. What do you have planned for Memorial Day weekend?

* My MIL and her sister decorated our house for our anniversary. I knew she was buying stuff to decorate and that I couldn't see it until our anniversary, but the plan was to decorate with me here, approving or disapproving of decor placement. Well, my MIL text me today and asked if she and her sister could come over and start decorating while I was at work. Reluctantly, I okay'd it, and my stomach was in knots all day. They were still here when I got home this evening. Some things I like, some I don't. I'll work with it, though, because it wasn't my money that was spent :)

Show Us Your Life- Main Dish Recipes

I'm really loving this week's "Show Us Your Life". I feel like we eat the same thing over and over and over and over (and so on...), so I will definitely be studying the other entries from this week to get some ideas.

I love soups, stews, and chili in the winter. My mom gave me this potato soup recipe, and it's delicious!
10 lbs potatoes (we use plain ol' Idahos)
1 onion, diced
1- 10.5oz can cream of chicken soup
1- 10.5oz can cream of celery soup
1 stick of butter
8 oz block of cream cheese

Peel and dice potatoes. Put potatoes and onions in pot; add just enough water to cover, and cook until tender. Cut cream cheese and butter into chunks. Add to cooked potatoes and continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When cream cheese and butter are completely melted, stir in cream of chicken and celery soups. Salt and pepper to taste.
* Soup can be served topped with shredded cheddar cheese, bacon crumbles, and/or oyster crackers. Enjoy!

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My hubby's favorite meal is chicken & dumplings. He loves my homemade version.

1 whole chicken, removed from the bone (I prefer to use 4-5 chicken breasts), combined with salt and pepper to taste in a large pot; cover with water. Cook until chicken is tender/cooked through. While chicken is cooking, prepare dumplings. When chicken is done, remove and set to the side.

Dumplings: In a large bowl, mix 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, nd 1/3 cup Crisco shortening with a fork (I like the butter-flavored Crisco blocks). Add 1/2 cup milk, mix to form dough. Roll dough to 1/4" thickness on floured surface. Cut into 4" strips with a sharp knife (or pizza cutter). Drop dumplings into simmering chicken broth. Simmer until dumplings are done. Add chicken to dumplings and cook slowly for 10-15 minutes.

* We like A LOT of dumplings, so we double this dumpling recipe.

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My hubs doesn't like veggies, so we don't put any in, but of course you could add carrots, celery, etc.

Silhouette Giveaway!

Jen over at IHeart Organizing is hosting an awesome giveaway sponsored by Silhouette. Have you seen the things these machines can do? Check out Jen's blog and find out. I would LOVE to have one for myself. I could do so many AMAZING things with it!

*Just don't enter the giveaway...that would decrease my chances of winning :) I'm totally kidding...sort of.

What I'm Loving



I know I originally wrote this on Tuesday evening, but I decided to go ahead an link up::




* McDonald's frozen strawberry lemonade. Have you tried one? They're pretty tart, but delish! They make me crave frozen strawberry margs :)

* This beautiful spring weather! It's so much better than the awful rainy spring weather we had a few weeks ago.
The forecast for tomorrow is 73 degrees and this picture:

* Ridiculously sore muscles after a good workout.

* This amazing cheese dip recipe I got and made tonight. If you like the white cheese at many Mexican restaurants, you've got to try this. It's also really good cold, spread on a cracker (it's like a butter consistency when it's cold).

Cooked Cheese

1 lb container cottage cheese, either large or small curd (this MUST be regular, not low fat or fat free)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick butter

6-7 slices American cheese (like Kraft singles; this CANNOT be low fat or fat free)

In a large skillet, combine cottage cheese and baking soda. Stir and let set for 1 1/2-2 hours on low heat, stirring occasionally. The cottage cheese will liquify and become pretty clear.

Add 1 stick of butter and the sliced cheese; heat on warm or low, stirring. Do not let it burn or stick to the bottom of the pan! Heat just until all ingredients are melted/combined together.

Eat as a dip with tortilla chips or chill and spread on crackers.

* Thirty-One- I ordered a couple of thirty-one items a few weeks ago. I can't wait to pick them up from my friend's house! I'm having a Thirty-One party in June, and even though I don't really like to have parties like that, I'm pretty excited and hope I have a good turnout.

I ordered the cooler near the bottom right-hand corner of the top picture. Apparently it holds several bottles of wine! I also ordered the lunch tote in the center of the bottom picture.

* Coupons! Yes, I watch Extreme Couponing. Yes, I'm one of "those" that you see in the store with my coupon binder out (ok, maybe that's a stretch- I try to gather all the coupons I will use for each shopping trip and separate them into envelopes by store). No, I don't buy 20 of one item. I have never bought more than 3 of any one item. Yes, we are working on building a small stockpile as well as stocking an emergency kit incase of a natural disaster.

* Arby's new chicken salad. It's pretty perfect. I think it's made with plain yogurt instead of mayo. Delicious and seemingly sort of healthy. I use "healthy" loosely :)

* The Voice- Blake Shelton....need I say more? I don't know who's luckier- Blake Shelton or Miranda Lambert (I have a not-so-secret celebrity girl crush on her).

What are you loving right now?

I was supposed to run a 5K on Saturday. A friend had asked me a couple months ago to run it with her, then it turned out she couldn't run that day. I'm thinking, "Not a big deal; I've wanted to do a 5K for awhile, so I'm still going to do it." Thursday I talked to my cousin, and he reminded me that he had picked up tickets for us to see Jersey Boys at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. I debated whether or not I would have enough time to run, get home and showered, and be ready by the time my mom and aunt got to my house so we could head to St. Louis. Ultimately, I made a last-minute decision not to run the 5K, and we left for St. Louis a little earlier than planned. Even though it rained and was cold (90 degrees in March and 50 degrees in May?? Only in the Midwest!) we had an amazing time. The show was good, the music was amazing, and I had a little "pop culture" history lesson. Now I'm interested in looking up biographies for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. We spent some time shopping in my old STL neighborhood. I sort of miss it up there!

Our family reunion is June 11, followed by our annual family float trip on June 12. That gives me just enough time to get in shape with Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. I started the video Thursday, and haven't done it since. Oops! I will definitely be working out tonight. I haven't been on a scale in MONTHS, so I'll just judge by the way my clothes fit and how "tight" my body feels. That's more important than a number anyway, right?

I'm thinking about doing the 30 Day Blog Challenge. I've seen it on a few blogs, and it looks like fun. My {few} readers may get to know me better that way.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Natalie is growing into quite the ham, and there are so many things I'm worried I'm going to forget. After the first twelve months, her baby book only does yearly birthdays up until five, so I have to use this blog and Facebook to remember everything. Here are some things I don't want to forget about this "season" in my life:

* Backstory: I always say, "Watch your noggin" when I open up her car door, and Nathan and Natalie's thing has always been to butt heads. Natalie has recently started saying, "Hit noggins" when she wants to head-butt. I get that it doesn't sound that cute, but it really is!

* Natalie has transformed from tom boy to girlie girl, excited-high-pitch-squeal included. I always swore I would never force my girl to wear big hair bows and frilly clothes. Now I love seeing her playing dress up in those things. She loves tutus and ballerina slippers. Sometimes she asks to wear hairbows, but it's not often I put bows or flowers on her that are bigger than her head- only for fun pictures.

* Since it's warming up outside, Natalie has been all about eating popsicles. I would rather she not run all over the place with her popsicle, so I usually have her sit on her plastic green Adirondack chair from Lowe's. She caught on quickly; she pulls her chair from the garage to the drive way, sits on it and gets situated, then says, "popsicle, please!" Hey, at least she has good manners :)

* Saturday when we walked into MOPS, I dropped Natalie off in the kiddie room, and her little BFF ran up to her with her arms wide open and said, "Nawie, my best fwiend!" and they hugged. I hope they stay friends for a long time.

Natalie's at such a fun age, and the stress around our house has decreased significantly since Nathan's classes ended. Life's pretty great!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day, and I have yet to see my mom or Natalie. I'm looking forward to getting Natalie back from my parents- she spent the night with them last night. Here's Natalie, my mom, and me on Easter

My mom has been so wonderful to my sister, Nathan, and me. I couldn't ask for a better mom!

Nathan and I had a date night last night. For being in our 20s, we are pretty pathetic. We went shopping, in our first attempt at "extreme couponing" shopping. It was fun, but I think this is a challenge I should take on by myself. :) We rented Due Date (not as good as I thought it would be) and Jackass 3 (can't wait to watch it this afternoon after church), ordered McAlisters and made frozen strawberry margaritas. A night in alone is just what we needed.

It's BEAUTIFUL outside today! We're going to wash our cars, work on the yard, and play with Natalie all afternoon. Ahhh, how I love springtime! Maybe I can get some cutesy pictures of Natalie today.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies, mommies-to-be, and fur-baby mommies today!

Show Us Your Life- Vacation Spots

Friday = Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life" series. This week's topic is "favorite vacation spots".

I love warm weather. Nathan and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon 3.5 years ago, which was a blast. We got married in May, but didn't go on our honeymoon until December (so happy we made that decision). We've decided that winter is the best time of the year to go to Mexico, so this past December we went back to Mexico; this time to the Riviera Maya. Our resort was beautiful! When we went to Cancun for our honeymoon, we went on excursions, but this time, the only time we left our resort and beach area was when we went parasailing.

Garden area off our patio

Our view every day, while our families back home were iced in.

Our beach had hammocks all over

ABC's of Me

I saw this on a blog and thought I'd play along. :)

Age: 24
Bed Size: Queen but we totally need a king-size!
Chore I Hate: Washing dishes, sweeping

Dogs: None, but we play with all the neighbors' dogs all the time :)

 Essential Start of Your Day: A shower!

Favorite Color: I love color! My "favorite" changes depending on my mood.

Gold or Silver: Silver

Job Title: RN, MDS Coordinator

Live: In our first "home" in the cul-de-sac of a great subdivision in Southeast Missouri

Kids: Natalie, she's 2

Milk or Dark Chocolate: I just love chocolate

Nicknames: Ame

Overnight Hospital Stays: Just for the birth of Natalie 

Pet Peeve: Littering

Quote From a Movie: "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."- A Cinderella Story (yeah, the one with Hillary Duff) 

Siblings: One older sister, Angela

Underwear: My style has changed since high school and college :)
Vegetable you love: I love almost all veggies! My favorites are carrots and broccoli

What Makes You Run Late: Getting Natalie ready 

X-Rays You Have Had: What haven't I had x-rayed? I was an athlete; I had lots of injuries.
Yummy Food You Make: Homemade chicken & dumplings

Zoo Animal You Like Best: Monkeys of any kind

Time You Wake Up: Between 5 and 5:30am, usually even on the weekends.

 

Let me know if you do this; I'd love to read it!

 

Every time I click "post", a few lines move. Just pretend they're in alphabetical order :)

Right- or Left-Handed: Right  

Height: 5'6-ish

Instruments I Play: Flute and Piano. But haven't touched either in years. 

The last few days have been busy with the yard sale, having the in-laws here, and other obligations, so my computer time has been VERY limited. We did pretty well at our yard sale, and we got rid of junk...that's a win-win! I feel crummy today- I've had a sore throat for awhile, and I'm thinking a possible URI. Nathan's going to talk to a local ENT physician for his opinion since I had strep throat in October and January, and 4 sore throats since January (swollen tonsils and all). I'd bet money that I will no longer have tonsils by the end of the year). Since I've felt bad and it's been a rainy day, I spent the morning clipping and organizing coupons, and this afternoon I got caught up on Facebook and blog-reading. 

A few pictures to sum up the month of April

Hello Kitty came to our local Macy's

Little friend at a local safari park for a birthday party

And this is where the storm hit hard, knocked out power for a few seconds, and messed with my Internet connection. I can't upload pictures now. Bummer!