Memorial Day Weekend - Boys Version

For Memorial Day weekend, Colin took a trip with one of his college friends, Steve, to go to several baseball games (of course!). 

Colin had Friday and Monday off (lucky!), so he headed out EARLY (aka 6:00am flight) to Louisville.  He picked up a car and headed to pick up Steve in Cincinnati (he was flying in from Denver).  They grabbed some lunch on the riverfront in Newport, checked into the hotel, explored a bit, and then headed to the Cincinnati Reds game.  The Reds played the Cubs and won 7-4.

The next day, the boys headed back to Louisville to catch a flight to Chicago.  Once they arrived, they went for a run around the city (crazy!).  That afternoon, they went on a tour of the Cubs stadium (jealous!).  After the tour, they went to Lou Malnati's (where Colin and I went last Memorial Day weekend) for some authentic deep dish pizza.

Steve had not been to a White Sox game, so they had added that to their list.  The White Sox played the Miami Marlins, and won 2-1.

Sunday morning, they rode the train from Union Station to Milwaukee.  Once they arrived, they went for another run (over-achievers!) around the riverfront.  Afterwards, they went on a Lakefront Brewery Tour (Miller Brewing Company is not open on Sundays). 

Monday, they headed to the Milwaukee Brewers game.  The Brewers played the Minnesota Twins, but lost 6-3.  Afterwards, they headed to the airport to head home!

The boys had a great baseball trip to "Cinchiwaukee!"

Memorial Day Weekend - Girl Version

This Memorial Day weekend, Colin went out of town on a baseball trip, so I had the house to myself.  What's a girl to do?  Yogurt dates, girly books, and a ladies night of course!

Friday night, I had a much needed yogurt date with my sweet friend, Megan, that was in town from Houston.  Love getting to catch up with her, but so sad I didn't take a picture!

Saturday was low-key - just what I needed.  Saturday night, several ladies from our ABF came over for some pizza and girl bonding.  A perfect combo!

A random question about what people can do before and after having babies had us on the floor doing all kinds of stretches and exercises.  We even 'phoned a friend' and had Katy do a back bend to prove you still could after having a baby.  She was our myth-buster of the evening!  

{Denise & I doing a frog balance pose; 

Denise doing a back-bend, Alicia stretching for splits, and Katy doing a back-bend}

{Erin, Christie, Denise, Alicia, Me, and Anna}

Needless to say, it was a great evening with these lovely ladies.  I am so blessed to have such sweet friends!

On Sunday, I went to church and then to Matt & Anna's house for some hamburgers for lunch!  They were delish - and I was so happy to have a little something from the grill! 

 {Our gracious host, Anna, saying "cheese!"

& cutie Westin}

The rest of the weekend was filled with reading, relaxing, and a little cleaning (so I did not feel quite as guilty about not getting as much done all weekend).

What was I reading you may ask?  I finished a three book series by Nora Roberts, The Boonsboro Inn Triology (pretty good), and now I am hooked on the Left Behind series (just finished the third book).

Erin's Baby Shower

Yesterday, a sweet friend of mine, Denise, and I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for one of our dear friends, Erin.  Erin is decorating baby girl Ogle's nursery with an owl theme, so we decided to throw her an owl-themed shower.

I found some ideas on Pinterest for a diaper cake, owl cupcakes, and birds nest cookies.  We borrowed a wreath and an owl flower vase for some extra touches.  

We played a few games including the clothes pin game where everyone wears a clothes pin, and if you say the word "baby," someone can steal your clothes pin.  The person with the most at the end of the shower wins.  There was no doubt that Courtney won!  (She ended the shower with 5!)

We also played a twist on 'Guess Whoooo' since the Ogles have not yet decided on or revealed their baby name.  We all made a couple of suggestions for them to use, but we will have to wait until late June/early July to find out what the final choice is!

With all of the baby boy showers that we have been to for the ABF ladies, it was sure fun decorating and seeing all the fun clothes for this little lady!

So glad we got to celebrate baby girl Ogle with these sweet ladies!

Pin-tastic! {Yummy: Garlicky Baked Shrimp}

This week, Colin and I decided to breakout of our routine meals, and try a couple of recipes I found on Pinterest for garlicky baked shrimp and spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, garlic and chili flakes. 

You can find the shrimp recipe we used here.

We already had some frozen shrimp, and this recipe said it was easy (our kind of recipe!), so we decided to give it a try.

To cheat on prep time (and the cost), we used garlic salt instead of fresh cloves, parsley flakes instead of freshly chopped parsley, and lemon juice instead of a lemon.  Quite frankly, we already had these substitutes and we did not think there would be any flavor lacking in using them.

The prep was very easy!  We took her advice and cut the tails off beforehand, then we packed all of the shrimp together on the pan to make sure they were all coated with the breadcrumbs and none were wasted.

You can find the spaghetti recipe we used here.

We had linguini instead of spaghetti, so that is what we used.  Since we used a lot of garlic on the shrimp (and it's not my favorite), we did not add any to the pasta.  A few swirls of olive oil and a packet of crushed red peppers later, we had some pasta with a kick!  (You can't see all the flakes, but man!  It packed a punch!)

You may be thinking we used a lot of substitutes - and we did.  But they worked, and it was a great meal!  Colin always add some sort of sauce or spice to his food, but this was one that he thought was flavorful and a definite repeat!  I call that Pin-tastic!

Mother's Day at Home

This Mother's Day, I was blessed to get to fly home to see my Mom and spend the weekend with her. 

We are big fans of Southwest, and were so excited to get to fly out of the newly renovated terminal at Dallas Love Airport.  It has a lot of new (and good!) restaurants and shops, bigger walkways, and plugs by every seat!  Woo-hoo!

 

We headed straight to lunch at Arturo's, one of our favorite Mexican food places when we arrived.  (I was too busy eating the homemade chips to take any pictures!)  We relaxed and chatted that afternoon, and that evening, Nana and Gags (my Mom's parents) and Aunt Jacque (my Mom's sister) came over for dinner to celebrate an early Mother's Day.  Mom made one of our favorites - chimichangas!  Don't worry - we were in the kitchen helping!

 {Gags, Nana, & Aunt Jac}

The next morning, we went to church, and then to the bakery to pick up some of our favorite pastries and cookies to bring back with us.  So bad, but SO good!  Afterwards, we went and had lunch with my Uncle Rusty at Pappadeaux.  We were lucky we got there early because it was packed!

{Colin & I with Mom}

{Can't forget Dad!}

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then headed back home. It was a quick trip, but so fun to get to spend it with family.  So blessed to have such a wonderful Mom!!

Trip to Costa Rica!

This year, Colin and I celebrated our third anniversary.  We knew we wanted to go somewhere to celebrate.  To help narrow down the options, I told him that I wanted to be gone on our actual anniversary this year (instead of celebrating over a long weekend), and I wanted to be on a beach.  Since our anniversary was on Wednesday, we planned to take the whole week off.  After many, many hours of research (mostly by Colin), we decided on Costa Rica! 

We relaxed all week by the pool and watched the waves crash on beach.  We usually got to the pool in the morning, so we had a beautiful view of the infinity edge pool AND the beach.  Heaven.  We got a little sun each day, took a dip (or two) in the pool, and then read our books under the comfort of our umbrella.

{View from our lounge chairs; part of the pool at the resort; sunset by the pool}

We ate some of our meals at the resort we were staying at, but we mostly went out and explored.  We usually had dinner on the beach in the nearby town, Tamarindo!  

{Lunch at Lola's on the Beach}

 

 {Anniversary Dinner on the Beach at La Palapa}

We knew we would have at least one excursion to zip-line, but we found a tour that did a little of everything, all in one day.  We rode on 10 zip-lines, slid (at about 100 mph, it seemed) down a 400 meter water slide, and took a break for a beautiful Costa Rican lunch (fish, rice, beans, pasta, fresh fruit, and some root chips - delicious!).  While we were in the rainforest, we saw about seven howler monkeys above us!  They got a little rowdy with their howls, and even the guides told us we better keep it down and get out of their way!

{In our gear; Colin zip-lining; me zip-lining upside down; howler monkey above us}

After lunch, we went on a not-so-relaxing horseback ride.  We may be from Texas, y'all, but we are NOT horseback riders.  Every time I THOUGHT I had control of my horse and we were walking along at a leisurely pace, the guides would start making kissing noises so the horses would speed up.  Colin had a more subdued horse, so I lost him in the shuffle.  Luckily, I did get some pics before we got separated.  We were all relieved when we got to the end of the ride and got to relax in the steam room, have a volcanic mud bath, and sat in the hot springs (all of which were at varying temperatures).  It was peaceful - and a great end to the day.

 {Colin and his relaxed horse; volcanic mud we used for our bath; in front of the hot springs}

It was a beautiful vacation filled with relaxation and adventures!  If you are looking for a fun getaway, I highly recommend Costa Rica!