Happy Anniversary today to my wonderful parents! With over 30 years of marriage under their belt they are an inspiration to how a marriage should be. They have loved me and taught me so much about life and family. They are spending the day at the lake and I can’t wait to go down tomorrow and spend some time with them, as well. Love you!!
Wednesday, June 29th
My cousin just had her birthday!!! Kelly is like my sister. She is my ONLY girl cousin on both sides. (1st cousin) I grew up looking up to her my whole childhood. She helped me get into plenty of trouble, but was always there for me. I know she will always be that way for me. Kelly has a wonderful husband and two great kiddos, who I love!! I won’t share how old she is, because a lady NEVER shares her age. Happy Birthday!
Who doesn’t love holiday weeks? Michael and I are excited about this weekend! But before I tell about all our weekend plans…
Last night, I drove down to Russellville. One of my old co-workers was in the great state for a few days and I couldn’t resist seeing her. I really miss having her to talk to about work almost everyday. She was a great mentor and made sure I was always doing things in the best way. Plus I love her cute little hubby and his super awesome hats. They came to my wedding last year. She left the company before the entire sales team was let go and it was especially sad for me to not work with her. But hey, she travels all the time and I travel a lot, our paths are due to cross again! We ate dinner at Whatta-Burger. I love them. Well, I love milkshakes and they have good ones. After dinner I drove back to Fayetteville. It isn’t a bad drive, only an hour and a half. I actually enjoyed the drive back. It is a good time to think in the car alone with the music blasting. The sun was setting and the sky had some really pretty colors. This is a picture I took with my iPhone. It doesn’t do the sky justice. 
This weekend!!! I am so excited! Michael and I are planning to take off early Friday and go to the lake!! Fourth of July Lake time is the best. Fireworks and friends and family. We plan on spending Friday-Sunday at the lake coming back Sunday, at some point. The lake fireworks will be on Saturday night and we will be having a big dinner party with all the lake people. Just means lots of alcohol and food for the weekend! I am sure Michael, my Dad, and I will be fishing Saturday and Sunday morning. I am so determined to catch something this next time! Monday, our friends and neighbors the Eikenberry’s are having a big party at casa de Eikenberry. After lunch and hanging out, we plan on moving that party to the Naturals ballpark, The Naturals are our minor league baseball team, for those who didn’t know. Baseball and another fireworks display! Can’t wait!
Since, I won’t be blogging until Monday or Tuesday, I will leave you with this video. My dog, Gabby, got in big trouble yesterday and she knew it! I was about to leave and grabbed 2 treats for her. I set them on the kitchen table on top of a towel. She followed me around at first thinking I had them, but realized I didn’t and went on a hunt. She found them and helped herself to her treats.
I am not a mean Mommy. But my dog is extremely tolerant of all things annoying. She lets little kids pull her ears and tail with no reaction, she allows little kids to poke her in the eye and holds perfectly still. When little kids fall on her, she doesn’t react, but with a kiss in the face. I say that she is tolerant of all things annoying because we bug her all the time. We lay on our baby and throw her down and ruff house, without a single bite from Gabby. So, this weekend one of our good friends taught me how to make a tutu. Yes, I made this for my dog. It will be the perfect gameday outfit this fall. HAHA! I am now going to be able to make them for all my friends who have little girls.
Doesn’t Gabby look soooo cute!
My sweet baby cuddles with her Daddy
A few months ago, Michael and I went to the Bentonville farmer’s market. They were giving away a few different trees for free. I was wanting new trees for our yard and we were going to buy two this year for the backyard. So, to my excitement Michael received an email with the details and we went. We got two maple trees for the backyard, and while walking around the market, another group was giving away sticks. Yes, it was a stick and according to the lady it was a Red Bud tree. I laughed and took it home to be planted. I was just excited to have trees, and was VERY hopeful that they would live. So, see below for my before and after tree photos.
I also wanted everyone to see how many colors of the gladiolas I had growing. Each time one blooms a new color I get more excited. This weekend I decided to stake my flowers. Some were leaning really bad. I am thinking I didn’t dig deep enough holes for my bulbs, but staking has made a huge improvement in looks. You can’t even see the stakes, especially from the road.
Stick Tree (Red Bud)
Red Bud Tree NowMaple Tree First Planted
Maple Tree Now
I currently have 5 different colors blooming
My favorite bloom right now.
I love crab! I could eat it all day everyday. My current company is based in Seattle and what does Seattle have a lot of…Fresh Seafood. So, I had some King Crab legs at my house and decided for dinner I was going to make something with it. I thought about crab cakes, but decided the recipes I found sounded hard and I even saw one had a how to video with it. Obviously I am not skilled in the kitchen and decided I would have to find something else. I decided to make a spicy pasta.
Michael and I both love spicy food. We can’t get enough of the Hot foods, and usually items aren’t hot enough for us. Well, our dinner the other night was HOT! I felt bad after Michael took a bite and started making a face and grabbing the water. I thought, it can’t be that bad. Well, it was definitely HOT, but we both ate it. I would cut out some of the red peppers the recipe called for in the end. The bow tie pasta was yum and the sauce I made was really good, minus the fire coming out of it. See recipe at the bottom. I altered it for the safety of my readers and took the red peppers down several notches.
King Crab-HUGE
Cook the bow tie pasta according to the package. In a saucepan, melt the butter. Then add the can of tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and garlic salt. If the crab is already cooked add it when the pasta is almost done to warm throughout. You can buy canned crabmeat or pick up some legs and pull the meat out yourself. Also I typically do not add additional salt or pepper, because it can be added on a person to person basis, and everything has tons of salt in it already.
Have you ever heard of this? Well, I have heard of it, but I have never known someone to get it. Apparently there is a small outbreak of it going on in Hawaii. It is also something that apparently is harder for adults to get, because we have better immune systems then little kids. My little best Hawaiian friend has possibly been exposed to someone, who has the disease. Yikes!! I heard this from my bestie this morning, and of course proceeded to look up the disease.
According to the Hawaii Department of Health website, “Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral illness characterized by the appearance of sores inside the mouth. The sores usually appear on the inside surfaces of the cheeks and gums, and on the sides of the tongue. The sores can also appear on the hands, especially on the palms and fingers, and on the soles of the feet.” (http://hawaii.gov/health/DIB/Hand_Foot.html) Keep your fingers crossed that Schuylia (pronounced Skylia) won’t get sick. Hopefully her little immune system is super duper strong. Veronica, her mommy, is preggers right now and her hubby is away, so we definitely don’t want them to get sick. Mommy or Skye. Since, Vee is preggers her risk is always a little higher to catch stuff, so think about them over the next 3-6 days, and hope it doesn’t develop into anything!!
Check out how cute my best little Hawaiian friend is playing in her laundry basket. By the way, her Aunt Jennifer bought her that shirt. It says, “I love my Auntie.” HAHA! And yes she does love me. We Skype almost every single day. I am glad my husband is so understanding. Veronica and I always joke that our husbands are very understanding of our relationship and they tolerate us. We talk everyday or close to it and we tell each other every detail. It is not uncommon for the husbands to come home and ask how the other is doing. Veronica and I have always had a wonderful friendship, even though the majority has been spent over the phone we are very close. I can’t wait to see this little face in person, and shower it with kisses! And I can’t wait to hang out with Veronica and Shane (and baby on the way) in just a few short long months.
Last Thursday, I had a little Play Date. It was a blast. I went and picked Stella up from her babysitter that lives in our neighborhood. Stella then came over to my house and we played with Gabby. We also watch a little Baby Einstein on YouTube and even colored with the coloring pencils. Thank goodness, we have toys and colors at our house. A while back my parents gave me all my old ducks in a tub and boy do they come in handy when our friends bring over their kids. Gabby is usually pretty good at entertaining kids and loves to make friends. Stella especially loves Gabby, and Gabby loves her in return. I got some really fun pictures of Stella coloring. She also went shopping that evening with my friend Megan and I. She did so good at the mall or should I say in the Buckle, as that is the only store Meg and I made it into.
How Cute is this little Face? I told her to smile.
Last week, my friend Megan was in town for a wedding. She stayed the night with us Wednesday and Thursday. I want my friend to move back to Fayetteville or at least close enough that we can share closets. When she lived in Fayetteville after college, we were always raiding the others closet. Thursday night we went shopping and we both liked the same shirt. It made me sad, we both bought the shirt. I told her if she still lived here only one would have purchased it and the other would borrow it. Boo. Waste of money. HAHA! Almost all of my girl friends live away from Fayetteville, so having her in town was fun!!
We went out to La Huerta for dinner one night and it was fun. Megan invited friends and we all hung out and ate some good Mexican and drank some yummy Margaritas. I miss having my friend around all the time. Maybe someday she will move back, maybe. I will continue to keep my fingers crossed, but won’t hold my breath. It was so nice to sit around and catch up in person. We talk on the phone almost everyday, but it isn’t the same as being in person. I was sad that she had wedding stuff all weekend, but it was probably good, since it was Father’s Day. I spent Wednesday-Friday morning with my friend and then didn’t even get to see her off. I was at the Lake with my Daddy. Oh well. Hopefully she will get to come home again soon.
Here are some pictures from out La Huerta visit. She will kill me because she has no makeup on. She had an eye thing going on, so she didn’t want to irritate it prior to the wedding.
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| Taken with the iPhone, but I love how Gabby is posing. |
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| Getting ready to go out for the second time in one day! |
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| Sunset boat ride. She loves the front. |
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| Callie was scared and we took turns holding her, but Gabby was loving it. |
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| My Dad is in his element. |
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| Ahhh Heaven! Please excuse my dog's nasty eye...she has a scratch on her cornea. |
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| I like this picture, even though I have no makeup on. |
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| Michael working on his HUGE fish |
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| It's a big one!! HAHA |
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| After the planting but before growth |
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| YAY for plants growing |
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| Front pre-flowers |
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| Flowers! ignore the grass it needs to be mowed |
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| Other Front Garden Area |
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| Two of three growing |
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| Pink one |
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| White Glads with a little pink |
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| I love my anniversary flowers!! |
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| View from the porch |
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| Lake View |
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| Hummingbirds |
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| This one had a red throat |
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| Click to make larger |
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| Relaxing |
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| Miss Sue's new puppy Ava |
