Christmas No. 1

David's parents came in town Sunday evening and last night we had our Christmas dinner with them. I made PW's pork loin with cranberry sauce with mashed potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, and rosemary dinner rolls. YUM! After dinner, we had some of David's mom's delicious chocolate fudge pie. 

After dinner and dessert, we did presents! We got his parents a kindle and a white wine aerator. I think they'll get a lot of use out of both of them. David's parents got us...a fireplace!! We've been looking to install ceramic logs in our wood-burning gas fireplace. We burned firewood last year and it made a huge mess. So even though it was 85 degrees yesterday, we had the fireplace installed and we turned it on!

We love it!!!! Not only does it look pretty, but it puts off some heat! 

David's mom has given him a Christmas ornament each year since he was born. This year, we got TWO! One for him, and one for me!

Isn't mine so cute?! Cupcakes!! I think that it's my favorite ornament now (with the exception of our wedding ornament). 

Riley got a new litter box for Christmas. I think he might be undecided on whether or not he likes it...

Casey got a new bed, although she couldn't be less interested in it...but she did look festive in her Christmas collar!

Since we had the fireplace on, we had to open the windows to cool off the house a bit...Riley wasn't complaining!

David's parents checked out of Hotel Montgomery first thing this morning, and David and I are tidying up the house and washing sheets and towels in preparation for our second holiday guest, MY SISTER!!! She'll be here tonight and she's staying until Sunday! Can't wait to see her and celebrate Christmas No. 2 on Saturday!

It Squeaks When You Bite It

Last weekend we went to Wisconsin for the Cowboys v. Packers game! David's uncle manages and partially owns the Best Western Bridgewood Resort in Neenah, Wisconsin, and he was able to get us tickets to the game. Lambeau was pretty cool...!

That's Vince Lombardi on the left and Curly Lambeau on the right.

Well, needless to say, the game was terrible, since the Cowboys were 1-6 going in and ended up 1-7 at the end of it. YUCK. Such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad game.

We did, however, have a very nice visit with David's aunt and uncle! I even had the opportunity to try cheese curds for the first time, and they were quite tasty. David's aunt informed me that when cheese curds are really fresh, they're supposed to squeak when you bite into them. The cheese curds I ate squeaked, so they must have been fresh.

David's mom wanted to buy some Packer memorabilia, so we ventured to the mall one day. David and I took that opportunity to snap a photo with Bucky Badger.

Except for witnessing the absolute slaughter of the Cowboys, our trip to Wisconsin was a lot of fun!

World Series: Game 3

This post is a little bit late, but I wanted to tell you guys about it anyway!

We went to Game 3 of the World Series last weekend (October 30) to see the Rangers play the Giants in the first ever World Series Rangers home game!!! It was so much fun! We sat in the first row of the upper home run porch and had the best view of everything. The energy at the ballpark was unreal and everyone was so excited!

Nolan Ryan threw out the first pitch.

And there was an f-16 flyover at the conclusion of the National Anthem:

Then the Rangers took the field!

The game was so much fun, and what made it even better is that we WON!!!

The Rangers didn't end up winning the World Series, but at least we can say that we were at the only World Series game where the Rangers won! We're so proud of the Rangers and hope to see more good things next season!!

Bang Bang!

David and I have been talking about getting a gun. With all the traveling we do, it's better to be safe than sorry. I didn't grow up around guns and have never shot one or even held one. So I'm a little hesitant since guns scare the crap out of me. But David always tells me that guns are like life insurance...you don't want to ever use it, but you'll be glad you have it if you ever need it.

Our friend, Shelby, agreed to teach me how to shoot a shotgun! So today, we met her at her family's ranch just outside of Mineral Wells. Her mom and dad also came because we wanted to try out a handgun., too Since we don't have much experience with guns, her dad wanted to be there with us.

I went first. I was so nervous. I don't think I'd even ever heard a gunshot before. Yes, I grew up in Texas. But I grew up in Arlington and went to high school in Plano, so give me a break! Tony (Shelby's dad) was so good at showing me what to do and how to hold it. We started with a .380 handgun.

Bend your knees and lean into it...

Then it was David's turn...

We had a contest on who could shoot the target the best. We both took 5 shots and guess who won! ME!

Then came the shotgun. We used Shelby's 20 gauge since I probably would have hurt myself if we used a 12 gauge. Ha!

David won the shotgun contest. The first shot I took, I did the almost-impossible and missed the target. But to be fair, shotguns are a lot heavier than you think they'd be. Or at least I thought so.

David took a turn shooting Tony's .45. I didn't think I needed to do that. I didn't want to hurt myself.

I had a lot of fun learning how to shoot! I want to see how other kinds of guns shoot, but I'm definitely more comfortable with the idea of getting one. I think for home protection we should just get a shotgun. And hopefully if anybody ever breaks into our house (knock on wood), just the sound of cocking the shotgun will be enough to scare them off and we won't actually ever have to shoot it.

One Year

Well, we made it! We survived our first year of marriage! David and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary last Sunday. We didn't have any big plans, but we had a nice dinner at Cool River Cafe in Las Colinas. It worked out really well for us that our anniversary fell on a Sunday because Cool River had half off bottles of wine on Sundays!

 When we got home, we of course had to have some of our wedding cake. We unwrapped the box, and opened it to find this...

Definitely not the prettiest looking cake, but not so bad for being a year old. David didn't want to eat any of our year old cake, but I told him he had to for good luck! So we cut into it...

And opened the bottle of champagne the venue gave us a year ago... (David really hated that I was taking all these pictures, can you tell?)

And then I went to get our champagne flutes and found this...!

I'm not sure when this glass broke because we never use champagne flutes. I was bummed because I got these from a good friend a few years ago when I got my job, but we improvised and used our regular wine glasses.

Then we ate some cake! David loved it...!

Okay, maybe not really. It wasn't terrible. But it wasn't great. And the most disappointing part about it all was that our wedding cake was supposed to have a raspberry filling in it. I guess the bakery decided that we shouldn't have raspberry filling on our anniversary. We tore through the cake thinking we'd find some, but didn't find any.

So, we threw it in the trash...you can only eat so much plain almond cake.

Although I'm sure Casey would have gladly polished off the rest of it!

Trick or Treat!

Trick or treat, smell my feet....bring everyone something good to eat!

We had a Halloween party today at work. I organized it with the help of a couple other girls in the office. When we have parties at work, it's usually a pot luck...we work for the state and unfortunately, we don't have a party fund! Most people bring a little something to share with the office and we usually get a pretty good spread of food. So last night, I made spinach dip, mummy dogs, and snickerdoodle cupcakes! I've been asked for the recipe for the cupcakes a few times, so here it is!

The cupcake recipe is from Martha Stewart.  Mine came out a little dry. I think next time I'll substitute some canola oil for butter to make them a little bit more moist.

For the frosting, I didn't use Martha's 7 minute frosting. I made cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar (I used 3 1/2 cups)

In a bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Add the cinnamon, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar (1 cup at a time). Beat until smooth and creamy. Delicious!

Texas Travels: Sherman, Texas

I spent the last two weeks in Sherman, TX. Sherman is about 80 miles north of Dallas off Highway 75.  It's not too far from home, but far enough that it requires staying out. This was my fourth time to stay in Sherman and just when I thought I knew everything about this small town, one of the bankers told us about a taco bus. An old school bus turned into a restaurant? We had to check it out. We were told that it was about 10 miles north of the bank we were at, in the parking lot of a liquor store. Classy. When we found it, it was just as we expected. A school bus. Turned into a restaurant.

Taco Hondumex is run by a husband and wife. There is actually seating inside the bus, but there's also a few picnic tables set up outside. They have tacos, burritos, sopes, tamales, etc. And it's super cheap! I got a pork sopes and a soda and my lunch was only $5.50 including tax! What a deal! This is pretty authentic Mexican food, and it was pretty tasty! So if you're ever in the area, go find the taco bus!

Taco Hondumex
2301 Highway 691
Denison, TX