Saturday, July 27, 2013

Another Week Flies By

Whew, is all I can say about our last week!!  We took off last Wednesday for my hometown to partake in a family reunion.  It was a blast!  But I'm exhausted (and it was last weekend!)  We had over 200 people show up.  The food was awesome, the visiting phenomenal and overall, it went off without a hitch - which is great, because my mom was one of the primary organizers and so it was a bit hectic and stressful leading up to it.  The county fair was also going on during the weekend we were home and I was able to take babygirl there to visit all the farm animals!  She loved it!  I have pictures, but they are on my camera and that's in the other room and I'm too lazy to go get it right now.   We drove back on Monday and it took us 14 1/2 hours!  So, needless to say, Tuesday we did nothing.  Literally, we napped, ate, and watched TV.  Wednesday we had a playdate and then did more napping.  Thursday, my little peanut woke up with a temperature and was crabby ALL day :(  She's teething and was not a happy girl.  Friday was more of the same, but she did a bit better towards the evening so we went on a family walk and to the Farmer's Market to pick up some peas and rhubarb - yum! That leads us to today, which we spent going to an Art Fair, doing some yard work and cleaning.  I still have a lot of cleaning to do to make up for my lack of everything this past week, but I think it can wait until tomorrow and I can go to bed...cuz I'm tired!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Weekend Run-Down

So Friday babygirl and I had a visit from Grandma Karyn (Ryan's mom).  We had a blast!  We hit up Caribou (an obsession for both of us) and the Harley shop.  We got a little lost on the way to the Harley shop but it was quite an adventure.  Turns out we just went the wrong way on the highway and had to do a big loop to get back.  Then, we hit up the pool for 2 hours!  Gwen had a blast!  I didn't get any pics cuz I accidentally left my phone at home :-/  I think Grandma snapped a couple so I will have to get those from her sometime.  

Friday night we went on a family cruise (old school car style) South of town to check out some of the smaller towns along the river.  We grabbed some DQ (minus some for babygirl - she was out like a light!) and just drove.  I love going on drives, so it was perfect.  

Saturday we dilly dallied all day long about what we were going to do (even though I felt like there were PLENTY of options) and ended up attempting to go on a walk through a place called Goose Island that we discovered before.  It was super buggy though and we ended up cutting out walk pretty short and heading down to the riverfront for Crazy Days.  Crazy Days weren't as exciting as I thought they'd be, but then I learned that we hit it up on the very last day....so I'm thinking that Thursday and Friday were probably more hopping - plus it was like 90+ degrees!  Yuck!  Saturday night we rented a movie - Identity Theft (I've heard mixed reviews, but we liked it).  

Sunday we hit up church in the morning and came home and babygirl and I both took naps while Daddy did some reading.  Then we went to SAMS club and got a membership and loaded up on groceries (lots of produce!!!)  I am thrilled!  We then came home and grilled out and this evening I have a wild hair to clean, clean, clean - although it's like 11pm and I should go to bed!  We have a super busy and exciting week - I can't wait to share it with you!  

Goodnight!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Taco Pasta Salad

So I'm on a little bit of a food kick here.  Last night I made Taco Pasta Salad - recipe via Pinterest of course! Anyway, another hit :)  Hubby said "So I think you should be keeping track of these recipes and we can put them in a hat and draw out the week's meals once we get a big pile of them" :-)  So he likes 'em!

I made this tonight - SO GOOD!  will be adding it to the mix :)

Ingredients: 
1 lb browned hamburger seasoned with 1 package of taco seasoning
1 box of rotini noodles, cooked and drained
1 small can of black olives, drained
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 bottle Western Salad dressing (I used Light)
Optional 2 cups shredded cheese (I forgot this)

Mix all together and enjoy!   We ate it warm.  Recipe technically says to eat cold, so I assume it will be delicious both ways.  Hubby ate his over a bed of lettuce and I ate mine plain, so again, tons of options with it! I loved it because it was a super easy one pot meal (Kind of, I had to brown the hamburger separate I guess) but overall, it was one pot once it was prepped and it was delicious and we have leftovers for tonight! 

Oh yes, and recipe also called for sriracha sauce OR Western dressing.  I don't like things TOO spicy so we opted for the dressing.  

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

BBQ Chicken, Apple & Avocado Salad

Last night I tried a new recipe.  I sometimes feel like we get in a rut of eating the same old things and wanted to try something new. So, I headed over to Pinterest to find a new recipe and came up with BBQ Chicken, Apple & Bacon Salad.....but when I made it I forgot the bacon :-/.  It was still delicious!  But I'm slightly bummed.  I looked at the recipe just once and didn't look at it again, so apparently bacon just slipped my mind.  We grilled the chicken, added the BBQ sauce, sliced up one granny smith apple and one avocado, added our lettuce and then topped it all with Bleu Cheese Dressing.  Highly recommended!  I'm happy to say I have a new salad to add to our "regular" menu :)

Here's the Pinterest pic:

BBQ Chopped Chicken, Bacon & Apple Salad

Friday, July 5, 2013

4th of July - Part 2

Another post - crazy, right?!?!  


Well, the evening of the 4th was still wonderful, but it didn't turn out like I had planned.  The hubby didn't get home until 8:45, so basically my potatoes that I grilled were cold and my dessert was melted, but it all tasted good all the same. Ryan was pleased with dinner and super hungry, so it was appreciated.  

Our dessert (before it melted):


Check out my smiley side-kick. 

Today, we went strawberry picking with some new friends!  And then we went to the pool!  And then my trusty side-kick and I went down to RiverFest for some lemonade and cheese curds. 
Getting ready to go pickin'
At the patch! 

Bright sun! 

Reminds me of Little House on the Prairie

Lunch post pick!
The girls chatting up each other in the car! 
Funny pose!

The girls post swim!


Riverfest!

Watching the Dragon Boats at Riverfest!

And then we came home, had a bottle (or she did), talked to Daddy, and went to bed! We had such a fun and wonderful day.  And it ended nicely too.  Ryan thanked me for being a stay at home mom and told me how much he appreciated coming home to a fridge that actually has food (ready to eat) and a clean house and dishes put away and a kid well taken care of - awe! I told him that I felt a little bad because we have so much fun that I feel like I must not be doing it right, lol.  But we are both happy so I guess we are doing something right :)  I hope your weekend was great as well! 


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July!!!! Part 1.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY -  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN WHO CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM! 

WHAT WE DID: 

Well, it was our first Holiday alone since the hubby started residency - oh yea, forgot to tell you about that....it's been a little hectic...let's backup.

The hubby graduated Medical School on May 4th.  We packed up our entire apartment and prepped for graduation, celebrated graduation and promptly vacated the apartment on May 6th.  The hubby flew to Seattle, WA to work for a week on May 5th and was there until May 11th.  I took babygirl to my parent's place for a few days and then down to the in-laws for a few days and then met up with the hubby and went to the cabin for 2 weeks.  Starting June 1st (I think), he started work in Bemidji for an additional 2 weeks.  We lived in a hotel room.  Well, we spent about 4/5 days with my parents and then went to the hotel to stay with Ryan, but he lived in the hotel room.  The entire time we didn't have any internet and only part of our belongings...it was hard.  Mainly because I'm attached to the internet...now mind you, I had access via my phone, but it wasn't the same.  We were also trying to buy a house at the time so we had to make multiple stops at Coffee shops to use their internet to send specific emails.  We also made multiple trips to places like UPS and OfficeMax to use their fax machine and scanners.  It was a little bit of a chaotic mess.  But I'm happy to say there were minimal arguments between the hubby and I and babygirl did fairly well.  Then on June 13th, we closed on our house in La Crosse, WI.  Babygirl and I moved in and Ryan went back to Bemidji for ONE day :(  But that's how it goes sometimes.   Anyway, his family came to help us move everything in on June 16th (what a way to spend Father's Day) and we've been unpacking/settling ever since.  It's been good though!  We've met some amazing people, which I'm very thankful for since we will be here for the next 5 years!  So onto today......

Today is July 4th.  It's also the first Holiday that Ryan is on-call. So, he's at the hospital all day 7am-7pm for sure and potentially longer if need be.  It's my first official Holiday as a resident's wife.  It's my first official holiday all alone.  But I'm okay with it.  It's a minor one (meaning, no Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter, which are all huge in our family), so it's kind of a nice transition I guess.  Ryan's worked on the 4th for many years so it's not too different...except we are in a new place and we have a baby.  So, babygirl and I have made the best of it so far.  This morning, we got up and went and bought a Caribou (you know, priorities) and then we came home and she napped.  Then, we went grocery shopping and bought supplies for a nice supper that we can have when Daddy gets off work.  Steaks are thawing and I bought stuff to make a broccoli salad, grill potatoes, and make a fun festive 4th of July dessert.  One thing I'm still missing is some sparklers - maybe I can run out and get some....??  Anyway, then we came home and got ready and went to the pool!  I've been wanting to take Gwen to the pool for awhile now and it's 2 blocks from our house, so there was really no excuse.  We slathered on the sunscreen, tied on our bonnet, grabbed a snack and hit the road.  She LOVED it!  And it wore her out :) So, we came home and she is now napping.  I was going to wait and write this post after we did all our festivities, but I was in the mood now, so I figured I better do it while the iron is hot.  Now that I did, though, I'm going to go and make that salad and cut up some potatoes for later, etc.  If we do anything else fun, maybe I can get it in another post ;)  

Hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July!!