Fourth of July!

I hope everyone had a great weekend celebrating our country's independence! We hosted Matt's (mostly) entire family for the weekend and couldn't have had a better time. We didn't know how it would go for a couple of reasons: 1) We were going to have 17 people over and we weren't sure how our new, shy dog would react (Oh, I need a post on Hardy, don't I??) and 2) Our AC downstairs broke Thursday evening. Yes. In Texas. Over 4th of July weekend. The joys of homeownership, right? 

I will spare you the suspense and let you know it all worked out. Even though we had a second location we could use if needed, we were able to make our AC limp along for the weekend and it never felt too, too hot! Our AC is fixed as of this writing (Wednesday afternoon), so here is hoping it sticks for the rest of the summer...

But anyway, back to the 4th. We all had a great time hanging out, playing games, playing with my adorable 5-month old niece, and eating. I am really enjoying hosting people in our home and so glad we bought this particular house with that in mind. Even though we had 17 people in the house, it never felt too crowded and people were able to spread out and be comfortable. There were also some fun nerf battles that happened, too, because cousins :)

Here are some pictures, courtesy of my mother-in-law, because I was a bit too busy to think about breaking out my camera. So glad she shared these with me as I love looking through them. I hope you do, too!

Because when one of the cousins owns a unicorn onesie, you have to :)

Father & son both wearing fox shirts

Based on this picture, you would think we only ate healthy.
This doesn't include the 3 different types of cookies, 2 kinds
of brownies, 2 pans of apple crisp, and vanilla ice cream that
was also available :)

Hardy and baby Bethany were quite interested in one another, but
neither knew what to make of the other. So cute! 

Bench pressing of the youngest cousin

Avocado is pretty delicious!

Bethany and the great grandmother  :)

Evidence that Hardy can indeed sit on other people's laps besides
Matt or mine. I wouldn't have believed it, either.

No 4th of July post would be complete without fireworks :)

Thanksgiving 2013

We got to spend an amazing Thanksgiving with my family down in the Houston area. It was filled with good quality time, great food, and some fun dog walking! 

They were very excited to go for the walk!

Alice and my brother's huge aquarium

Walking around the Woodlands
Waterway Thursday afternoon.

We 'cheated' a little with Thanksgiving dinner and ordered a roasted turkey breast from a local BBQ place and oh my goodness was it the tastiest thing ever! So tender, moist, and delicious! There wasn't much of it leftover and it was all gone by that night, that's how good it was.

The amazing turkey breast. 

All of the delicious food: Turkey breast, roasted turkey legs, green bean
casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, & fruit salad. Yum!

My plate :)

The most important picture of the pies! Pumpkin pie on the right
and bumbleberry pie on the left (a mix of different berries)

My mom had us set up the house for Christmas and I'm glad we all got to decorate the tree together. It was so fun watching my niece put the ornaments on the tree :)

Got to get the tree set up!

My brother and his precious daughter

My mom and I set up the mantel the next day. Ignore the 1 stocking
pointing in the wrong direction. My OCD is...

And now it's back to school. Only 3 final papers to submit and a lot of grading and then Christmas break! Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one and here's to a great December!

Easter Recap

If you have looked at my blog lately, you may think the only thing we do is eat. This post will unfortunately be no different. However, rest assured that we not only ate well this Easter, but spent great quality time with Matt's family in Austin and I had a successful shopping trip to boot! Getting time off from school to celebrate what God did through Jesus was much needed and I am having a hard time getting back to the routine of things. So I can relive some of those happy memories, here is my recap :)

Matt & I started off Friday by working out and then driving a few hours to Lockhart, TX. This is known as the BBQ capital of Texas so we had to stop for lunch at Black's BBQ. 

Best. Decision. Ever. I had been warned their beef ribs were huge and that felt like a challenge to me. They were right.

See? Huge! I also had 1 slice of brisket and 2 sides. Don't worry, I did not eat the entire thing- there was so possible way to do that. The rib was not only huge but also expensive ($12.70 on its own). I enjoyed it, but it was a good once-in-a-lifetime thing. Matt enjoyed his brisket and sausage as well, though he preferred the brisket. 

After lunch, we headed to Matt's parent's house in Austin. Now begins the hodge-podge of pictures of various walks, games, and dishes that were enjoyed. 

Lindsey's (free) picture with the Easter bunny!

Part of our Easter feast. Sloppy joes, mac & cheese, broccoli cheese bites

Post Easter feast walk

Easter feast dessert. The best chocolate cake ever.

Playing a very addictive card game. So much intensity.

Easter morning cinnamon rolls

Matt's parents even got us Easter baskets! I love that and now the huge amount of candy is tempting me as we speak (AKA I type).

Hope you also had a great Easter!

Holiday Happenings

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy New Year! Matt and I had a busy Christmas, traveling across the great state of Texas to celebrate with both of our families, so we had a chill New Year's celebration. Just what we needed! Below are a few pictures from our holidays.

Our little Christmas tree

Matt's excitement over the pop tarts I gave him :)

This girl was happy to receive something pretty in a Blue Nile box!

I also surprised Matt with a Chick-Fil-A calendar & Christmas light remote control. We have interesting priorities

 Here is where we start what I like to call the Texas Triangle- DFW -> El Paso -> Houston -> DFW.

For lunch on Matt's birthday, we stopped in Midland for burgers

The restaurant is in an old airplane hanger-- very cool!

And the burgers were delicious!

In El Paso, opening gifts. Hi Lindsey!

Matt's copy of Band of Brothers-- so good so far!

Brothers playing games

The smallest cousin being sneaky...

Now on to my parents' house, this is Matt & my niece, Alice

My mom and her gift

More gift opening...

The two cutest puppies in the world, Panda & Teddy

Followed by the cutest niece in the world, Alice

We had a blast playing at the park!

And then my husband made me a Mickey Mouse pancake. So good!

 I hope everyone has a great start to 2013!