November

Sheesh I was doing so good and now it's November and I'm realizing I haven't posted in several weeks!

I can't believe how fast October came and went. And for some reason we have skipped fall and it feels like winter outside! I know the cold won't stick around til December but man it's freezing down here in Alabama! 

My first grade team dressed up as Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish on Friday. Homemade costumes are what happens when none of us have money in our bank accounts, ha! Poor teacher probs.

Now that Halloween is over, I am ready for red cups at Starbucks, Christmas movies on the hallmark channel, Christmas music, and anything and everything holiday-ish (yes that's totally a word). If Ty would let me put up our Christmas tree today, I would. I'm all about enjoying November and Thanksgiving but to me, Thanksgiving and Christmas run together and flood me with memories of family, fires, hot chocolates, movies, good food, etc. So why not go ahead and start celebrating it all now? :) Birmingham has a Christmas craft show next weekend and it always puts me in the Christmas spirit! I can't wait! 

We recently got our Keurig out of my Granddaddy's attic (most of our wedding presents are in his attic because we have no room in our apt) and I have become obssessed. Coffee and apple cider and tea, oh my! 

I really don't know how I lived so long without it. It's so fabulous! Ty and I sat outside talking on Wednesday after I got home and I sipped on hot apple cider the whole time. I was covered in a blanket and rocking in my rocking chair. It was heavenly! 

This past week was crazy. Last weekend was my cousins bachelorette trip at the lake (so relaxing!), then my week followed with drug free week dress up days, county walk throughs in my classroom, a pumpkin patch field trip, and then book character dress up day. Whew. A sure way to make for a crazy week in first grade!!! I know the holidays are crazy for everyone but I'm hoping for some down time in my near future!!

Picture overload....

I loved celebrating this sweet bride!!!

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Carnival last weekend with the nieces and nephews! 

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Pumpkin patchin'

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Apple Orchard today! 

And since Alabama didn't play today....I painted my nails :) 

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And just because she's cute...

Ok, so maybe I take too many pictures of my dog. ;)

Zucchini Boats

Thank you Kristin for the suggestions for Netflix! I have a feeling Netflix is about to take over my life, and I'm okay with that. :) I still watch Grey's Anatomy every Thursday but that's really the only series I am into at the moment. Ty and I love Shark Tank, The Profit, and reruns of The King of Queens, which is basically our nightly routine of shows on the DVR. We have been glued to The Walking Dead since Thursday night though!!!

I thought I'd share my dinner recipe tonight since it has been a hit since I first made it right after we got married. Ty is a health nut and I try (really, I do) really hard to make healthy meals and last week I did not do too good (Chicken Pot Pie Soup & Beer Cheese Sloppy Joes anyone??) so I am trying hard this week!!

Speaking of cooking healthier meals, it would be so much easier if we could have a grill here at our apartment. We will be so excited when we have a house and can grill!!!

Zucchini Boats
(I adjusted it a little based on what we like and it just being the 2 of us)
(Here is the site I got it on)

Ingredients:
-2 medium zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise
-1/2 cup mild salsa (Ty would love for me to use HOT but um, no thank you)
-1 lb ground beef
-1 tsp of the following: garlic powder, cumin, salt, chili powder, paprika
-1/2 tsp oregano
-1/2 small onion, minced
-4 oz can tomato sauce
-1/4 cup water
-1/2 cup Mexican cheese blend shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Ground your meat until no longer pink.

2. While your meat is browning, take your sliced in half zucchinis and with a spoon, scoop out the middle of the zucchini, leaving about 1/4 inch thick shell on the outside.

3. Chop up 3/4 cup of the scooped out zucchini and set aside.

2. When meat is done, add spices and stir well.

3. Add onion, tomato sauce, scooped out zucchini, and water to meat mixture & stir. Cover & simmer on low for 20 minutes.

4. Preheat your oven to 400.

5. While your meat mixture is simmering, boil a big pot of salted water.

6. Once water is boiling, drop in zucchini halves and boil for 1 minute. Remove from boiling water after 1 minute and set aside.

7. Pour salsa in the bottom of a casserole dish & place zucchini halves in the casserole dish.

8. After meat mixture is done, fill zucchini halves full of the meat mixture & top with a TBSP of shredded cheese.

9. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes on 400.

Enjoy!!! The original recipe calls for peppers and scallions but we omit those. :) I am sure you could put anything in the meat mixture that you'd normally put on tacos!! Get creative people!

Sorry, no picture. The ones from tonight are baking and I deleted the picture from a few weeks ago when I made them!


Hope everyone had a great Monday. We are hunkering down for some thunderstorms tonight. Stay safe local friends!

Good Friends & Emma

My friend, Allison moved to Georgia this summer after she got married and I haven't seen her since my wedding over 2 months ago! She was on Fall Break this week and came into town for a few days and I was so excited to see her!! It has been so hard this year without her. Going from seeing her every day for 3 years to never seeing her has been so difficult! There have been many texts and calls between us the last few months whining and giving ourselves pity parties. And I'm sure there will be many more! 

We met Sunday night with our friend Tyler for some Starbucks and girl time! It was so needed! My heart always feels so full after date nights with these loves! 

Then on Tuesday, Allison came by school to say hey to everyone! 

Our classes are "pen pals" and my little ones loved meeting their pen pals' teacher!!!! It was such a tease having her there, I miss her so much!!

We are planning a girls trip weekend to see Allison sometime in January & I am already super excited!!

Completely changing the subject, how funny is this picture of Emma?

She is so nosy! Everytime someone walks up the stairs at the apartment, she has to check them out! She never barks at them, just has to see them. :)

Since it has been nice outside lately, I have been skipping the gym some days and taking Emma for a walk/run and she has been loving it!! Ty wouldn't let me run with her until she was 2 years old because he wanted her bones to fully mature so I am loving my new running buddy!!! The weather is still a little too hot for me but it's getting there. I am totally a winter runner! 

And this is how Emma watches The Walking Dead with us...

Speaking of The Walking Dead, Ty & I started watching it on Netflix and I've totally gotten him hooked!! Anyone else watch it? I am so excited we finally got netflix, it was an argument for 2 months but we figured out how to get it through Ty's mom's account & I am stoked. On my radar for the coming months: 

The Walking Dead

Private Practice (never watched the last season!!)

Pretty Little Liars

Anyone have anymore suggestions?

Happy Saturday! Hoping Bama can pull off this win against Arkansas. This struggling team is almost foreign to me. I had almost forgotten the Mike Shula era where we never knew if we would win or not. We got Saban my junior year at Alabama and ever since we have always dominated. I am not liking this one bit but I know every team is different & we can't win them all.

Roll Tide!!!!!

Lasagna Soup

Here is the Lasagna Soup recipe I made a few weeks ago. It was so delicious & a perfect fall meal. I can't wait to make it again! 

I got lazy and just screen shotted the ingredients and directions, please forgive me. ;)

Here is the link if you'd like to just go to the website yourself...

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/12/lasagna-soup/

Ingredients:

Directions:

Enjoy!!

After the heartbreak Bama game last night, we made a fire & I felt better about life. Oh how I love fires!!!!

Hope your team played better than mine. :) 

Happy Sunday! 

First week of Fall!

I am loving this Fall weather! Alabama treated us pretty nice this week bringing us cooler weather! Ty and I enjoyed leaving the windows open every night this week! I always argue that with each new season, it is my favorite...and I think that's ok! I like to think I thoroughly enjoy every new season God gives us! :)

Monday night I thought Lasagna Soup would be the perfect way to end the first day of Fall! And man, it was so good! We ate on it for two days! I will post the recipe soon.

Tuesday Emma was a little excited to see me when I got home from the gym...she has no idea what personal space is. 

Thursday, Ty and Luke had an intense game of living room basketball and I got to snuggle with this little one:

Last night we had a date night & went to the outlet malls to walk around and shop! I left with a new black watch!!! 

I could spend all day in Charming Charlie...if your town doesn't have one, y'all are missing out. I love how everything in that store is divided up by color!!! Whoever thought of this concept is a genius. 

This morning, we went to visit my granddaddy with Christen and some of the kids! Aubrey and Kate enjoyed riding a huge stuff dog, paddling through imaginary water with a golf club...

Ha!!!

And this little one gets cuter by the minute!!! 

When I got back from Granddaddy's I found some selfies on my phone:

She is totally a pro at 2 year old selfies! 

We have no plans for the rest of the weekend, just enjoying this lovely weather!!!

Hope you've had a good first week of Fall as well! 

Honeymoon, Part 2

I'm back for more of our honeymoon recap!

On Wednesday we woke up and headed to the pool before our Dolphin Encounter, which was late in the afternoon. I so enjoyed just relaxing by the pool. It was so hot every day so there wasn't much laying out, we stayed in the pool most of the time. The resort was a big melting pot, with people from all over the world. The first day we were there, I was standing in the lobby and I could hear about 5 different languages at one time. It was so fun to hear people talk and people watch at the pool!

I obviously couldn't get any pictures of us with the dolphins but I snapped a few of a dolphin show we watched while we were waiting and we screen shotted some pictures that they had put online for us.

 

 

We all got to give our dolphin a command - this was "act like a shark"! I was amazed at how many commands he knew - he was so smart! It was such a fun experience!

After we played with the dolphins, we went back to our room and got ready for dinner.
That night we went to a restaurant right on the water and it was my favorite dinner view all week. Just absolutely breathtaking. If only we could eat dinner with this view every night!

 

Another yummy drink!

 

So peaceful!

 

Honeymoon Selfie :)

 

 

 

Next up, our snuba diving experience!!! Time to go finish dinner - we are having lasagna soup tonight! Recipe soon :)