Memories

Patchwork Moose – Talkeetna, Alaska

We ate breakfast at a restaurant called Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant in Anchorage the day before. Our waitress was so awesome. She asked if we were out of town or locals. When we told her we were on vacation, she asked where all we had been and where we were headed next. Then she suggested heading north to Talkeetna, Alaska. 

The next day we grabbed breakfast as we headed out of town headed north to Talkeetna. The waitress had given us a few different Alaska books to look at and mom and my husband did some research before we headed there. One of the things mom saw was a quilt store located in Talkeetna called The Patchwork Moose. Now, my grandma’s birthday is the same day as mine which also happened to be the week we were on vacation. Very few years have I missed celebrating with Grandma. So we decided to go to the quilt shop to bring grandma back some fabric from Alaska.

The Patchwork Moose

22262 Talkeetna Spur Rd
Talkeetna, Alaska

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King George – The Bucket List

King George. That’s all I need to say. If you don’t know who he is… we might not be friends. Haha. 

Okay, so King George is also known as George Strait. One of the best singers of all time. He could sing the phone book and make it a #1 hit.

When I was younger, I always said that there were 3 men… a cutting horse trainer, a family friend who also showed cutting horses, and George Strait. My dad used to laugh at this. They don’t let me forget that either.

I have always wanted to see him in concert too, but then in 2012, he announced that his Cowboy Rides Away Tour would be his last tour. He was retiring. And… I didn’t get to see him. I was a little frustrated. The tour ended on June 7, 2014. That was it. I was so sad and frustrated. 

BUT then… he announced that he was going to do a very short tour, including Las Vegas. My parent’s trip last summer got rerouted to Las Vegas and they got to see him in concert. My dad bragged and bragged. Last fall I had some friends who were headed to Las Vegas and I asked if they were going to see George Strait? They said, No, Reba. And somehow that got us started looking up George Strait. 

My friend Shaye, who was looking this up with me, found tickets to see him in Kansas City in January for dirt cheap. I didn’t believe her so I mentioned something to hubby. Next thing I know…

We. Had. Tickets.

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Orange Beach, Alabama – Part 4 (the end)

Here we are, winding down the trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. Make sure you read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Thursday morning started with breakfast. Earlier in the week, when we went to the Mexican Restaurant, I saw a place to get Beignets. Now, I know that’s more of a signature New Orleans item, but still, I wanted to try them. I mentioned it to hubby and he was all for it. So off to Café Beignet, we went. Again, we left my MIL and little one to get dressed at the hotel. Note: They never got dressed when we’d go off to get breakfast. 

Café Beignet

Rouses Market
25405 Perdido Beach Blvd
Orange Beach, AL

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The Little’s Tree

I mentioned in the Chiefs tree post that the little took over the original Chiefs tree. The white tree is like 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 feet tall. I kind of forgot exactly, but Abug wanted her own tree and we had the ability to make that happen. In like September or August maybe even, we were at Hobby Lobby and they had their Christmas ornaments out. With the help of my mom, we got her a bunch of new ornaments for her tree. Now, this is where I note that last year when it had all the Chiefs ornaments, she took it over. And so we were adding to her ornaments not starting from scratch.

The ornaments were focused around things she likes, ballet/dance, tball, unicorns, and mermaids. Oh and ketchup, we can’t forget the ketchup.

I wouldn’t let my mom give her the ornaments until we were ready to put the tree up. I knew if we gave them early, she’d get so excited she’d want the tree up in August or September. While I’m all about putting up the tree early, that might be a wee bit early.

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A Week in the Life, Vol 1

Welcome to 2020. Can you believe it’s already 2020? I swear I went to bed one night and the next day was the new year. Oh wait, that’s how that works, isn’t it?

Well, our New Year’s started off with a quick kiss at Midnight. Then it was off to dreamland because we had to get up early to head to the lake for the New Year’s Day Dive.

The next day at the lake, I didn’t partake in SCUBA Diving. I think I’m too much of a wimp. Now hubby and about 4 others have dry suits. Maybe if I had a drysuit I might try it, but I don’t have one so… We actually had 16 divers and 19 people on land. I heard the water temp was like 45-50 degrees. The on-surface temp was 56 degrees. The wind was frigid so that’s what made me sit there and contemplate life and why I thought it might be fun to go to the lake on New Year’s Day. As the surface temp warmed up it got better but the wind picked up. We had a wind block for a while made out of tarps but when David had to leave, we lost those. Brrr… (more…)

Friendsgiving 2019

Friends giving tends to be a newer concept. One that I really only remember hearing about maybe 10 years ago or so now. It’s quite interesting though that it has caught on. I mean truthfully a lot of people celebrated this long before it had a name/concept.

This year we decided to start our first ever Friendsgiving. After the interesting year we’ve had, why not. While the outcome of the year might not be what we all expected, we still have a lot of things to be thankful for.

We started a Facebook group to see who was bringing what. I kind of waited until everyone else picked an item before I spoke up with what I was going to make. At first, I thought I’d make bacon-wrapped green beans, but then I decided to go with the Green Bean Casserole. I found a recipe online to make it all completely from scratch. I didn’t get my green beans thoroughly cooked though, so they were just okay.

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Loss for Words

You will teach them to fly, 
But they will not fly your flight.

You will teach them to dream,
But they will not dream your dream.

You will teach them to live, 
But they will not live your life.

Never the less, in every flight,
in every life, in every dream,
the print of the way you
taught them will remain

                       ~Mother Theresa

I truly am at a loss for words. The person who has spent most of her life talking about something… or so I get teased. And while I was shy as a kid, if I knew you, I’d talk your leg off. I’m still shy but I’ll still talk your leg off. Don’t worry.

I have spent the last few days engulfed in a man and his family. It’s hard to believe this man was only in my life for 6 years. 

7 years ago January, my husband and I got the chance to try SCUBA diving. Honestly, I was so apprehensive that first day that I almost didn’t go. I thought it was a special thing that some friends were doing because of their family and that we were just inviting ourselves in. Turns out, it wasn’t that at all. We had so much fun that first time, we went the next month to try it again.

In June that year, we wound up going to the lake and helping out during one of their Underwater Safari Hunts. Of course, we weren’t certified SCUBA divers, so we could only help on land, but we jumped in no matter what and helped when/where we could. The next week we were signed up for classes. 2 classroom classes, 2 pool classes, and 2 days in the lake and we were officially certified SCUBA divers. (more…)

Life Lately…

And just like that, it’s the middle of June. I have now slept in my house, overnight, 2 times. WHAT?!?! When did that happen? Well, I’m glad you asked. It happened Friday and Saturday night. Now, here we are Sunday night and I’m sitting in bed at my house. I was in the shower a few minutes ago reminiscing the last couple of months. Wow, it has been a whirlwind.

We have had tball practice, tball games, ended tball, made a trip to Kansas City for a weekend, made a trip to Kansas City for a day, had the last dance class for the year, had dance rehearsal, had dance recitals, had dance pictures, had tball pictures, bought furniture, put said furniture together.

The furniture consisted of (but not limited to) 3 desks, 3 beds, 6 chairs, 1 bench, 1 coat rack, 1 coat bench, 1 storage bench, 2 bookshelves, 1 vacuum cleaner, and whatever else I’m forgetting.

We have slept in our house, put pictures on the wall, restained a floor, put down new flooring, replaced tiles, found new tiles to replace, washed umpteen million loads of dishes, washed 548,912 loads of laundry, most of which happened this previous weekend.

Then we ended preschool, had preschool graduation postponed, had preschool graduation canceled, had flooding, had tornadoes, had more rain, had severe thunderstorms, driven into severe thunderstorms, hid in the basement during tornado warnings, started summer school, about to finish summer school and then… (more…)

I Baked an Angel Food Cake (The Kitchen)

Woohooo… go me, right? Oh… but… here’s where I mention that I baked an Angel Food Cake IN. MY. OWN. KITCHEN. WHAT!!??!!??

Yes! You read that correctly. I baked a cake in my kitchen. In my oven. So super exciting if you ask me!! Today I think I’ll focus on said kitchen. Then the next post will be about said Angel Food Cake. Deal?

The Original Kitchen

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Smoke off Prep

I’m pretty sure these days I meet myself coming and going. I try not to but dang. Anyway, last week I mentioned something about a BBQ/Smoked meats thing. Well here are the details… FINALLY! 

So we started hanging out with our dive friends in 2013 when we met them. It wasn’t an immediate BAM, we’re friends, but pretty darn close. So throughout the last couple of years, hubby and Jared have been smoking different types of meats for different events. Events include just a night in with friends to dive club meetings to events for the Red Coaters at Chiefs Stadium. The big leagues… in our books anyway.

They have been honing in on our their meat preparations. Wow, that sounds weird. ha! Anyway, last fall they went to Kansas City to a Chiefs game and actually cooked for 60+ Red Coaters and family. Then the leftover meats, they tried passing out to passer byes. A lot of people around our hangouts really like their brisket and pulled pork and chicken, etc, so they told them they needed to start entering contests. (more…)