february highlights.

Well February brought warm, sunny picnic days and iced-in, snowy no school days! I got the best of both worlds. Definitely ready for green grass and flowers to make their Spring debut.

Here are a few highlights from the second month of the year:

• I started a new Bible study called "The Five Aspects of Womanhood." My school nurse, Darlene, is leading it. There's a mix of young and old ladies. Single, married, dating and divorced. Women from the U.S., Great Britain and South Africa. I cannot say how thrilled I am about this in-depth, transparent and life-changing study!
• Stephen and I went to a Progressive Two Step dancing class! I must say the only way I got him to go was by not telling him. At first, he wasn't too excited, but he got over it. We went with one of my co-workers, Jennifer and her better half. Stephen and I are definitely terrible dancers, but it was fun.
• I got to have lunch with Stephen at his job! It's always really nice to not be around 14 year olds at lunch time. 
• Hannah came in for a quick trip! We literally talked the whole time, went to our usual Greek restaurant and she took care of me. I got some weird 24 hour virus :( 
• I GOT MY BRACES OFF!!!!!!!!!!!! PTL for basically being 25 and finally having teeth again! Also, my orthodontist is better than yours. Why? They give their adult patients a bottle of wine when they get their braces off. Hello, free bottle of Merlot. (Yeah...I took an at-work selfie)
• Stephen and I were supposed to go to a Stars hockey game last night, but due to the 4-5 inches of snow/ice we received yesterday there was no way we could safely make it south. Bummer. Notice how deep those footprints are in the snow!

alma mater.

The past two weekends, Stephen and I have had the opportunity to go to both of our college Alma Mater's - Baylor and LSU - to watch a good football game! They were both special trips. Going to Baylor was special to me because it was my first game in the new McLane stadium. {And can I just say it was GORGEOUS?} Going to LSU was special to Stephen because it was the LSU vs. Bama game. aka the most celebrated college football game. Ever.

Two different colleges. Two very different expericences! I never realized the differences until visiting both campuses back to back. Haha.

The weekend befor last, we drove to Waco Saturday morning for some Baylor Homecoming tailgating and football. We met up with the Chabots and Lauren's family. Hannah drove in from Louisiana and met us there, too! Lauren's dad ended up having three extra box tickets so we got blessed with the best seats in the stadium! McLane seats 45,000... which is much less than LSU coming in at around 101,000, but it sure is prettier!

The stadium opens up to the Brazos River and a nice view of campus.

We had such a fun time!

Last weekend we went to Baton Rouge for a little bit of Tiger Football. Stephen insisted on leaving at 8 a.m. from DeRidder so that we would have plenty of time for tailgating. I'm so glad he insisted because traffic would've been awful otherwise. We had to park far from the stadium which was fine with me because I got to see the LSU lakes & some of the beautiful Louisiana homes.

We met up with friends and Stephen got to see his cousin, Reed, who is currently attending LSU. Hannah was there, too! Stephen was the happiest person in the world. He sang LSU chants the entire way to Baton Rouge. I don't know who he loves more LSU football or me... probably... LSU football. The game was fun, but also very aggrevating because the refs called some terrible plays. And... Bama took the W which was the worst part. I'm still glad we went though! Thank you, Stephen, for taking me!

LSU lakes.

In front of the Bell tower.

We snapped this after LSU kicked a field goal with 1 minute left. We thought we had the W in the bag..

Two great weekends at two awesome colleges. I am so thankful to have had such a blessed college experience. Baylor will always hold a special place in my heart - I love going back to my Alma Mater!

april highlights.

I have to say that April has probably been the busiest month I've had in 2014. Lots of weekend trips, lots of time with friends and family, and lots of fun!

Here are a few highlights from the fourth month of the year:

• Earlier this month, I got to meet my dearest friend, Skye, in Waco for the weekend. Her and I had never taken pictures in the world famous bluebonnets so we made sure it happened. She will be leaving to serve in the Navy in August -- I am very thankful for the time we spent together and I can't wait until I get to see her again! Praying for you, Skye!
• Stephen and I wanted to make sure we made a Rangers game before the hot weather made it to Texas. Needless to say, we got what we wanted. It was 40 degrees and windy the night we went, but we still had a blast!
• Him and I also got to make TWO trips home in April! Once for Easter and once for a friend's wedding party (see my hot date ^^^). We both loved our time in our peaceful, country hometown with family and friends. My nephews are getting so big!
• We went to the driving range to practice hitting the golf ball. I really would like to learn how to play but... I just don't know if there is any hope. I might have it the ball three times in 25 swings...Stephen did an awesome job though!
• My admin team had an Easter egg hunt for us one morning -- too much fun.
• A month after Chloe's passing, my dad decided it was time to introduce a new member to the family. Meet Pecos! Pronounced pay-cuss. She's a Miniature Australian Shepherd -- I can't wait to see her in person! I have a feeling she might replace my sister and I. 

Not pictured:

• Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures at my family Easter gathering nor Stephen's. I did experience "popping eggs" for the first time. Stephen and his cousins do it every year!
• I also got to spend time with Courtney and her precious, Ella Jane, but Ella wouldn't even let me smile at her haha so I'm hoping to get a picture this summer.

mavs & (lots of) meat.

This past weekend was lots of fun! On Friday night Stephen and I had tickets to a Mavs game in Dallas. Neither of us had ever been to a game so we were pretty excited. Our seats were a little high up (I bought the tickets for him for V-Day), but we could still see the game (thank goodness!). 

Go Mavs!

We left a little early to beat all the traffic and on our way to the car we passed one of the life size B & G letters that are all around Dallas. You are supposed to stand in the middle and be the life size I and then post it to social media (of course) with hashtag BigDallas. Interestingly enough, at this particular location, there was this person dressed up as a bull and a girl handing out fliers. Before we knew it we were posing with the bull in the middle of B & G and the girl was taking our picture. It all happened really fast and I’m still confused as to why there was a bull. Haha. That awkward moment when…

Us & a bull?

Then on Saturday sweet Stephen surprised me with a dinner date to Texas de Brazil. We had previously been talking about the fact that we had never eaten at a Brazilian Steakhouse before so I guess he decided it was time for us to try one!

Really there are no words to describe the amazingness of this restaurant. Once we were seated our waiter explained that we could help ourselves to the salad bar, but this wasn’t just a salad bar. It had sushi, salmon, shrimp, lobster bisque, grilled provolone… who has ever heard of grilled provolone? I could go on and on about the salad bar, but that isn’t even the cool part. At our table, we had these little cards -- on one side it was red and the other green. When you wanted meat you flipped it to green.  Then there were all these waiters that walked all over the restaurant with these huge skewers of meat. Every kind of meat you can imagine. Lamb, beef ribs, pork ribs, sirloin, flank steak, filet mignon, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, and the list goes on. The waiters would just come right up to your table, ask you if you wanted that particular cut of meat, and then cut you a slab! Basically, it was heaven on earth or as Stephen would say “GOAT” (Greatest Of All Time).

Oh yes, of course, there was dessert too! He had the cheesecake and I had the chocolate mousse cake. Needless to say, we rolled out to the car… If you have never eaten at a Brazilian Steakhouse, I would highly recommend Texas de Brazil.

5 stars!

As if that wasn’t enough meat to last us until Christmas, I had Natchitoches Meat Pies on the menu for dinner on Monday! The past two times I’ve cooked for Stephen, it’s been healthy food and he hated it. So I really needed to prove myself in the kitchen. Haha. Luckily, the third time’s a charm! He loved them. I got the recipe from OurBestBites. It was extremely easy to make. No, I did not make the dough from scratch. I bought the box of Pillsbury piecrusts (found at Wal Mart in the canned biscuit section) and they worked perfectly. Also, I'm freezing the leftover pies which makes for an easy future-dinner.

Bon Appetit!

It was the perfect weekend to kick off Spring Break. Excited for some time to relax and catch up on chores!

super bowl supper.

This is definitely not your typical Super Bowl Sunday menu. I just happened to pick this recipe and cook it on SBS. I'm really working on my new year's intention "cook more!"

Chicken & Bacon (Paleo) Alfredo

Ingredients:

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
• 8 slices nitrate free turkey bacon
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 tsp dried basil
• 3 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 head fresh chopped broccoli
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Place squash on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour on 375.

2. While squash is cooking, chop chicken, turkey bacon, and broccoli.

3. In a large sauce pan, add olive oil and cook chicken for 10 minutes. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Remove chicken and place to the side (leave all the yummy juices).

4. Add turkey bacon and cook until crispy. Then add coconut milk and all seasonings. Cook for about 5 minutes.

5. Add cooked chicken and broccoli to the sauce mixture. Cook for about 3-5 minutes.

6. Once squash is finished cooking, cut in half, remove seeds and scrape the spaghetti into a casserole dish. Add the chicken/bacon/broccoli mixture to the squash and mix together.

7. Bake casserole on 375 for about 30 minutes. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired! Enjoy!

*Side Note*
If you or whoever you're cooking this for doesn't normally eat paleo entrees, it might take some getting used to! I loved it because I eat clean, but Stephen, on the other hand, did not. Haha.