date night

thanks to a dear friend, nanny goat, eric and i were able to get away for the evening and enjoy a quiet meal for two at olive garden.
it was so great to get away from the everyday busyness and have fun together.


and we did have fun. we are working on our 'take-the-picture-ourselves' skill. it is harder than it looks...you have to get just the right angle.

the people at the table beside us probably thought that we were crazy...we kept taking picture after picture...half the pictures eric looked a little plastered...no he wasn't really, he just happened to look like he was; the other half i looked like my face was twice it's normal size..no i wasn't having an allergic reaction, i just didn't know how to look at the camera. and these three...well, they were the best ones from the night.

i am actually surprised that eric let me take this many pictures...being a waiter he is very conscience of other waiters/waitresses when we go out to eat. which i think is very thoughtful...in this case we were finished eating and eric, being the thoughtful person that he is wanted to leave so that our waitress could have more people seated to make a little more money... i finally convinced eric to let me take a few more pictures and then leave. thanks babe, you will thank me some day.


after our quiet dinner for two, we thought it would be fun to liven things up a bit and take to the tourist scene...what better way to do that than to go to a show... one advantage to living in town is that shows are frequently having area appreciation...that was the case with this particular show...the hughes brothers. we invited a, r, and k to go with us. it was a blast...this particular show showcased the 5 hughes brothers and their families...each one had huge families...one of the brothers had 11 kids and every single one was in the show. a and i had to pose for a picture and show off m's super cute outfit...hopefully we can have a photo shoot sometime with her in it so you can see it even better.



i love date nights...they are so fun...next time we might have to get more creative.
speaking of creativity...it is my turn to plan our anniversary this year...i am trying to come up with something creative to do...any suggestion?

aaaaaaaa

if you couldn't guess the answer is...

a new car

something old...pre-owned

something new...new to us

it isn't borrowed...no loan (praise the Lord)

it isn't blue...it's silver

welcome to the family... '04 hyundai sonata sleek silver with black interior!! and my sweet husband is letting it be 'my' car.

riddle...

something old, something new,
it isn't borrowed, and it isn't blue

valentine dinner

last night eric and i helped the youth group put together a valentine dinner for our church family.
it was SO MUCH FUN! the youth did a great job serving and the atmosphere really felt like a restaurant.
we had big band music playing in the background...it gave the night a very surreal atmosphere.

some of the comments we heard were...'this is the best nightclub we have ever been to'. 'i hope more couples come for their sake'. 'can i have the next dance'. 'you should do this every friday night'.

did i mention we had a great time?!

happy birthday...

...to me...

you might recall that eric just recently had a birthday and my plan for that evening was to take him to a brazilian grill in springfield.

Eric instead took me to the grill for my birthday. We went with R, A, T, J. It was so much fun!

We laughed the whole time and ate more meat then I have eaten in my life.

the restaurant gave everyone their own personal stop light. green side meant 'give me the meat' red side 'please stop, I can't eat anymore'
the guachos would bring out huge sword with big chunks of meat on them . chicken, sausage, pork, roast, tenderloin... and lots more that i can't remember.

when the guacho came out with the different kinds of meat he would slice the meat right at the table. we would each grab our own tongs and dig into the meat. of course, noone put the red light up until we had tried all 15 kinds of meat.

to be sure that I wouldn't be too full to taste all the meat i only took a bite or two of each and saved the rest on my plate. here was the sampler platter.

so here's the deal with this restaurant... you pay one sum of money for appetizers, cold bar, and all the meat you could ever eat. our understanding of it was the dessert was included as well.

boy, were we wrong! we had all eated our fair share of meat when the dessert tray came around. on this tray was coffee and about 5 different kinds of dessert. it all looked delicious. of course, we wanted to have a taste of all the desserts so we all took a different dessert and A even got two.

We also took a miniature cup of brazilian coffee. we passed around the desserts and all took bites of each others so we could see what they tasted like.

the waiter brought us our checks and that's when it hit us...the dessert wasn't free! neither was the coffee! well. needless to say the dinner ended up being a little more expensive than we had planned...

but we all had a good laugh and figured that next time we go we will know how it all works. meaning we won't be getting dessert or coffee, or at least we will only get one to split instead of one for each of us.

GO COLTS!

Did you know that 85% of America was rooting for the Colts during the Super Bowl this year?

Okay... So that is a completely, totally fictional thought. I have no idea how many people were cheering for the Colts during the Super Bowl...and do I care...well, not really.

All I really cared about was making more snow pops with Colt colors (blue and white) because they are a lot prettier than gold and black.


Eric and I actually went to friends house for the Super Bowl this year...they were rooting for the Colts so we thought we might as well cheer for them as well. And this is how we celebrated the night, by making blue and white snow pops. And...even though the Colts lost we still enjoyed these yummy treats...


I am really getting into these snow pop things, I wonder what I can make them for next... Valentine's Day?

pancake burrito

I have said it before and I will say it again...I am married to a wonderful man.

Fridays are his days off from the restaurant but I still have to get up as usual. Usually on his days off he will sleep in..makes sense...

Today was little bit different, however. Instead of sleeping in he got up early and made me breakfast. Isn't he sweet.

I got all ready for the day and as I went into the kitchen I saw that he had made me a pancake and sausage. It was not just any pancake...I came to discover that he was planning on making it into a burrito pancake. ya know, stick the sausage inside the pancake with a little cheese and roll it up for a beautiful burrito.

Not that I didn't think it would taste good, but I told him I would just prefer to eat the pancake and sausage seperately. He obliged and dished up my plate...

yummm....looks good, huh?

I buttered up my pancake...smothered it with syrup...and took a big bite... At first all I could taste was the maple syrup, then the taste of the pancake came out... I think I would have preferred it not...YIKES!

"ummm, Babe? I think something is wrong with this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it doesn't taste very good. Do you want to try it?"

*takes a big bite*

"WOW...that is the nastiest pancake I have ever tasted!" *runs to the sink and spits it out*

See, he wanted it to be more of a burrito so he added a little (lot) extra salt to the pancake batter.

Poor Eric... "Thanks so much for the thought ...you are so sweet to have made me breakfast..anyway the sausage is really good!"

p.s. Eric decided to make up the rest of the pancake batter and give it to Jack...I don't know if he will eat though.