End of Summer Party....

I have been promising my girls that they could have a party with all of their friends this summer, and last Friday, since it was the last day before school started, was the day! Procrastination! The girls had a lot of fun and told me I was the best mom ever, I call that a success!

We made our own pizzas for lunch, it was really fun and the pizza's were yummy!


Then the girls played on the homemade slip n slide, (thanks dad!) and we played some games.



Then the girls all had snow cones and went home, and I took a nap!


(Abi had so much fun, she fell asleep right in the middle of the party, so she didn't make it for the picture!)

Some things never die....but should.

So the other morning I was watching Good Morning America because I wanted to watch "The Pioneer Woman" who I love, or if you ask Durke I am "obsessed" with, but that's a whole other story. Anyway, they had this segment on kids "must have's" for back-to-school, and no lie I felt like I was having "de ja vu". Now I know I'm no fashion diva, but I truly think these things are hideous and should stay in the closet, the very back of the closet!

Keds, do you remember these? Yuck!




How about these. I don't know about you, but these things look like a nightmare. I am picturing them all over my house!




Can anyone say "Saved by the Bell"?



And last the best of all...



I don't know about you, but I won't be buying any of these for Gracie, even though she would probably love them, just like I did!

P.S. "Pretty in Pink" is not something that should be gone forever, it is a classic, and perfect for an 80's post.

A few odds and ends....

I just wanted to post a few things that I have forgotten to post that we've done the last couple of weeks and swimming lessons.

My cute sister and her in-laws were camping out at Palisades last weekend and invited us out on Saturday. I didn't know how much fun Palisade's was. We packed a picnic, which my kids live for, they are all about picnics; played on the paddle boats, braved the greenish, brownish water, and played on the beach. As you can see a good time was had by all!





We also had out kids in swimming lessons this summer and they absolutely loved it. It will definitely be a new tradition. I was a little leery about Abi, she is so stubborn and can be a handful, but she did wonderful. She is a little fish. Her favorite thing was to put her face in the water. I was impressed. Our pool has a fun waterslide and Gracie loved that. Can't wait until next year.






Louk brought home this "Big Boy" scooter a few weeks ago, (as if we need another bike, scooter, wagon, etc. at our house!) Anyway, it has been a big hit, especially with Louk. He absolutely loves to ride with Durke and they make me kind of nervous. They go way to fast, that's why the picture is blury, well I'll blame it on that anyway!

Revel Bars

My sis-in-law made these yummy chocolate oatmeal bars for our reunion and I remembered my mom used to make them all the time. I found the recipe in one of her old cookbooks she gave me and have been making (and eating) them a lot! They are delicious!



2 sq. butter
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. oats
1 tsp. soda
2 1/4 c. flour
1 can sweet & condensed milk
1 cup semi-sweet choc. chips
2 T. butter

Cream together butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. In seperate bowl mix flour, soda and oats. Add flour mixture to cream mixture and mix well. Divide dough in half. Press half in bottom of a large cookie sheet. Melt together s & c milk, choc. chips, and butter on stove. Pour over cookie mix in pan. Crumble remaining cookie mix on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 23-25 min. Enjoy!!!

24th of July...Fun!

I struggle with the 24th of July, because to me it means summer is almost over ; so it is not my favorite holiday. However, despite my dislike, we did have fun last weekend.

On Thursday night we went to the Fairview Rodeo with Durke's family. I told Durke he had to take me to a rodeo this summer, and we are running out of time, so the Fairview rodeo it was. I LOVE small town rodeos and this one was perfect. It really made me want to get on my horse, and run some barrels, but I refrained. (Probably because I don't even own a horse!)


Everyone enjoying the rodeo.


My little cowgirl at heart! I really think she is going to me my horse girl, yay!


Mom & Louk


As you can see the kids all had a really good time!


On Saturday my cute mom and dad came down and spent the day with us. I love when they do that.


We have a tradition of going to the Fairview Parade. Their parade is always huge and I find it really fascinating. It's Fairview for crying out loud! It is also like 10,000 degrees too, but it's still fun.

Girls waiting for some candy!


Louk is always up for a good time!

After the parade, my parents took us out to lunch at the "El Mexicano" restaurant in Mt. Pleasant. *yes, I know technically it says "the the Mexicano" but it was confusing
I'm weird I know. Anyways, if you haven't ate there you must, really you must!

When we got back home we all napped for like 2 hours. Lovely.

That night we went on a bike ride and ran into this dispicable creature.

Gracie about ran over it. It was HUGE and had 9 rattles. Needless to say it freaked me out a little, no a LOT!

We came back and did some fireworks. Always fun. Louk was fascinated with the sparklers.


We had a fun day, hope you did too!

I have been trying out a lot of new recipes with my family lately. They haven't been real impressed, but I have loved them. They are simple eaters I guess! I thought I would share some of my favorite ones and start doing a recipe a week. Let me know what you think.

This weeks recipe is for Granola. I absolutely love to have granola with milk in the morning, and this one is yummy!


8 cups Old-Fashioned oats
1 small bag craisins
1 cup coconut (more or less depending on how much you want)
1 cup slivered almonds or pecans (again more or less, however you like it)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. maple extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Dried fruit, chopped (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the oats, craisins, coconut, and nuts; set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, water and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat for 3-4 minuts or until brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in the extracts. Pour over the oat mixture; stir to coat.

Transfer to two greased 15-in. x 10-in. baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crisp, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. Serve with milk or yogurt.

Las Vegas

Durke and I took a little trip to Las Vegas this past weekend. I don't particularly LOVE Vegas, but it was SOOOO nice to have some alone time. It made me remember why I love him so much! We had a really fun trip even though it was 115 degrees! The part that made it even better was that Durke had earned the trip at work so our hotel was paid for and they took us out to dinner! Yay.

Speaking of our hotel we got to stay at this beauty...



this is the inside...

I almost felt like I was in Paris! (almost)

We didn't go to a show or anything but we did...

Visit M&M World. Fun!



Ride the Manhatten Express at New York, New York. Scary!



Watched the Bellagio Water Show.


Went to see Eclipse.


Ate yummy food...



(No I didn't take a picture of my food, but I did have Shrimp Alfredo and Salmon. Yummy!)

braved "The Strip" and shopped!

Perfect in my opinion! (Hey I don't get out much so I'm easy to please)

I sadly didn't get any pictures of me and Durke; because we're both to shy to ask anyone to take our picture.

It's been a long time since we had a vacation and we had a great time.