So behind!!!

I guess life just gets in the way sometimes!!! Hopefully at some point I can blog about what we've been up to...Andrew's 33rd b-day, hanging out with our constantly growing nephew (he is 8 mos old now and just finished his first round of swim lessons!), re-doing backyard, dealing with our house getting broken into (crazy!!!), trip to San Diego, and our 1 year anniversary this coming Sunday!!!! We are going to San Antonio for the weekend. Wow...a year sure does go by fast! 

Back to work tonight for 3 nights. Oh night shift....I am so done with you and will not miss you one bit!!!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSBAND!!!!!

Happy 33rd birthday to you Husband!!!! You are the funniest person I know and I am so blessed to be your wifey! I love you a million times over and can't wait to see what this crazy life has in store for us together. You are my other half, knight in shining armor and all that gushy stuff. Love you honey!!!!!

Oh and happy birthday to your silly twin brother too! I made sopapilla cheese cake and we are going to go eat some yummy take out with the other Herrells, demolish the cake, and play with the Mackster!

Easter Basket Excitement

Easter/Birthday weekend!!!

This year my 26th birthday fell on Good Friday! What a priviledge! It was so humbling to think all day what the true meaning of Good Friday is. Jesus died on this day for me so that I could be born to live eternally with Him! WOW!!!

I had worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night that week so I was more than ready to get back to a day schedule on Friday after sleeping all day Thursday. Thursday night husband and I went to Firewheel and ate at San Francisco Oven and checked out the Carter's outlet store to get some fun outfits for the Macker. We had fun making an Easter Basket (well, bucket actually) for Mack for his first Easter!!! I also just absolutely HAD to make the cats Easter baskets. Yes I know this probably sounds reeeeally weird, but I grew up with my mom making Easter baskets for the dogs so I don't really know any different! I had specific instructions from husband though that I was alloted 5 dollars per cat. I think they turned out pretty cute though. And yes I stayed right at my 10 dollar total limit!

Jack trying to sneak a peak at the finished products!

Mack's in the middle!

Andrew works 1/2 day Fridays, so I got to spend the whole afternoon with my Honey! He came and picked me up and we drove up to Plano to have a birthday lunch at Cafe Express! Mmmm California turkey burgers and sweet potato fries...so good! After that we shopped around for a few hours and then headed back to the house. That night we met mom, dad, Abby, and Will at Fogo de Chao in Addison. I have always been wanting to try this place after hearing such wonderful things! We celebrated all the April birthdays in our family (mom, Andrew, and me!) It was such a fun and long dinner. We ate for over 3 hours! At one point, there was skewers of meat coming at us from all different directions! So delicious! I received some very sweet gifts including an awesome chip and dip from crate and barrel, an "E" coffee mug, a yummy smelling 

candle, and money! Husband and I are putting our birthday money together to purchase a new entertainment center for the new tv! Mom made this awesome red velvet cupcake cake for dessert! All in all, it was a wonderful 26th birthday spent with the most important people in my life!

Saturday, we drove with the "other Herrells" to Azle to celebrate Easter early and all the March/April birthdays. I got to ride in the back with this little cutie who entertained us most of the way!

After a delicious lunch of brisket, pasta salad, chips, and fruit made by Mama Herrell we packed up all the adults and all the kids and headed to the new park nearby!

Jonathan and Josh

Sweet Emmy and her PawPaw

Mack took it all in from his stroller!

After we got back that night, husband and I rented some movies and enjoyed them on the new tv! We gave the cats their Easter Baskets and enjoyed watching them play with the contents for hours! It's funny, b/c they both seemed to know which one was theirs. I specifically picked things for each of their baskets that I knew what they would like. Jack took off running with his feathered mouse toy and Lilly went to town with his chirping bird! Then they had an Easter supper of wet(gross, but they love it!) cat food. Man, I really need to have some kids. This is borderline obsessive!

Easter morning was cold and rainy! We got up and went to church and arrived 40 minutes late!!! I was so embarrassed! Turns out, the Easter service started at 9 instead of 9:30 like usual! I don't know what happened that we didn't know about it...we went last week and didn't hear anything about it! I tried not to get upset that we missed pretty much the whole service, but the important part was that we were there and felt the joy of the fact that HE IS RISIN!!!!! Great music at the end too! I love our church! I had to work Easter night (boo!) so we came home and cooked a spaghetti lunch and then I went back to sleep!

I gave up cokes for lent(no I'm not Catholic. Just wanted to participate) and finally had my first one yesterday in over 40 days! It was actually not that great! I am going to keep sticking to water and the occasional sprite if I can!

Sonoma Salad

My mom sent me some great salad recipes from Will's mom. We had this salad at Will's graduation party. I made the sonoma salad a few weeks ago, and it is sooo good! I ate it for a week straight!

Dressing...

1 c sugar

2 tsp dried mustard powder

2 tsp salt

3/4 c white wine vinegar

3 Tbs grated onion with juice

2 c vegetable oil

3 Tbs poppy seeds

Place onion in food processor and process until liquid. Measure out 3 Tbs and discard the rest. Add sugar, mustard, salt, and vinegar. Turn on machine and add the oil in a slow steady stream until the dressing becomes thick. Add the poppy seeds.

Candied Nuts...

2 large egg whites

1 c brown sugar

4 c pecans or walnuts (i used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk egg whites. Fold in brown sugar. Fold in nuts. Stir to coat well and transfer in a single layer to a greased cookie sheet. Bake in oven for a bout 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned. Allow to cool and break into small clusters.

To finish the salad, mix together...

Fresh spinach or chopped romaine

3 cups cored, seeded, and diced red apples

1 1/3 c crumbled blue cheese

1 c craisins

candied nuts

your wonderful homemade salad dressing!

Enjoy!!!

We are all going to Fogo de Chao tomorrow to celebrate the many April birthdays in our fam. None of us have ever been there before, and can't wait to try it! Bring on the many kinds of meats!!!

New Stuff!

Lots of new stuff going on around here!!!

Mack Thomas turned 6 months old on 4/5/09 and he has been showing off his new skills including rolling over and eating baby food at his big boy highchair!

I wanted a new wreath for our front door (seeing as I just took our Christmas one down last month) for spring. I really wanted one at Williamsonoma.com, but it was 60 bucks! I went to Hobby Lobby and got all the crafts to make one myself! Our new wreath only cost about 20 bucks! The best part...I made it myself!

Little Sierra enjoying her new digs!

We made a spur of the moment purchase with our tax refund and got a new TV! The boys also got a new toy out of the box and played for hours in it. You should have seen husband and I trying to lift it on top of the entertainment cabinet. Pretty interesting and I thought I was going to drop it at one point! We are going to eventually get a new tv stand and mount it on the wall. Watching TV on this thing is a whole new experience!

Lilly enjoying his new sleeping area where the old tv was.

For my co-worker Claire's baby shower I made some red velvet cake balls and chocolate chip cheese ball dip in honor of her new baby boy coming this May! Husband got to lick the beaters. It reminded me of when I was a kid and my sister and I always got to lick the beaters of whatever our mom was making at the time.

This cat is crazy!

Showing off some of his new tricks from the last few weeks!