Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday! I forgot to send a card, so I will make a public announcement that I have the best dad on earth and he deserves the happiest birthday ever...this year! 

I love you! 

Oh, what a day!

We take our Saturday's very seriously around these parts amd try to cram as much as humanly possible into our day. A typical (ish) Saturday:

We woke up to the toilet still running, presumably from last night. I couldn't let it be so we made an early morning trip to R.P Lumber for a new flapper thing (Alex did all of the plumbing and I have no idea what all happened in the bathroom). After the flapper was replaced the toilet was still running so we went to Lowes to get a new something or other that, after a big wet mess, did the trick. Alex only shouted profanities once but I'm pretty sure that was after I told him I needed to got to the bathroom.

After we plumbed we headed downtown to the farmers market. We got some fresh mint that I have no clue what to do with but, it smells good. We also got some meat rubs that are fantastic on grilled chicken. The lady felt sorry for us trying to wrangle Moose and stop him from eating her samples so we got a freebie creme brûlée dip packet too. Hopefully it's as good as her other mixes. (Check out my Instagram for a picture)

I was inspired by our trip to Lowes to paint a mirror that I indefinitely borrowed my parents gave us, so we went to Home Depot and Ace to check out their spray paint options. I went with green and I'm very happy with the result, it compliments the rest of our bedroom very well (check out my Instagram for a picture).

After we spray painted, we decided to really paint, with rollers and all! We started in the creepy corner of our basement, cleared out the junk, swept and Alex dry-locked. The plan for tomorrow is to hang peg board and organize the tools and all of our miscellaneous basement stuff, pictures to follow.

Alex mowed, I weeded the gardens and then did our laundry. We've been very busy and I feel quite accomplished! Now to sit back and relax....or go to bed!

Happy Saturday! 

Sangria + a printable

Nothing is better on a hot afternoon than an ice cold drink, especially when that drink is sangria! I got this recipe from my sister a while back and I have no idea where she got it, so I will give her the credit for creating it.

Ingredients:
-2 bottles of white or red wine (we like white and prefer Riesling)
-2 peaches, sliced
-1 orange, sliced
-6+ strawberries, sliced
-3/4 cup triple sec
- Ginger Ale (to taste)
- 1/4 cup sugar (dissolved in the wine/liquor mix)


Directions:
Mix everything, except ginger ale in a one gallon pitcher and chill. Add ginger ale and ice before serving and viola! you've got a pitcher of delicious sangria!


Chef's note:
You can half the recipe if you don't want to make as much. Also, when I make it, I usually just throw in some fruit that I have on hand. There's no wrong way to make this yummy sangria!

Enjoy and now for the printable!

Please enjoy responsibly and 21 and older!

Happy weekend!

Happy (belated) July 4th! I hope you enjoyed your celebrations and day off of work! We are enjoying our four day weekend and trying to squeeze everything into it that we can. Luckily, today is our day of rest and relaxation before we have to re enter the real world tomorrow.

First, a little bit of patriotism. I am very proud to be an American and to have all of the freedom's we usually take for granted. I'm glad that we can speak our minds regarding politics and religion (among other things) with no persecution. I'm very proud of our military, especially my big brother and that they defend our nation's freedom while sacrificing so much. I love you Jim and I'm ready for you to come home.

Moving on....
On the fourth, we went to Alex's uncle's pool party to play some water volleyball and to soak up some ray's. Unfortunately,  we underestimated the power of the ray's and are a little lobster-y. But, we had fun and I'm always glad to be invited over. Later that evening we headed to our friend's, Kyle and Lori, house to barbecue. We had a lot of fun but were eaten by mosquito's (despite our bug spraying efforts), so on top of our sunburn, we're speckled with bug bites. Neat. We saw no fireworks, but heard them and then called it a night. Happy Birthday America.

On the fifth, which I dubbed Abby Day, we slept in, Moose got his hair cut and a bath and  we watched the newest Batman movie which, I highly suggest. After sitting in our bat cave basement for a few hours, we decided to stretch our legs with a walk around the neighborhood. On our walk, we discussed the need for an adventure so, Alex and I invited ourselves to my sister's house to spend the night as a pit stop on our way to Starved Rock State Park (she was thrilled to have us last minute...I think).  We packed up, got our pup and drove north. When we got there Becky and Jared made us a wonderful dinner and we played with Ethan and Nora until bedtime.

On the sixth, we woke up, played with some lego's, loaded our car and headed to Ottowa for some adventure- Jared, Becky, Ethan and Nora in tow! When we got there we ate lunch and then hiked, climbed and played. We had a lot of fun and I even remembered my camera so there is evidence of our adventure!

We had a lot of fun and are really glad that the Collier crew decided to join us! Check out their blog to see some of their pictures from the trip!

Hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend!