Squash, zucchini and onions oh my! (corny, I know)

We have a garden! Thanks to Cole and his mom. It has tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, onions, squash, zucchini, jalapenos, mint, basil and cilantro. Here's a picture...



Below are some pictures of Garrett enjoying his new swing, thanks to "Kiki" and "Pops!"












And a video of Garrett eating his Puffs, as requested by Kellie. It's not the best, but it was the best I could get out of him at the time. It was taken on 4/25/09.

What a weekend!

And by the title I mean, we pretty much did nothing productive, unfortunately. Well, Cole did good, he got a garden planted. Other than that we didn't do any of the things I had mentioned before... we didn't get to go to Calley's shower. Garrett had a hand in that. We also didn't go to Lance and Taylor's. We were just too tired. We stayed home Saturday night and I made dinner and Sangria, really good by the way... I'll post the recipe. And we watched the Wrestler. I found the movie a little boring.

Tonight me and Garrett are going to go to Red Lobster for a little surprise get-together for one of my mom's friends. It will be nice for him to see everybody.

I finally added a profile pic, I'll put one of Cole, Garrett and I when we can finally take a good family picture. This always turns out to be alot harder than it needs to be.

Here is a picture of the Sangria(it doesn't look as good as it did lastnight when it was fresh) Cole even really liked it! It's nice and refreshing.


Sangria
from http://singforyoursupperblog.com/

1 bottle of red wine(I used Menage a Trois)
3-4 cups of Ginger Ale
2 blood oranges, sliced(I had to use reg. navel oranges)
2 lemons, sliced
strawberries(to your liking)
1 pkg. of frozen peaches, thawed

Mix everything together and chill until ready to serve!
I also added a shot of orange vodka, you couldn't even tell.

Poor baby :(

Garrett has had a rough couple of days. Wednesday he fell and hit his face on a handle of a dresser and ever since then he's been prone to accidents. I swear someone's going to call CPS on us. His face has about 3 scratches and 2 bruises. It's because he's pulling up on things and not having the best balance. He's kind of getting the hang of trying to sit down softly, but not just yet... obviously. Not alot has gone on the past couple of days, we've just been working and hanging out.

Tonight we are going to Joe T Garcia's. I swear that's like our second home. I feel like we are always up there. It's the only mexican food Cole ever wants. My mom is watching Garrett for us, thank goodness. I just really do not enjoy taking him out to eat with us. It's hard to just relax. But tonight should be fun, we are going with Kellie, Katie, Lance, Taylor and Sara. I can't get too wild and crazy(because usually I do, yeah right) because we have a baby to come back to and I have to work in the morning.

Tomorrow we are going to Plano for Calley's baby shower. I can't believe it's already almost time for her to have her baby! I can't wait to see her little belly. Then tomorrow night we are going to Lance and Taylor's. I think quite a few people are going. I have to bring Garrett along. That's ok though because my friends hardly ever see him because I always get a babysitter when I hang out with them. I think Kellie will be the most happy about this. :)

Well, gotta go get little man, he just woke up from a 2 hour nap!

I'll leave you with these pictures of my battered and bruised baby :(

Two years and counting...

Yesterday was mine and Cole's 2 year anniversary. We decided we would just celebrate this coming Saturday by going to a nice sushi restaurant in Dallas since we will already be in the area that day. Cole usually plays tennis Tuesday nights anyways so it was pretty much out of the question for us to do anything. When he got home around 4:00 he gave me a card and Reeses peanut butter cups(my fav. candy). The card was very sweet and at the bottom said "Surprise!! We have reservations at Eddie V's tonight at 8:30 and my mom is watching Garrett all night..." I was so surprised! I really didn't expect anything except maybe a card. We have been wanting to try that restaurant for awhile now because we both love seafood. I guess I hadn't had a nice surprise in quite sometime because it totally made my day and we had so much fun. If you like seafood, you WILL NOT be disappointed! It was SO good, pricey but good. We got there early so we could sit in the lounge and listen to the live music. And of course I have to tell you what we had to eat... we started out with a dozen raw oysters, then I had a cup of lobster/shrimp bisque and for the entrees Cole had surf and turf(filet and lobster) and I had 2 lobster tails(I could only eat 1 though! Needless to say I'll be having another good dinner tonight)and for sides we had asparagus with hollandaise sauce and scalloped potatoes. Then for dessert we had banana's foster. Cole wanted creme brulee but we always get that so I talked him into the banana's foster. He loved it of course! :) I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary, everything was perfect!!

Here are a few pictures






Garrett is getting so fun! I love this age. He's got such a little personality. He's all over the place now and pulling up on EVERYTHING! He's such a sweet little guy. I love him more and more each day.

A video and a recipe!

Here is a little video from lastnight. I forgot to post it with my last post.


And this is a recipe I made Friday night. It's salsa chicken. Cole said he loved it. He went on and on about how good it was. I thought it was really good, but didn't love it. I definitely recommend it because it is SO easy and doesn't call for many ingredients.

CROCKPOT SALSA CHICKEN
from http://lovestoeat.wordpress.com/

-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-1 cup of salsa
-1 package taco seasoning
-1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (condensed) or cream of chicken soup(I used cream of chicken)
-1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

Directions:
Add chicken to crockpot.
Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken.
Mix salsa and soup; pour over chicken.
Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
At this point after the chicken is cooked, shred it with a fork (it's so easy, it just falls apart)
Stir in sour cream and then serve.

*I tried it with both rice and tortillas. I definitely recommend tortillas. In my opinion I think it makes really good chicken meat for fajitas so next time I will eat it in a tortilla with sour cream, guac., cheese and salsa. It would be awesome like that!

"Take me out to the ballgame..."

We had a good week lastweek. We kept pretty busy for the most part. Katie and Landen came over and visited with us, I ate sushi with my parents, we went to the Ranger's game with Taylor and Lance, and today(Cole's 24th bday) we spent most of the day hanging out relaxing.

Earlier today me, Cole, Garrett, my mom, my brother, Brock, Trish, and Dawn(my mom's co-worker) went on a good little walk. Well, Brock rode his bike and Garrett lounged in the stroller. It was such a nice day. I also felt good because I got up this morning and went to spin class so I had my work-out done for the day. I've been trying to work out 6 days a week, but it doesn't always happen. Yesterday I ran/walked 5 miles on the treadmill. I'm trying to build up my endurance. I hate running but I know it's so good for dropping the lbs. So far I'm just at 3 miles of straight running, but I really haven't tried to do more. I'm at my pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm kind of stuck there. Ideally I would like to lose 3-5 more pounds. Enough about that though! It definitely doesn't help when we ate the way we ate tonight. Well, I just kind of picked at stuff but Cole, he ATE! haha. He grilled cream cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon and a steak, and I made him a baked potato and baked beans. The jalapenos were awesome, dipped in ranch of course! :)

We had alot of fun at the Ranger's game lastnight! It was nice to see Taylor, I hadn't seen her in quite a while. She's always busy coaching. After the game we went to Papa G's for awhile. It was nice to see everybody. But I don't know what we would do without Kim(Cole's mom). She watched Garrett for us, as she does all the time it seems! She makes it possible for us to still have "us" time which is nice. It's much needed that's for sure!

A couple of pictures from the game






Here are a few pics of the boys playing earlier tonight...

The tax man cometh

Yesterday was a good day. I'll give you a very summarized version.

We(Garrett and I) woke up a little earlier than usual, 7:45 to be exact and played all morning and got ready for the day. Then I dropped him off with Kim(Cole's mom) at her school while me, Cole, my dad, and bro all went and got our taxes done. Last minute, I know. We walked out of that building alot happier than when we went in! If only it could be like that every year. When I picked Garrett up, Kim told me he had so much fun watching her students(1st graders) and said some of the teachers were calling him "super baby" because he seems so advanced for his age. Of course this makes me the overly proud parent, haha. He was ready for a nap when we got home, to say the least. I went to work for a little bit, came home and Chase(Cole's bro) was here from Boston. We got ready and went to Miguelitos for dinner with the family. Garrett did very well. He especially loves Kyle(Cole's oldest bro). He loved his hat too! When we got home Cole FINALLY put together the highchair(pictures below). I got caught up on Biggest Loser because last week my DVR decided not to record it so I had to wait until lastnight to see it online. Then I watched lastnight's episode while doing the elliptical. It was a Biggest Loser night! Now, I'm looking forward to the Rangers game on Saturday with Taylor and Lance and Cole's bday on Sunday!

On a side note, I used to be really good about writing in my diary and this blogging thing kind of reminds me of doing that! I probably won't be as persistent as I used to be, but I'll try my best!

Sitting in his highchair for the first time

Helping dad with the tray

Such a big boy!

Yum... squash

Stuffed Bell Peppers(my grandmother's recipe)

What you will need:

-2 green bell peppers
-1 lb. ground meat
-3-4 pieces of bread
-1 onion
-1 clove of garlic
-2 cans of canned tomato sauce(15oz.)
-butter(to spread on each side of bread)
-cheese(to melt on top of peppers)

Directions:

-Cut bell peppers in half vertically. Take stem off and clean out, making sure there are no seeds left.
-Place peppers in large skillet with 1/2 cup of water. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes(depending on how tender you want your peppers to be, I like mine tender!)
-While peppers are simmering, make the meat mixture in med. skillet/pan- brown meat, add chopped onions and garlic.
-Butter bread and brown in small-med. skillet/pan on both sides.
-Tear bread into pieces and add to the meat mixture along with the tomato sauce.
-Pour a little of the water out of the large skillet with peppers in it, leaving enough to simmer the peppers for the remainder of time.
-Fill the halved peppers with meat/sauce mixture. Pour the mixture around the peppers as well.
-Let simmer 45 minutes, covered.
-Add cheese( I just use velveeta slices, but you can use any kind of cheese you like) on top of the peppers the last 5-10 minutes of cooking.

Serve with rice, couscous, or mashed potatoes! Enjoy!

New to this!

Well, my mother-in-law insisted I start a blog so she doesn't have to get a Facebook to see pictures of Garrett... so here I am! I'm blaming it all on her, but really, I was already contemplating starting one. I am still kind of getting the hang of this too, so I'm sure I've screwed up somewhere. When I have more time I'll really sit down and mess with it.

Nothing too exciting to tell you about right now. I've just been taking care of Garrett (my 7 month old son) and working VERY part-time. Cole's been working alot lately! He's been working 6 or 7 day weeks. He works from my parents house so it's not like he's cooped up in an office, he would probably disagree with me on that one though.

I might go ahead and post a few recipes since I've been in cooking mode lately. I love reading tried and true recipes so those are the only ones I will ever post. And not to brag, but I think I have pretty good taste in food! Oh, and a few pics of my little man too of course! :)