GJ's birthday

Happy Happy Birthday to my Momma!  Thank you for always being my #1 fan, my biggest supporter, my BFF, my go to person for it all and the woman, mom, GJ, wife I strive to be.  I love having you as my Mom but I love having you as Asher's GJ even more.  You spoil us all.

Here's our little "GJ" photo shoot from this morning..

"As is the mother, so is her daughter." Ezekiel 16:44

(I sure do hope so!)

GJ's birthday bundt

Since I'm totally addicted to cooking now, I decided to make my Mom a delicious cake for her birthday.  It.was.ah-mazing!!  So moist. Thanks MMM for the recipe.

Whatcha Need:

1 box of white cake mix

2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup water

4 eggs

hot fudge

whipped cream

sprinkles

cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a bundt pan with Pam.  Combine cake mix, puddings, oil, water and eggs.  Mix with an electric mixer.  Pour mix into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes or so.  Put cake onto serving dish.  Once cake has cooled, heat the hot fudge in the microwave for about a minute and the drizzle on top.  We then added sprinkles.  We let everyone add their own whipped cream and cherries to their individual piece instead of adding to the entire cake. 

My batter tester..  She actually helped me make the entire cake.  She's a wonderful little helper.

celebrating GJ's birthday

We celebrated GJ's birthday, that is coming up this week, all weekend long.  We all spent the past two days on the lake and eating like pigs.  Josie B and I made an oh-so-delicious cake for her and I will share that recipe very soon.  

We are too cool.  

Josie about to lick me..

Our youngest Captain to date, Asher.

Driving is a hard job.  Time to relax.

GJ tubing with Josie B.

Josie has a new make-up set.  We put make-up on each other.  She actually did a fairly decent job.

c25k, week 1

I've officially gotten off of the couch and stepped onto the track.  I'm over being tired and out of shape.  If you know me well, then you know that I am not a runner.  Not at all.  Not like my BFF who runs races all the time.  She just ran a 10 mile race.  I've tried in the past to run but I never do it for very long.  I've only ran one 5k and didn't make it through the entire race without stopping to walk.  Sad but true.  So I jumped on the Couch25k bandwagon.  

C25k is a 9 week program to help non-runners work their way up to being able to run 3.1 miles at the end of the 9 weeks.  Surely I can do this.

I have an Alzheimer's Walk coming up and I'm participating in the Race for the Cure for the first time this fall.  I have goals set and I'm ready to knock em' out of the park.

Here is a breakdown of how my week 1 went:

Tuesday was the first day.  That morning Asher started moving around in his crib about 8:30.  I jumped out of bed and got dressed.  No more than 5-10 minutes later I checked the monitor and he was back asleep.  I waited and waited and waited for him to wake up.  Finally around 10:30 he decided to grace me with his presence.  The sleeping machine slept for 14 hours.  I fed him breakfast quickly and then we finally made it out the door around 11:30.  We made it to the track and started the plan for Day 1.  I have the RunDouble app on my phone.  It is awesome!  The lady, who I've named Trudy the Track Master, tells me when to run/walk. I set my phone in the cup holder on the stroller and just waited for her orders.

Day 1 consists of a 25 minute session.  

5 minute brisk warm-up walk.

15-20 minutes of alternating walking and running.  Run for 60 seconds.  Brisk walk for 90.

5 minute cool down.

Day 1 was good.  I must admit I was pretty tired after the first few runs.  Pushing a stroller and running wasn't the easiest for this non-runner.  I'm hoping to run earlier in the morning from now on so that I don't get as hot.  But I'm not complaining about my little man sleeping in so late.

Day 2 consists of a 25 minute session.  

5 minute brisk warm-up walk.

15-20 minutes of alternating walking and running.  Run for 60 seconds.  Brisk walk for 90.

5 minute cool down.

Day 2 was surprisingly better.  I got Asher man up around 8:30, he sneezed and kinda woke up.  I ran in quickly to get him before he drifted back to sleep.  I did not want to run in the hot sun again.  We made it to the track around 9:30.  My legs were a little sore from Day 1.  Sad, I know.  I am that out of shape.  We did our session and it felt great outside.  It was windy and not super hot.  So far I am enjoying the training.  Ask me again here in a few weeks and my answer might be different. ha

Our routine, reading a little about Jesus then running in the sun.

Day 3 consists of a 25 minute session.  

5 minute brisk warm-up walk.

15-20 minutes of alternating walking and running.  Run for 60 seconds.  Brisk walk for 90.

5 minute cool down.

Day 3 was HOT.  Not fun.  We made it but I was burning up.  Asher on the other hand, loved every minute and was kicking his legs and talking like crazy.  Day 3 wasn't easy but it wasn't hard.  I wore the wrong socks so my ankles now have a little blister, great.  But I'm glad to have Week 1 done.  Bring on week 2.

josie got her ears pierced..

Josie B got her ears pierced!!  She was so brave and barely shed a tear.  So proud of her and I cannot wait to buy her lots of cute earrings.  She is always complimenting mine so I'm excited to buy her some of her very own.

new obsessions

Remotes and air vents.  A favorite in our house.  Asher Man still isn't up on his knees crawling but he is a slithering fool.  One of his favorite places to go is in between the couches and grab the remote control basket.  He also loves to take the edges off of his mat and eat those, see the green foam edge right beside him?

He loved the air taking his breath away.  I'm terribly afraid that he is going to be a dare devil and want to jump out of planes and do wild things to feel the wind against his face..

"I love this thing!"

chicken fettuccini alfredo

We love Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo at our house.  I order it often when we are eating out.  I've always wanted to make it but was never brave enough.  Until now.  It turned out good.  My parents ended up joining us for dinner and they approved.  We all agreed that it needed a little more of a kick.  I didn't use actual garlic cloves like the recipe calls for, I used garlic powder instead.  Maybe that was my problem.  My recipe is from allrecipes.com

Whatcha Need:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into squares

6 tablespoons butter

4 garlic cloves (I used garlic powder)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning 

1 pound fettuccini pasta

1 onion, diced

1 (8oz) packaged mushrooms (I didn't add any)

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

3/4 tablespoon ground white pepper

3 cups milk

1 cup half-and-half

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces shredded Colby-Monterey-Jack cheese

3 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced (I didn't use any)

1/2 cup sour cream

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until pasta is soft.  In a large skillet, over medium heat, combine chicken, 2 tbs butter, 2 garlic cloves and Italian seasoning.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside.  Remove from skillet and set aside.  Meanwhile, melt 4 tbs butter in the skillet.  Saute onions, 2 garlic cloves and mushrooms until onions are transparent.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper, cook for 2 minutes.  Slowly add milk and half-and-half, stirring until smooth and creamy.  Stir in Parmesan and Colby-Monterey-Jack cheese, stir until cheese is melted.  I then added my sour cream to the mix.  I drained my pasta and placed it back in the pot.  I added my chicken and then cream mix on top.  Done.  Now, enjoy!

weekend in wintergreen, tubing and zip edition

The Wintergreen Resort not only had great restaurants and beautiful hiking trails, it also had a Fun Center.  I'm not quite sure if it was actually called the Fun Center but I think it was the Something Center.  We went and played there for a little while on Saturday afternoon.  That's how we rewarded ourselves after all of the hiking.

There was a hill with a little tubing course down it called The Plunge.  All six of us linked our chains together and took "the plunge".  Summer had the camera and snapped some pictures of us on our way down.  We rode down together as a group of six twice and then a few times as couples.

Our first trip down the boys were up front and then we switched for the second ride.  I feel like we went a little bit faster with the boys ion the back.  We would top a hill and then the boys would slam into us and send us flying.  It was actually a pretty fun time.

Making our way back up the hill.

Trav and I decided to also do The Zip.  We had never zipped before and it was extremely cheap.

Geared up and ready to zip.

"Hi Mom."

I asked the guy what I could do to make myself go fast.  I wanted to beat Travis.  He said to hold on tight and keep my legs pulled up and tight.  I tried that.  I still got beat.

Zipping along..

Both activities were really fun but neither lasted long enough.  I'm ready to really go Zipping now.

This is the last of my Weekend in Wintergreen posts.  We had an amazing time at the resort.  We are already thinking about going again soon.  It's a beautiful place and I can only imagine what it will look like covered in snow.  I miss my friends.  Three days together isn't nearly enough.. Looking forward to our next trip!

If you are looking for a great vacation spot, google and book your stay at the resort now!  

weekend in wintergreen, dinner and drinks edition

{Once again, sorry for the blurry pictures! Darn landscape setting.}

After having pretty active days, at night it was all about food and fellowship.  Friday and Saturday night we went down the mountain to fill our bellies, enjoy the beautiful scenery and try out some new drinks.

Friday we went to Stoney Creek Bar & Grill for music and margaritas.  Both were excellent.

We took advantage of the natural setting and took a few prom posed pictures. 

Dinner was delicious!!

My BFF and I are the only cool  ones who are bloggers and up to date with Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Everyone else is too old and not cool enough for today's trends. ha

They thought we were crazy for constantly snapping pictures, especially when it was of our food.

Saturday night we went to the Wintergreen Winery.  If you are looking for a beautiful wedding spot..this is it.  Super cute.

After a little wine tasting inside, we made our way outside and took over a little picnic table.  We opened up a bottle or two that we just purchased.

I'm not sure how long we sat at our little table but I know without a doubt we were the loudest bunch there.  I'm sure the wild animals in the surrounding woods could hear our laughter.

Close to our table was a ridiculously huge plant.  Mike had to get a closer look..

We were surprised to discover that it was furry, from top to bottom.  I have no green thumb so I have no clue what type of plant that was.  But it was pretty cool.

My Dad.  Oh how I love him.  He is a weather stalkin', travel crazy, map reading fool.  Every time he and my my Mom would come to Memphis, he would have a map and brochures.  He would junk up my table with all of his nerdy things.  So since I've taken a few trips recently, I've made sure to get him brochures from all over.  I think I accumulated over 50 something from this trip!

He is going to be so excited!!

There was a little creek behind the winery.  Perfect for pictures if  my camera wasn't being stupid and making every picture blurry! Ugh. 

Some of my favorite people.

I caught this sweet little moment on camera.  They were walking back to the picnic table with their arms wrapped around each other.

Sparkle and Twinkle 

{our nicknames for many years, you don't want to know}

When we get together we tend to take lots of self-portraits and crazy photos.

Hello Mountain.

For dinner, we went to a cute place for dinner.  Wild Wolf.

Since it is a Brewery, Mike and Nick tested some new beers and the girls plus Trav enjoyed some wine.

We shade swapped for a while.

After dinner we decided to head back to the resort and relax in the hot tub for a while.  But not before stopping for a photo op.

Lauren and I are just alike, we will do anything for a good picture!  We understand each other when everyone else thinks we are insane.

Crazy crew on the mountain.  And I mean crazy.

Every piece of food we ate was incredible and each drink was refreshing.  I would call that a success.