Exploring Dallas

We have recently checked out a few places in Dallas that we have never seen/been before.  After living here 3+ years we finally:

Went to the Arboretum with Brett's parents.  The theme is Fairy Tale Castles at the moment.  Once again this is all from my phone so I don't have as many pics as I would like.  We got a membership there so if anyone comes to visit we will go.  It's beautiful!
We had dinner downtown with Nic and Licci at a sushi restaurant with this great view.  We never go downtown and have never had such a cool view of the Dallas skyline at night!

Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market for the first time. It was great.  We got a lot of really fresh fruits and veggies, some Ribeyes and a few hanging baskets for our front porch.  This was alot of fun and the prices are comparable or less than the grocery.  We are going to try to shop here more.

Saturday afternoon we went with Brooke and Clark to check out some of the new restaurant/bars that have opened.  We went to The Ice House, The Nodding Donkey and then had dinner at The Blue Goose.  This is a pic of a giant dog at one place.  We had such a good time with them!!  Glad they invited us to tag along :)


There are a few more places we have heard of here that we want to check out.  The Dallas Aquarium, The Art Museum and eating at "the ball" downtown are on the list!

Sent from my iPhone

T-shirt necklaces

Kari and I made these the other day from old t-shirts. All you do is cut a T-shirt in 1 inch strips, stretch the strips out, then get creative!

Creede, CO

We had an awesome time in Creede a few weeks ago with our friends Taylor and Codi. Codi's family has an old fishing camp that was built in the early 1900's. Everything there is almost all original which was really neat. We all had our own log cabins. The cabins had lights but no heat so we used the wood burning stove every night to keep warm.

One more try on this mobile blogger.
We went to see Ryan Bingham at an outdoor venue in Helotes. I think his music is called county rock. He has a very unique voice and we like all of his music.

Trying this new blog from my phone thing.
Ever heard of a Doggy Frappuccino? You can ask for one at Starbucks. Be careful though, they seem to be as addicting as the coffee! The girls loved it!

Graduations Galore

Our family has quite a few graduates to be proud of this year.

This beautiful girl graduated from UT and is headed to NYC as a part of the Teach For America program. I am very proud of her and so excited for her even though I will miss her like crazy! At least we will now have a great excuse to go to NY!

Congratulations Analeise!

This is her handsome brother and he is graduating from high school Saturday. He is headed to Blinn College in College Station. I love my life now, but it would be fun to go back to college! I told him he better have a blast but not forget the reason he is there!

Congratulations Neilster!

This guy is adding a few more letters behind his name this weekend by getting his MD. He is one of the most dedicated, hardest workers I have ever known. Even though I have watched him go through medical school after going through dental school, I still don't know how he has done it. It was tough on me and all I have done is sit back and watch! Only 3 more years of residency to go! That doesn't seem so bad after working on this goal for the last 10 years so far!

Congratulations Dr. Dr. Brett, DDS, MD!

Love all of you

Royal Wedding Brunch and Babysitting

As you can see by the title, it has been a while since I have blogged!

Kari hosted a Royal Wedding Brunch/Shopping Party

She cooked all kinds of yummy treats for brunch and had the owner of Re-Finery bring over some awesome clothes, shoes and bags for us to browse through.

We had a blast watching Royal Wedding coverage, sipping Mimosas and shopping!

Brett and I also got to babysit this adorable little thing that night.

This is Campbell. Her parents were in town for a wedding so we got to babysit! I don't think I have been responsible for a baby for this length of time...ever! She was an easy baby, but kept us so busy the entire night it seemed!

As much as I love the look of this, I can wait for it to be with a baby of ours for a lot longer!

(Dot is obviously not ready to share Brett either!)

Lighter Sesame Chicken

This recipe is from the Martha Stewart website. Here is the link.

Ingredients

3/4 cup brown rice- *I didn't cook it with rice.

• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks-* I used 1 chicken breast for the 2 of us.
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into large florets, stems peeled and thinly sliced
• *I also added edamame. We get small bags of edamame that you steam in the microwave. It is a great snack as well as delicious in recipes.

Directions

1. Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, and fill with 1 inch water; set aside for broccoli. Cook rice according to package instructions.

2. Meanwhile, make sauce: In a small bowl, combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites and cornstarch. Add chicken; season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and chicken. Return all the chicken to skillet; add reserved sauce and scallions, and toss to coat.

4. Meanwhile, place saucepan with steamer basket over high heat; bring water to a boil. Add broccoli, and cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve sesame chicken with broccoli and rice.

   
   

Salmon With Cucumber and Dill Sauce

We have been trying to eat healthy lately so that means no Pioneer Woman cooking for me :(!!

But, I have found some good recipes that are not full of cream and butter!

This recipe is from www.tastykitchen.com

Brett said it may be his new favorite way to cook Salmon.

Ingredients

¾ pounds Salmon Filet

• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 6 ounces, weight Plain Fat Free Yogurt
• ¼ cups Diced Cucumber
• ¼ teaspoons Dried Dill Weed
• 2 pinches Salt And Pepper

• Preparation

  For the Salmon:

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. I usually cover a medium sized cookie sheet with foil if it is not non-stick. You can really just judge the size of the pan based on the size of your salmon filet.

  Use a fork to pierce holes in salmon. Drizzle salmon with a thin layer of honey and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook salmon for roughly 20 minutes or until it flakes with a fork.

  For the Cucumber and Dill Sauce:

  Empty yogurt into small bowl. Finely chop 1/4 cup of cucumber and add it to the bowl . Add 1/4 teaspoon of dill weed to bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir all ingredients together and chill while fish is cooking. Then drizzle over your salmon and eat!

  
  

  We have also discovered fresh berries are great with a little Splenda and balsamic vinegar.