Good Times Bowling, Part II

Here we are a couple weekends ago reliving the good ol' days of Palmer League bowling--I had to sit this one out because I dislocated my shoulder :(


Derek Bowling:


Amy & April:


I was really just along for the Strawberry Daiquiri afterwards ;-). After bowling we went to Los Agaves for some yummy drinks and mediocre Mexican food. Good Times.

Also, it was April's birthday that day. Happy Birthday April!

Good Times Bowling, Part 1

As previously blogged about, Brett & I played on a Palmer bowling league Thursday nights this winter. Here are some pictures (shamelessly swiped off of Amber's Facebook-Thanks Amber!).

Me and my favorite bowling ball (I tracked that baby down every week!)


Waiting on Nate to bowl... I look so patient don't I? :-P


C'mon Nate


Me & Red (Amber)


Me & the Huz:


The Pin Pals:


We're trying to get a shot of the back of our shirts here, but it looks more like we are just showing you our butts... Nate in particular.

Our New House ♥

As promised (I told you I'd get to it eventually) here are the much anticipated pictures of our new place.

The Front of the House:


The Backyard:


Our Kitchen:





Our Living Room:







Our Beachy Bathroom:


Brett's Office:



Our Bedroom:


The Sunroom (Still kind of a work in progress):

Brett & Amy's BBQ

Last Saturday we had some people over to our house for our first real get-together at our new place. Here we are playing some Ladder Golf & Cornhole:


Us (That's Clay's house behind us):


Amy & April:


Good Times Playing Apples to Apples:


April & I right before we just about crashed on the couch:


If you would like to see more pictures of BBQ fun you can go here.

7-Up Cake

One of my personal goals in life has been to make Martha Stewart herself want to bow down to my domestic diva-ness. I think that I may have come one step closer with this 7-up cake. The recipe was taken from one of my new favorite blog reads, Homemade By Jill.

Recipe:
3/4 lb. butter, softened
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons lemon extract
3/4 cup 7-up soda

Glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon milk.

1. Cream the butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
3. Add flour and lemon extract
4. Fold in 7-Up
5. Pour in to well greased 12 cup bundt tube or pan
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 75 minutes
7. Mix lemon glaze ingredients together and drizzle on when the cake is completely cooled.

And Voila!

Mmmmm... Chili

Tonight Brett & I decided to have chili one last night before the weather gets warm and we will want to avoid hot and hearty food in all its forms. This is by far the best vegetarian chili recipe I have ever found, and I thought it was too good not to share. For those of you who are fans of meat, this also makes a great base that you could add meat into.

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tbsp. minced jalapeño pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz. can chili beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup canned corn
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper and garlic. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Spoon vegetables into slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook on low 4 to 5 hours. Garnish with cheese and sour cream, if desired.

Here is the delicious end result:


NOTE: I got a little over excited (or maybe just distracted) and dumped the veggies right into the crock pot without cooking them in the skillet first. While it isn't preferred, I just wanted to let you know that if you do it this way the chili will still turn out just fine. :-)

Oh Yeah, Yard Work...

Whew! That was close... we almost forgot what yard work is!

Now that the weather is warming up, and the threat of snow has pretty much passed (*fingers crossed*) it was time to clean up the yard, especially since we are having a BBQ at our house next weekend. Here is my hubby raking up the leaves...he even has a smile on his face!

I dislocated my shoulder earlier this week, so I was not able to partake in the leaf-raking. As you can imagine, I'm really pretty broken up about it. :-P

Sorry babe!

P.S. BBQ @ our house on the 19th @ 4:00. If you are reading this and are within driving distance (or even if you're not) you should stop by!

Moose's Spot

It looks like our friend Moose has a new favorite place in the world. I think he is really enjoying the bounty of windows in our new house.

It's That Time of Year Again

One thing that I love about this time of year is all of the wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables that come into season. I didn't realize how fortunate Southern Californians are when it comes to having fresh yummy produce year round. We're not so lucky here in Iowa, so this weekend Brett and I took advantage of all of the great fresh produce at our local supermarket. Now I am just counting down the days until our local farmer's market starts up!

30 Days- No Repeats

I think that Rachael Ray has a book or a show or something with that title, and that was my goal this morning. Lately, Brett & I feel like we eat the same five meals all the time. Bound and determined to come up with 30 days of meal ideas without repeating a thing, I sat down this morning with a pad of paper and a stack of cookbooks.

An hour and a half later I had 12.

If anyone has any delicious, easy, and meat-free meal ideas please share!

Rollerblading Adventure

Today I went rollerblading for the first time in a looooooong time. I thought that it could be a really fun way to stay in shape this summer, especially with our proximity to the bike path here in Davenport.

Well, it was MUCH HARDER than I remember it being as a kid. The good thing about it is that it forced me to use muscle groups that I forgot I had. However, my rollerblading adventure was not completely without incident. I am not sure if it is my right rollerblade or my right leg that is retarded (quite frankly, it could be either) but for one reason or another I COULD NOT keep my right rollerblade up. Every time I tried to skate it would fall over to the right side. I'm sure I was quite the spectacle to passers-by.

When Brett gets home from Chicago tomorrow (by the way, Brett's in Chicago) I am going to have him help me to asses the situation. One thing that you may not know about me is that I can be pretty shameless when it comes to returning things to the store. Not quite as shameless as those people who wear shoes for a year and then return them to Nordstrom, but if I think something is defective, I'm not keeping it. If Brett thinks (as I do) that it is a retarded rollerblade and not user error, those babies are going right back to Target.