Cook for the Cure

Melissa, a good friend of mine from church, passed along the Cook for the Cure plate to me last Sunday. If you were like me and have not heard of this before, let me tell you how it works: 1. Fill the cute plate with one of your yummy culinary creations. 2. Pass the plate and yummy creation to a friend or loved one. 3. Register the plate online at CookfortheCure.com/PassthePlate. 4. Have your friend or loved one repeat steps 1-3. Each time someone passes the plate and registers it online, KitchenAid donates $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Is that not an AWESOME, AMAZING, WONDERFUL (and any other fabulous word you can think of) idea?!?

Here is the plate of baked goodness that Melissa gave to me.
And here is the plate of deliciousness (hopefully!) that I'm passing along to one of my best friends, Saradee, who loves to bake!
First of all, I know I need to work on my "Bake it Pretty" skills. Now for the 2nd most important information in this blog: the RECIPE.

Pretzel Turtles or a.k.a. Turtles for Ta-tas (ha!)
(found at allrecipes.com, but I adapted it)

Pkg of Dove Chocolate Caramel Candies
Pkg of White Chocolate Chips
Small amount of Crisco
Pkg of Snyder's 'Snaps' Pretzels
Pkg of Pecan halves
Red Food Coloring (optional)(Don't mind Edward. He likes to watch me bake. HA!)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place pretzels on cookie sheet.
3. Unwrap Dove candies, and place one on each pretzel.4. Put in oven, and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Take out of oven, and gently press a pecan half on each chocolate.6. Chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
7. Melt white chocolate chips in microwave (I used a cup for about 35 pieces of candy) with a tiny bit of Crisco in 30 second intervals until all melted.
8. If you wish, add a tiny bit of red food coloring, and drizzle over turtles. (I put the icing in a plastic baggie, and cut a small hole in the corner to make it easier to drizzle.)
9. Chill in the refrigerator until the icing cools and hardens.
10. Enjoy and share with friends and loved ones!

Runza for Robertsons

A friend of mine posted a blog a few weeks ago that included a recipe for Runza casserole (You can read about it here.) It sounded yummy (and after reading it, it sounded super easy to make, too), so I decided to cook it for our little family. What a great decision because it was super delicious! Thanks, Deanna, for sharing so that my family could enjoy it, AND so that I could pass it along to family and friends! (Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it already, Chad got me a new camera for our anniversary--doesn't it make the casserole look mouth-watering?!

Layered goodness waiting to be baked.

Covered in crescent rolls, and headed to the oven...
Finished product. Y.U.M.M.Y.

And here is the recipe:

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef

1/2 head of cabbage

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 cans crescent rolls

1 cup shredded cheese

1.Preheat oven to 400.
2.Brown beef and drain.
3.Chop cabbage and add to ground beef; cook until cabbage is tender, add salt & pepper (and I always season with garlic salt, too).
4.Add cream of mushroom soup.
5.Press one can of crescent rolls into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
6.Spread beef mixture on top of the rolls.
7.Sprinkle cheese on top and top with other can of crescent rolls.
8.Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Hope you enjoy it as much as Chad, Chalin, and I did!

Chalin's Summer Favorites

Here are just a few of Chalin's favorite things to do this summer.

1. Stickers! Notice all the stickers on his shirt?

2. The Pool--whether it is being thrown in the air, jumping off the diving board, or just plain swimming...he loves it all!

3. Popsicles--need any other explanation?

4. Playing in the sand!

5. Pretend Play--dressing up as a firefighter, construction worker, cowboy, or better yet, all 3 at the same time!

6. Being tickled...especially by Daddy!

7. Park--firetruck, swings, slides, and anything else at the park!

8. T-ball--hitting, running the bases, throwing and catching the ball with all of his new t-ball stuff! Can you even imagine how happy Chad is?!

What are your sweet kiddos enjoying this summer?

7th Anniversary FUN

Chad and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on June 14, 2010. We started out by going to a local winery off of HWY 9. Neither one of us had ever been to one before, so we thought we would try it out. I'm glad we did, because it was a nice, fun experience.

(*please ignore my super shiny forehead.)

Then, we went to eat dinner at Yamato's Sushi Steak House. The food was super yummy! After that, we decided to go to Hey Day. It was SO much fun! Chad finally persuaded me to play laser tag, and I really enjoyed it, although we were the only non-teenagers in there. Chad and I got split up, and the young-ins on my team wanted to know, "Who is that OLD guy? He is really good!" They were obviously talking about Chad--I couldn't decide if the statement was hilarious or a little sad that they considered us "old people." HOWEVER, they only mentioned Chad being the old guy....so, I'm still young! :) After laser tag, we played miniature golf--oh, and just so I don't have to hear about this later, yes, Chad won at laser tag and miniature golf...

Next, we played a few games of Deal or No Deal. Here is a picture of Chad sitting down to play. I believe he won like 6 tickets or something. Haha.

...and here is me posing with my 100, yes 100 tickets that I won on Deal or No Deal.

Here we are posing with our Peach Wine-A-Rita that we made.
Happy 7 years, Chad. I love you!

Happy Father's Day!

Here are just a few pictures from Father's Day. Chalin loves his Daddy and all of his "grandpas" so much, and we are very blessed to have all of them in our lives.

Chalin working hard on making gifts for Grandpa John, Grandpa Jeff, and Pops.

Swimming with Daddy and Ducky in his new life jacket.

Two of my favorite boys sharing a sweet moment

Daddy teaching Chalin how to swim...he is the best teacher!

Super SCARY for Mommy=Super FUN for Daddy & Chalin

Chalin got Daddy some t-ball stuff for Father's Day so they can start practicing.

Super tired boy after a fun filled Father's Day.

I know it's a little late, but Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing fathers in our lives. We love and appreciate every thing that you do for us.

Happy Summer...

......AND HAPPY EATING! I love to eat, so of course I'm not going to let the first week of summer go by without writing a post about some of my favorite summery foods right now. Yum, yum, yum!

1. Thomas Bagel Things "Everything": I had these for the first time on Father's Day weekend at my in-laws, and they are great. I'm not even a big bagel eater, but I love these. I just bought some yesterday and have already eaten a sandwich for dinner and for lunch today. I mean, look at the picture below--does that sandwich not look delicious or what?!



2. Simply Lemonade with Raspberry: First of all, if you haven't tried any of the "Simply" products, shame on you! I'm already a big fan of the Simply Lemonade, Limeade, and Apple Juice, but this is my new favorite. It doesn't taste fake or too sweet like most store bought lemonades. It goes great with the sandwich above, too.
3. Dancing Iguana Spicy Guacamole: Chad requested that I buy some guacamole on my next trip to the grocery store. I love guacamole, but I'm a little picky. Some that I have tried are too smooth, not salty or seasoned enough, or just plain gross. Lucky for me (and for Chad), I found some delicious guacamole on my first try! I know that it says "spicy," but it's really not that spicy at all--BUT if you don't like things with a hint of spice to it, this brand also makes a plain guacamole.


4. WarHeads Extreme Sour Popsicles: What kind of list of summery foods would this be without some kind of popsicles? I owe this fabulous find to our Aunt Debbie. She found these at the store and bought some for us. Let's just say all 10 popsicles were gone the next day. I wouldn't say they are "extremely" sour, but they are extremely tasty, especially the black cherry and watermelon flavors. Y-U-M. Oh, and the next time we went to the store, we bought 10 boxes (or I should say Chad thought it necessary to buy 10 boxes). Luckily, they are only a $1 a box.5. Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop (Butter) Mini Bags: Let me begin by saying that I used to eat the "Movie Theater Butter large bags every day pretty much and all by myself. I decided I needed to start trying to be a little healthier, so here is my solution to still being able to eat popcorn a couple of times a week. They still have a little flavor--not like the "light" butter or 94% fat free stuff. Also, Chad thinks I'm crazy and gross, but if you add a little sprinkle of lemon pepper and garlic salt, it really makes this popcorn tasty!

I wanna grow old with you...

Now for all of you that enjoy hearing/reading "love" stories, this one is for you. This is my personal "love" story....probably won't be the best you've ever read, but it still gives me the "giddy" feeling just thinking back to how it all began......

Back in the 8th grade a group of my friends and I went to watch Saving Private Ryan...why we picked that movie, I have no idea. I couldn't tell you anything about it to this day, and I obviously don't recall it being very interesting, at least not enough to watch it again; however, I will never forget that was the movie we chose to see at that particular time on that particular night. Why you might ask? Well, that was the night, that I first saw the "boy" that I would later fall in love with and marry. I remember telling my best friend Jill that night, "He's sooooooo cute! I want to marry him someday!" I found out all that I could about him besides the obvious--his gorgeous green eyes and dark brown hair--he played baseball and attended Ada High School, and was a year older than me. I (probably) bugged my friend that night at the slumber party, constantly bringing him up, wondering if I would ever run into him again, wondering if there was a way to find his number, and if we did, if either of us would have enough guts to call it. The next night, I went home and even wrote about it in my diary....yes, I was one of those girls (and yes, I still have it!). Eventually, I stopped obsessing about it so much; if it was "meant to be" it would be....I secretly kept wondering if I would see him again and if I did, would I even recognize him? Once again, I had only seen him one night at the movies for approximately 5-10 minutes--and we didn't even talk...he had no idea that I even existed!

A few months (maybe?) later, I was at a Junior High cheerleader sleepover at my friend April's house...it just so happened that one of the girls knew Chad and had his number...I'm not sure how much persuading I had to do, but I got Jill to make the phone call. Unfortunately, his dad answered, and said he was at the movies. I was thinking, "Man, this boy likes the movies!" and "Bummer" that I made the attempt and it didn't work. Once again, I thought, "Well, if it was meant to be, then it would happen."

Well, about 2 years later, who walks into our church with a mutual guy friend? Yep. Chad. After that, it wasn't long before he started attending regularly with his girlfriend at the time. I kept thinking, "Okay, this was the guy that I "knew" I wanted to marry in 8th grade....so God why are you bringing him back into my life when he's with someone else?" WELL, as you all should know, God has his plan and his timing for everything. I'm not sure exactly when Chad finally realized I existed, but I'm sure glad he did....even if it took him a lot longer to realize than it did me. :)

We started dating when I was 16, got engaged when I was 17, and we married when I was 19. Yes, I know, I know. I was so young; I've heard that more times than I can count. But when you know, you know, and that's all I can tell you. After graduating college, getting big boy/girl jobs, and being married for almost 5 years, we were blessed with a sweet handsome little boy, Chalin Cale. Today, June 14, we are celebrating our 7th Wedding Anniversary. Where has the time gone? I love you Chad, more today than when I first saw you at the movies in the 8th grade. More today than when you asked me to marry you after Cheerleading State when I was seventeen. More today than our wedding day. More today than EVER, and I can't wait to grow old with you. "Grow old with me. The best is yet to be."

And now for a few verses from one of "our" songs....

Let's Stay Together--Al Green

I'm, I'm so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
Is alright with me
'Cause you make me feel, so brand new
And I want to spend my life with you

Let's, let's stay together
Loving you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

A few of my favorite love songs:

1. Let's Stay Together--Al Green
2. Grow Old With You--Adam Sandler
3. You are the Best Thing--Ray Lamontagne
4. A Page is Turned--Bebo Norman
5. When You Say Nothing At All--Keith Whitley

p.s. I'm in search for old pictures to scan from when we first started dating and our wedding day. As soon as I can scan them, I'll post them!