Sunday Fun Day!

Can you tell the weather has finally been nice up here? We have been doing everything we can to be outside and enjoy this beautiful spring. It is still a bit chilly but it's loads better than the temperatures we were having a month ago.

Today Doug took off work. Unfortunately his store was one of 7 in the entire company that was open. We drove down to McLean, VA to go to Great Falls state park. The drive there was a sight to see. Between the woods coming to life with springtime, the windy road, and the mansions, we could have never made it to the park and still had a great time driving around the area.

The sun was shinning and it could not have been a better day to be at the park. There are walking/biking/horse trails, picnic areas, and great overlooks of the falls on the Potomac. The pictures do not do the falls justice. They were massive! Even though the park was packed, the falls drowned out everyone. It was peaceful and definitely filled my need to be outside in the sun. I would love to go back again soon and have a picnic.

Happy Birthday... a month later...

So our friend Brentin finally turned 21 in March. His schedule is harder to get on than the President's. Between being a full time student, work, his business adventures, and a college kid's social life, it took us a month to take him out for his birthday. We started off the night at a new restaurant in Annapolis (that's two in one weekend!), Ram's Head Bar and Grill. Ram's Head is more known for their live music but this location is a small restaurant/bar. We have drove past many times and they are always packed. I figured this would be a great place to start the night off with good food, music, and baseball.

After dinner we went to the Cantina to shake our rumps. (Please see previous blogs for Cantina descriptions.) It was 80's night and they had a live band called Rubik's Cube. Poor baby Brentin was lost the entire night. We spent more time on the country side since it was less crowded. I tried to get the boys to line dance with me but they wouldn't do it. (Side note - you know it's going to be a great night when you hear Sweet Home Alabama on the way to eat AND when you get to the bar!) We had a blast and came very close to closing the place down. We hope to fit in Brentin's schedule again soon so we can do it again!

Hush puppies!

Friday Doug was off and I had asked work to take a half a day off. Since I worked over every day and it was Good Friday, I ended up only having to work 2 hours. Most people would have not gone in at all but I am dedicated... and I had a couple of things I had to get done. :)

Our day started out meeting one of Doug's old co-workers for lunch in Annapolis. We decided to go to a new and highly recommended restaurant called Cantler's. It's right on the Severn River which feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. Their specialty is, of course, soft shell crab but it is expensive! We opted for the crab cake sandwich and snow crab legs. My most favorite thing besides being right on the water is the hush puppies! They are so hard to find up here and they were soooo good! They did not skimp on the portion size so I have a very nice size to go box in my fridge full of hush puppies!

After lunch we went and walked off our lunch at the outlets! Nothing like a little retail therapy to help your food digest!

A week in one blog

It's been awhile since I have had the time to sit down and blog. We have had a lot going on the past few weeks. On the 6th Doug flew to Minnesooo-ta for work stuff. Auburn and I missed him very much but it was a nice and relaxing week at the house. I refused to cook the entire week. I just made frozen meals, sandwiches, or salads. I did 1 load of dishes the entire week (we do almost a load a day with the tiny dishwasher we have). It was GREAT! Had no trash to take out and laundry for only 1 person. It was as close to a vacation as I could get!

He was suppose to get back at midnight on Friday (11th) but his flight was delayed. I was not excited about picking him up at midnight; the new 2 am arrival about killed me. It was very odd leaving the house when everyone else was going home from the bars. Auburn and I struggled to stay up past 10 but we made it. She was so excited to go to the airport to pick him up. She about tore the door off trying to get to him when he came out. It was precious!

Saturday (12th) I slept in but Doug had to work. Luckily, he got off early so we went to Westminster, MD to pick up some car parts he ordered. While he and Ryan looked around at the auto store, I walked over to Tractor Supply to see if they had any raw hides for Auburn (trying to find ones made in the USA is very hard to do). The last time we were there they had doggies for adoption. If it wasn't for the crazy hoops you had to jump through to adopt I would have brought one home that day. Anyways, this time they had....

DUCKIES! They were so freaking cute. They had chicks too but Doug and I are more partial to ducks.

Luckily for Doug and Ryan, there was a furniture store across from the auto store. :) It was huge and had very nice stuff. I found two couches I am very interested in even though we went in looking for bedroom furniture. Of course, tweedle dee and tweedle dumb had to make some fun out of the boring furniture shopping. They found "man chairs" to kick back in while I shopped. Best part, Doug yelling across the store, "Hey babe, you could surfboard in this chair!" (If you don't know, don't ask...) The second best part was when the sales associate asked if I was with my "husband and his.... friend?" Ha! I should have told him we were from Utah but I think his eyes would have popped out of his head if I did.

For dinner we headed to Green Turtle for dinner. Unfortunately for them, they were not seating people because the kitchen was so far behind on orders. Yeah, the manager definitely got an email from me about that. I am guessing people didn't show up to work. I would have stayed and waited an hour on a table if I could have ordered an appetizer from the bar area but if I couldn't get any food for more than an hour I was going to pass out! So we went across the street to Red Robin. It was YUM! And a great end to a great day.

So excited!

My favorite Disney movie has been remade and is coming to theaters at the end of May. I have not been more excited for a movie since the last Twilight. Not a big Angelina fan (still holding strong to Team Jen) but she is perfect for this part. I will be dragging Doug to the theaters to see this one. So excited! Can't wait!

Spring!

What's that I see? Green grass, blooms, and a weather forecast with temperatures above 50 degrees with NO SNOW! I think it may actually be spring in Maryland! Woo hoo!

Doug's birthday

Last Monday it was Doug's 32nd birthday. We didn't do much this year. I took off work, we slept in, and then drove out to west Maryland to eat at Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was a little chilly still but the sun was out so it made a great day for a long drive. For dinner we ate at Bonefish with Ryan. 

I hope the highlight of his day was the homemade ice cream cake I made for him. Got the recipe from a girl at work and Doug loved it. 

It is really easy to make and very interchangeable. For example, you can add any of your favorite ice cream toppings or switch out the syrup for any flavor. And use no sugar added items for a more diabetic friendly cake. I think next time I am going to use flavored ice cream sandwiches (like Neapolitan) and add nuts. If I can find strawberry flavored ice cream sandwiches I would do that with fresh strawberries. Yum! 

What you need:

1 big box ice cream sandwiches

Cool Whip

Hot fudge (I used Hershey's syrup and it came out very yummy)

Any ice cream topping

All you have to do is layer; sandwich, cool whip, fudge. Then stick in the freezer. I was able to take it straight out of the freezer and eat it without having to let it thaw out for a second. Hope you enjoy!

I hope you had a great birthday Doug. Love you!