7.21.2008

My Historic Weekend!

*thanks to kt for my awesome header! she is a graphic designer at giant ideas and one of my best friends!

and thanks to my wonderful hubby for all the html coding!

please try to put up with my blog design construction as i am in need of a change. . . . to make it more "me".


This Weekend . . . . .

shane's mom & don (& majr, their dog) visited us! it was so great to see them all!

i made these awesome cookie dough cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting for them!! i got the recipe from my friend mase who got it from 52 cupcakes. yum! there are only 3 cupcakes left out of like 30! definitely recommend these cupcakes . . they might even be the best i've ever had. . . i mean . . cookie dough, cupcakes, and frosting in one!!?! you can't beat that.












it was all going well and the recipe even said "they may sink a little" . . .
















but what the heck?! i think this was a LOT more than a little . . . . .
















so anyways . . . i couldn't put THAT much frosting on one cupcake to cover the sinkhole . . . so i made "Sommer Cupcakes" and put a mini (baby) cupcake inside the regualr cupcake! i also added a little frosting before i put the mini cupcake in. they were definitely loaded but delicious!













ok stay with me . . . i know this is a longer post than normal but i have a lot to tell!

so the fam got here friday night and we just relaxed. saturday was a history excursion that started around 10am and ended around 3pm. don didn't even let us get lunch! but it was fun! we went on the fredericksburg trolley tour and saw this awesome tattoo parlor with the best name ever . . .
















we saw many historical things on the tour and heard a lot of history, but the only thing i can remember is that back in the day they only bathed in the summertime because they were scared that if they did in the winter they would catch pnemonia and die. and . . . . ick . . . this is the worst part . . . they only changed the bath water every 3 people. so if you were the first person you were ok, but the 2nd and the 3rd person had to bathe in the peoples filth! gross!! the tour guide said that's how southern hospitality got its name . . . . if someone was in line to go 2nd or 3rd they would say "oh by all means . . you can go ahead of me." ha!

ok so the rest of the day we went to other historic sites including the chatham manor, where most of these pics were taken:







this was taken on our trolley tour! it was called rocky lane! don't ask me what the history behind it is though . . .







at Chatham Manor . . . Rita & Shane resting while Don read every plaque in there. . .



















still at Chatham Manor with the beautiful arches and trim work . . .


















Don loving his history and loving his wife . . . . .












the beautiful outside gazebo and the weirdest trees i have ever seen in my life . . .


















dan & marissa (brother & sissy) stopped by on sunday on their way through from a friends house . . . we had some steaks, potatoes, and corn on the cob for lunch! although the corn we got had bugs in it and wasn't that good (got it from the farmer's market at hurkamp park in downtown fredericksburg). . . but the steak & potatoes were yummy!! we all bumped, set, and spiked the volleyball (soooo miss this!! but starting in a league this sunday!) around for a while and then threw the football around. we were all drenched in sweat by the end because it was 100 degrees here, but it was fun and well worth it!







dan & marissa (2 month newlyweds!)! i love my brothers and sisters!







dan and marissa left around 3 then rita and don and shane and majr and i took a nice relaxing road trip to lake anna. they charge you $5 just to park which is ridiculous . . . so we just "rode through" and they said we didn't have to pay. you also have to pay to go on the "beach" which is crazy! but overall it is a VERY beautiful lake. shane and i went camping there with some of our friends a while back and rode on their boat on lake anna and it was so peaceful, so gorgeous, and so fun.






here is a pic of majr wishing he was on the beach with all those other people . . .












overall it was a GREAT weekend! we love when our friends and family visit us and always hate to see them go!

7.16.2008

I Love Sommer & Bry & My Un-Born Niece!

my beautiful sister (in-law) & my niece!

sooo . . . my sister & brother (in-laws) are having a baby girl next month and i can't even begin to tell you how SUPER excited i am! not only because i love babies, but i love my family and after all of the difficulties they've had, they are finally having a baby girl of their own!

i didn't even know they were getting maternity pictures taken, but bry finally decided to let me know i guess, and so here they are! yay!! :-)

photos are courtesy of Meaghan Elliott Photography! never heard of her, but she does an amazingly good job! although making sommer look good is not hard at all!


keep checking back for lots of baby pics once they finally have her!

7.15.2008

Mommy's Favorite

how to tell if you are mommy's favorite . . . .

got emailed to me from my mommy-in-law

7.13.2008

Our Mommies (& Daddies) Will Be So Proud . . . .

yay! finally a weekend to relax . . . . aka do yard work all weekend long. that's ok though . . . it's been looooooooooong overdue, and since we had little to work with when we moved here, most of it's all from scratch.

we finally cleaned the cobwebs out of the wallet and splurged on some much needed mulch and a wheelbarrel.

there is a lot that still needs to be done . . and we are still working on our very difficult grass . . . but at least it's better than it was . . .

below you will see some before and after pics! enjoy!


Before















After








7.11.2008

Happy Birthday to the Best Daddy!


7.11.08



Yay!! Happy Birthday to the best daddy in the world! :-)



I know he is working today because he never rests . . . but daddy, at least enjoy your day and know that we miss and love you so much and can't wait be with you again!



Love you. Love you. Love you.


7.10.2008

Brother (in-law) Bry Helping Out Erie County!

Back for his second Saturday as an ERIE volunteer, IT Employee Bryan Rock measures the bottom plate before bolting it to the home's foundation.

Bry is my bro-in-law! He works for Erie Insurance (which I would love to work there . . ahem . . ) in the IT department! He helped out the Erie Community by building a house . . . all by himself . . . just kidding. He did help though, and that is great because it's always fun helping other people out, and if you want your house to look nice, you want Bry to be doing it!

Sommer (my sissy-in-law) and Bry's house is AMAZING! They have done so much work on it themselves and anybody would love to live there!

So YAY! to my awesome brothers and sissy-in-laws!! I love you and am so proud of you! :-)

7.09.2008

Buff Chick Dip! & The Best Shoes N-Ever!



mmm . . . . so my friends (kt, mase, & kc) are obsessed with dips. . . mostly spinach artichoke dip and buffalo chicken dip. i had my first taste of spinach artichoke dip on the day of my bachelorette party. very yummy, but i prefer queso dip!


i tried my first buffalo chicken dip at nikkie's house warming party and looooooved it! recently we have all been chating on gmail and talking about how hungry we are for it . . . . after two days i just couldn't take it anymore, and went to the store to get the ingredients! and made my first batch of buff chick dip last night! yummmmmmmmmyyyyy!! i made a 1/2 batch b/c it's just shane and i. but i accidentally forgot to cut the hot sauce in 1/2 . . . but it still turned out very well! shane even had some, and he's very picky!


oh . . and then later we had a soccer game (which we won!! yay!!) where we saw these ridiculous, but fun shoes!


7.08.2008

Attack of the Mos Quitoes!


ugh! so i was out planting flowers last night and doing some yard work trying to mind my own business . . .

when all of these nasty mosquitoes decided to pick a fight with me . . and i must say . . . they beat me well!

i got at least 20 bites (including one smack dab on my face and one underneath my chin) . . . and that is all after i doused myself in "off"!

i just recently heard that listerine can keep them away, so i did some research and unfortunately found that it is a myth.

i am up to trying anything though, so if you know of something that works for you, please let me know!

7.07.2008

It Was a Baby Rock 4th!

Shane and I's last weekend of chaos for a while . . . (thank goodness . . . not that we don't LOOOOVE seeing everyone, but we haven't been in our house on the weekend in over 4 weeks!)























got to go back home to Erie, PA where we met up with both of our families and some friends! the main reason we were home was for the shower of sommer & my niece! :-) it went rather well!! the food was delicious! i made a fun diaper cake w/my mommy! (see above pic)! great to see the fam! and sommer, bry, and baby rock got lots of fun prezzies! sommer looks amazing as always and had the cutest maternity clothes! the eating cake was fun & so cute! (found the saying online but don't remember where . . . sorry)

















we also got to go out on the boat (don & rita's) on lake erie! sooo beautiful out there! got to go swimming a little bit and see a HUGE snapping turtle! (luckily it wasn't when i was swimming.)

we celebrated marissa's birthday toO!! happy b-day sissy-in-law! :-)

i'll just say that it was so great to see all of our families! and the little time i got to spend with some of my friends was awesome!


















sorry this post sucks . . i'm super exhausted from the past month and have TONS to say, but know you wouldn't read it if it were super long . . . so you can see my pics below for more deets (details!).





p.s. - mase never brought us the cuppies that she promised she would bring us . . . thanks mase. :-P


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