Birthday dinner with my man!

Do I look embarrassed??

Luke fillet and green beans

My Hawaiian Ribeye and Sweet Taters

Birthday Girl

My Man

Luke took me to Colton's last night for a wonderful birthday dinner. I had the Hawaiian Ribeye...which is too good. Luke got the fillet as usual. Somehow I ended up with 2 sweet taters on my plate so I shared them with Luke! They sang happy birthday to me (which embarrassed me) but I loved every minute of it. We then went to see Hotel for Dogs. Now those that know me well know that I don't usually do animal movies. In fact, the first time I ever spent the night with Christylee (back in 10th grade) we watched the movie Shiloh. She had to turn it off halfway through because I was crying so hard!

I have to say Hotel for Dogs was AWESOME. I did cry of course, but nobody died or got hurt. I would highly recommend it for sure. Thanks Luke for a wonderful birthday dinner and movie! It was just what I wanted!

Birthday Lunch with Christylee

Our Food

Those HUGE Cheese sticks

Me (I got a haircut, now I don't know what to do with my bangs!!!)

Christylee

I made her this birthday card. Gotta love my cricut!

Yesterday Christylee and I went out to lunch to celebrate our birthdays. We decided to eat at Shorty Smalls. The cheese sticks we ordered were HUGE! I had the Turkey Club Croissant while she had a Pepper Jack Burger. After lunch we went to Babies R Us to look around. We found some cute things for Lily...and some things that just made us shake our heads. Happy Birthday Christylee (and yes I'm a day older than she is!!!)

Holiday Tortellini Soup

I made this for me and Luke on Monday night. It is really good and super easy. I served it with a loaf of french bread.

Holiday Tortellini Soup

2 T. olive oil (I didn't use this...no need if you use bacon!)

2 oz. pancetta or bacon finely diced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (49.5 oz) chicken broth (I used 4 regular cans of chicken broth)

2 t. Italian Seasoning

1 pkg (9oz) cheese tortellini (this is in the freezer section by the pizza)

1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes in puree

8 oz. fresh spinach rinsed, stemmed, chopped (next time I'll chop mine a little smaller!)

Salt and pepper to taste......It really doesn't need any salt!!!

1 c. freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (we just use the can stuff!)

Heat oil in dutch oven. Brown off bacon in oil. Add onion and cook til tender. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute more. Add broth and Italian seasoning and simmer about 5 minutes. In the meantime (in another pot) fix the tortellini according to the directions on the bag. Drain. Add cooked tortellini to the broth mixture. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer about 5 minutes. Add spinach and cook til just wilted. Season to taste. Top each bowl with Parmesan cheese.

Pork Chops with Amber Rice

I decided to make a new recipe tonight for dinner. I wanted to use what I had in the pantry. So I looked through my trusty old cookbooks and found this one! This picture was taken before it cooked, so I'm sure it will look a little better then. It sure sounds good!

Pork Chops with Amber Rice

6 or 8 Pork Chops (I used 4)

1 1/3 c. precooked rice (this means Minute Rice uncooked....at least I'm hoping LOL)

1 c. orange juice

1 can chicken with rice soup

Brown pork chops. Place 1 1/3 c. Minute Rice in oblong baking dish. Pour 1 c. orange juice over the top of the rice. Place in chops. Pour chicken with rice soup over chops. Brown in oven at 350 degrees. The recipe didn't say how long....I'm thinking 30 minutes or so. We'll see!

Men....you gotta love 'em!

So Luke and I were discussing my foot yet again for like the 100000th time tonight. I told him that I was a little discouraged at not being able to drive my own stinkin' car. I then mentioned to my lovely husband...that since he had been driving my car lately (5 months now) that the spring in the drivers seat had gotten worse. It has made a small hole over time in my seat...but usually I never notice it...that is until today. Talk about a pain in your behind!!! My lovely, supportive, wonderful husband then told me....and I quote, "Well, maybe your cheeks have just gotten bigger." So that ended our family dinner for tonight. I got up and started doing this dishes....then turned to Luke and said, "Well, if your cheeks weren't so big to begin with my spring wouldn't have had a problem!" We both ended up laughing over our words!

Big Hopes & High Dreams

Last night I was so excited to be able to drive MY car to scrapbooking. You may not have realized, but I haven't been able to drive my car in 6 months!!! Being a standard, it was impossible to bend your sesamoid bone to push the clutch in. Last night I really wanted to give it a try. I was able to do it! So, this morning Luke got all his stuff switched over to his car. I went to Bible Study and decided to hit Walmart on the way home. Driving through traffic on military....my foot begin to hurt pushing the clutch in. When I got to Walmart, it hurt to walk around. So, I got my car all cleaned up for nothing (I ran it through the car wash today and cleaned the insides too!!!). Oh well. Looks like I'm back in the Honda until I can push the clutch in pain free.

I'm not really complaining I guess.... I mean I'm in tennis shoes after 6 months of a boot. I can walk Tyndall Park (even if it is 1 lap), I can do my 1 mile walking video at home, and I can go to Walmart by myself....what more could a girl want! Well, all except to be able to drive a stylish little red, Ford Focus.

Scrap Mania Weekend

Sherry & Ali

Carrie

Amy

Regina

Michelle, Arlyn, Terri

Wendy & Myra

The Friday gang...I think we had about 26 there on Friday and 10 on Saturday!

My Cake I loved it!!! My birthday is actually this Friday (23rd!)

This weekend we had our Scrap Mania weekend. It was SO much fun. We scrapped to our hearts content. On Friday it went until midnight. Mom surprised me with an early birthday cake that was REALLY good. Mom was not at all happy with what it looked like, but the cake was super moist. We left the church at midnight. I, of course, couldn't sleep Friday night at all! I think I only got 2 hours! Then Mom and I headed back up to the church on Saturday. We all brought something to share for lunch and we scrapped until 3. What a day! I am still trying to rest up....scrapbooking is hard work! I took pics Friday night, but was too busy to do so on Saturday! Enjoy!