Roasted Garlic Beef Brisket

Friday was spent making delicious food since it was so disgusting outside. I made a delicious brisket and Chelle came over and had supper with us and enjoyed some NCAA basketball. We had a very fun night, be we were very upset that we had to watch Duke on the computer and not on our huge TV.

For those of you who don't know, I don't enjoy cooking. Especially not with weird things or dishes that take a lot of prep work. Ky is the cook in this house. He is a million times better than I am, and he enjoys cooking and watching the Food Network. I would rather scratch my eyeballs out than watch that. We had a brisket in the freezer so I was on a mission to find a recipe for it. Thursday night, I was able to find this recipe. It was so much fun and this was the first time I cooked like real chef! I snapped a few pictures as I was cooking, to share.
The Brisket after I seared it.The onions being sauteed.Garlic added and being sauteed.I even cooked with a real live plant! This is the oregano. I couldn't find fresh basil, so I had to use dried.All the ingredients together to boil.Everything together before cooking the brisket.The finished product.It was so delicious and I was so proud of myself and so was Ky. He was very impressed! Maybe I will whip out my cooking skills more often. If the end result is as good as this, it will be so worth it! Until next time...

Spring Break Part 2

Wednesday and Thursday were spent outside. I am so ready for warm weather and so are the boys. I spent both days cleaning up the porch, pulling weeds from the yard and working in my flower beds. The boys spent the days with sidewalk chalk, swinging, and figuring how to climb up the slide from the stairs and from the slide. Talon was so proud of himself. He is such a little daredevil! Here are a couple of pictures I caught while they were making some art.

Friday, we were stuck inside because it got very windy and cold and even snowed and sleeted early Saturday morning. You can imagine how excited I was to drive to work on slick roads again! But it quickly melted off on Saturday. My next post will be of the meal I made Friday night. Until next time...

Our Spring Break Part 1

The boys and I, along with Ky's mom, spent the first 3 days of our spring break with Ky's sister, Sierra, and her husband Kyle at their house in Panhandle.

We left Lubbock Monday morning, where it was pouring, and met Sierra and Kyle in Canyon to eat at Feldman's. We thought we would drive out of the rain, but we never did. We ran a couple or errands in Amarillo before we let them play at Jump and Jive for a while, and for free I might add! Thanks to the employee who did not know how to run the debit card machine! :) After jumping, we stopped by the Donut Stop and purchased some donuts for the following mornings. And you can't find a donut like the Donut Stop's anywhere in Lubbock! We made our way through the rain to our final destination of Panhandle.

We were stuck inside for most of the visit due to the rain that fell all day Monday. Rylan was so excited to get to see their new puppy Bronx. Rylan kept calling him a Great Hound on the days leading up to the getaway, and I had to correct him and tell him the Bronx in a Great Dane. Needless to say, Rylan was excited to meet him!The girls spent time picking out which candle or should I say candles we wanted to buy from Sierra. We spent hours smelling and laughing! Here is just some of the mess we made.

Talon really did not enjoy smelling the coffee beans and his face was hilarious, but he kept sniffing them. I might add that he did most of his "smelling" with his mouth wide open while trying to smell from it. Quite funny! The face and head shaking that followed the sniff.

Talon spent most of his time getting cuddles form his Aunt C.

Talon also found the dog's water bowl and when I would call his name, this is the look I got. Little stinker.

After he dumped all the water out, he would talk/yell into it and hear his echo.

Rylan spent every spare second he had to play Kyle's XBox. He played some basketball game the entire time.

And his little brother watched him play.
Talon loved the fact that he could easily climb up on their couches and he loved to stand and jump on them. We also spent time Tuesday visiting Sierra's 2nd grade room where Rylan, Talon, and Nana played on the smartboard, and the gym at the elementary playing basketball and I even pulled out some old gymnastics mats. I did about 6 passes on the mats before I got tired and dizzy, so I put them away. I should have known my old body would punish me for this for the next 5 days! We then went to Kyle's classroom where Talon loved playing in the big student desks and we all enjoyed eating Kyle's Cheetos. We then went and had a 2 on 2 basketball game at the new gym. Kyle and Rylan against Sierra and I. The boys won, but Sierra and I let them, for Kyle's sake! We then went and visited Eric and Mandy's house. We didn't get to see either of them, but we did get to visit with Mandy's mom, Karleen, for a while. We concluded Tuesday by eating take home from Fat Tony's and watching American Idol.

We left Wednesday morning and drove back home to Lubbock to beautiful weather! I will post the second part of our spring break later. Until then...

Austin

We made it back from Austin on Sunday afternoon. Ky and I had so much fun with our friends, who are also family! Marsha, Mandy and I and our husbands all stayed in one room at the Embassy Suites and it was so much fun! It was just like a big slumber party all weekend. It was a much needed mini vacation for us, and we are looking forward to going back next year and the year after that! Here are some pictures of the events that took place this weekend.
Marsha, me and Mandy at "The Drum" before we were honored at halftime.The Nazareth Swiftettes.Being honored and receiving two pins from the UIL.

The 2000 Nazareth Swiftettes, or the ones that were able to come. Back: Coach Matt Garrett, Marsha Black Pohlmeier, Whitney Hoelting, Cassie Birkenfeld Damato, Coach Amy Huseman. Front: Wendy Black Wilcox, Shawna Gerber, Mandy Hoelting Schilling.

Mandy, me and Marsha. This is the best picture I got of us. The boys were taking pictures at the same time and we were never all looking at my camera at the same time. At least in this one, we are all looking in the same direction. This picture was taken before we went to 6th Street and spent the best $5 on a comedy show that was hilarious! Then, we spent some time at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar. We got back to the hotel at about 2:15! None of us had been up that late since Kade's wedding!! Yikes! Daryl, Ky and Eric. These boys are also first cousins. What can I say? We just have good taste!

Eric and Mandy
Marsha and Daryl

Ky and I

Somehow, we spent a lot of time with Sierra and Kyle and we never got a picture with them. They will also be back next year and we will make sure we get them in a snap shot then. Until next time...

Weekend Getaway

This weekend Ky and I will be headed to Austin to the girls basketball state tournament. Every 10 years, the team that won the state title 10 years ago is honored as the honor team. So, that is what we are going down for. Marsha and Daryl are flying in from Nebraska and Mandy and Eric will be riding with us down on Thursday. To add to the fun, Sierra and Kyle will be in Austin watching the games! Ky and I are looking forward to a little Mommy and Daddy time without the kiddos! The boys will be staying with Chelle and Morris for the weekend and Rylan is so excited. We will be back on Sunday night and I will have plenty of pictures to share. Until next time...

Talon's Friends

Talon loves to have play dates with his friends! Almost all of the girls that have babies at work are boys, and we love to get them together and watch them play. Rylan and Drake play a lot together and on this day, Jett decided to join them! Jett is about 6 weeks older than Talon, and Drake is only 8 days older than Talon. Here are a couple of pictures from their last play date. Drake's mom, Mandie, is brave enough to let them eat iced cookies on her carpet!! It made me so incredibly anxious...

Talon, Drake and Jett. It is so fun to watch them interact with each other and play. They are best friends!

Until next time...

Big Boy

Talon is growing up so fast! He really is a big boy now. Some of the things that make him a big boy are...
He has to feed himself. He will not let anyone feed him anymore and will only eat when he does it himself! It tends to be a little messy, but oh so cute!!

He loves to read! He doesn't care if he has heard the story a million times that day, he will bring you a book to read to him and he just smiles and giggles. He even lets Rylan read to him and Rylan loves to read Talon books that he brings home for homework.He thinks that every cup with a straw is his! If he can get his hands on it, he is drinking it. He just walks around with the cup and a grin from ear to ear!

Talon just adores Rylan! I love it! What makes it even better, is that Rylan doesn't mind it yet. Talon follows Rylan everywhere and is so excited when we walk into Rylan's school to pick his big brother up. He squeals and his arms are above his head waving. It is so funny and catches every one's attention. I know that someday soon, Rylan will be very annoyed with Talon. But for now, I will just enjoy watching them together because I know it won't last for long!Until next time...