Birthday weekend

 What a great weekend!  Very busy, but it was all fun!  Im going to go backwards since my pics posted that way...today Heather and I went for a hike.  We do a 4 mile route that is a great workout..therefore that justifies our going out for mexican for lunch! :)  And this is what she gave me for my birthday!  A dutch oven, a super cool spatula she says I can't live without and a book of short stories on dogs!  Im so excited to try out all of them!  Thanks Heather!

 My mom sent me some wonderful mixes for dips, breads and a salsa as well as a chai...can't wait to try the herb chopper....thanks mom and dad!

 On Saturday Mitch and I went to a wine tasting hosted by some friends of ours at a local wine store.  It was fun and we ended up buying these 3 wines 2 of each :)  After the wine tasting my hubby took me to a nice dinner and even a little more shopping after that!  Am I spoiled or what?!  Thanks to everyone for all the gifts, calls, cards, texts and emails!  The kids added to my Keurig coffee station by getting me more k-cups!  What a birthday!  :)

Busy Weekend

 On Friday, Mitch and Marcus had a cub scout campout and Mackenzie had a birthday party to go to.  It was in their backyard and they own a bouncy business, so lots of fun things to do.  It was a Carnival theme...it was a lot of fun.  I am friends with the mom of the boy having the party, so I stayed..it was fun. I caught Mac here in the middle of a cartwheel.

                    Hanging out and having fun..

 This is Ryleigh, the birthday boys younger sister.  She is in gymnastics with Mac and karate with Marcus...so that's how I got to become good friends with their mom, Jennifer.

                         This is Corey, the birthday boy!  :)

                                       Cupcakes!  :)

                                 Hanging out with puppy...

                                   She carries her around like a baby...

   This was a fall treat that I got off the Food channel..from the show 5 indgredients or less...just melt some white chocolate, add a couple handfuls of rice krispies, some chopped cashews and spread out and chill...then after 30 minutes you can drizzle some melted chocolate chips over the top.  I keep it chilled...it was yummy!

Game night and good food

 I had a couple days where I as home trying to get Copper settled and work on potty training, so I had some extra time to do some baking :)  I made a tray for Mitch to take to his secretaries.

 Grandma Katy sent a care package and included a few items from my grandma's house..one being Uno Stacko...

            Careful not to make it come crashing down!

 Trying to get advice from her dad on which one she should try and take :)

        Copper decided it was a good time to take a little nappy!

            Then she decided she would get cute and pose for a picture....

                Mitch grilled these super yummy filets wrapped in bacon for dinner and also the asparagus.

 I took some baguette bread and just mixed some cream cheese, feta, green onion and parmesan and some garlic and topped them after I had already toasted the bread....so good.

               And what better way to wash it all down then with a Sangria   :)  Have a great weekend!

http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2010/11/20/cranberry-crumb-bars

 Mitch ordered some meat from Omaha Steaks and THEN looked in the freezer to make sure we had enough room..well, he finds lots of frozen bananas, cranberries, tomatoes, and so on and so forth.  He nicely asked if I could use up some of that to make room...so i did.  If you haven't checked out this blog where I got this recipe from you MUST!  yummy recipes that are endless. 

 There's our baby, Copper.  She is just like a toddler..getting into everything, curious, curious, curious.  Wants to play with the cats so bad, but they want nothing to do with her...yet. :)  The potty training has went fantastic! 

 She will also fall asleep where ever she konks out at...Mac put a pillow under her head....

                          Sweet lil' baby!!!!

This is a chocolate shake from Burger King...Mac loved how they swirled the whipped cream on top and wanted me to take a picture to post...

Miss Copper Emerson

 Well, meet the newest member of the Emerson clan :)  Copper...she is 4 months old and is a German Shepard Mix....She has been very busy since she got home, exploring her new surroundings.

We aren't sure just how big she is going to get...i need to do some serious research on her.  But first off we have to master potty training...the cats are mad, as usual...but we are happy :) 

Anakin Jedi Starfighter model

  Mitch took Marcus to a hobby store that carries a ton of model's to put together.  He thought that was something he and Marcus could do together since they are best buds these days.

 Mitch is explaining to him how to put them together...he seems like's he's listening very intently :)

 going over the directions very carefully...then Marcus was on the couch and daddy was putting the model together by himself....

       Marcus is holding the finished product.

                   Anakin's Jedi Starfighter...

These are smore brownies...when you are ready to eat them you crumble up some grahamn crackers and eat.  I used a box brownie mix.  Put half the batter in greased pan..added choc chips and peanut butter chips, poured in the other half of the batter, baked for about 25 minutes @ 350 ( for a 9x13) then added marshmallows and a few more choc chips and baked 5 more minutes.....yummo!

9/11, Baseball and BBQ

 A while back, Mitch thought it would be fun to go to the Dbacks game on 9/11 so he ordered tickets and got us in the All You Can Eat Seats..it comes with unlimited bottled water, pepsi fountain, hotdogs, peanuts and chips...it was very nice.  They also had a wonderful tribute to all those whose lives were lost on 9/11...not a dry eye in the whole stadium.

 We brought our flags; they played a lot of songs that were patriotic, there were lots of signs and lots of military present...

        We will never forget.....

           Father/son....they are big time pals these days!

 This is where you came to get your snacks...it's right by our seats so the kids could go up anytime and get what they wanted...believe me, they made lots of trips...even waited on Mitch and I :)

 This was the 7 lb. brisket Mitch smoked over Labor Day weekend.  It was the best one he's ever done...i could have just eaten All the burnt ends...so yummy!

 Well, this little cutie is at her new home now...a hairdresser I work with wanted her...I am so happy we were able to find homes for them all...now we have to find a home for the momma..

              What a pretty girl with a pretty flower!