EASTER 2016

This Easter was a little different that most that we've had because it was our first go at having a child in the house to celebrate the holiday with. Even six months later, we are still experiencing new things all of the time. First jobs, first boyfriends, and now our first Easter. With that said, we may have even gone a little overboard... Nessie ended up with two baskets, eggs to dye, and a hunt for plastic eggs filled with candy and money. I doubt that all Easter's will be as lucrative, but we wanted to make a big deal out of this one. Here are some random snapshots for you guys -

Easter basket prep:

 

Egg dying + Easter selfie:

  

Baskets from Easter morning (Ben did a good job surprising me with mine):

 

  

Over time, I've gotten really bad at taking photos of dinner and family when they come over. Rest assured though, my parents and brother came over to enjoy a feast of ham, shrimp, potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, and rolls! It was a great day!

Until next time, XXO.

Disney On Ice

If you didn't already know, my friend Hannah is a pretty big Disney gal. So much so that she is having a Disney-themed wedding this October. When we found out the Disney on Ice was coming to Kansas City, we decided we HAD to go, whether we have a small child or not. Venesia is 14 - that's close enough, right? We found tickets pretty cheap and we were on our way to the Sprint Center last Thursday night.

I won't break down each of the photos as most of you have seen most of the classics that I snapped pics of that night. Enjoy!

 

   

 

Overall, we had a fun time seeing the production. Personally, I wished there was a little less frozen and little more Princess, but maybe that's because I'm (almost) 28 and I wanted what was popular during MY childhood, haha. It's always fun to have a night out with my girl friends! They keep me grounded.

Until next time! XXO.

Oven-baked Boiled Eggs

Hey, guys! Excuse me if this post seems a little choppy! With Easter being TOMORROW, I wanted to get this up on the blog before it was too late for people to try it themselves. :)

Recently, I had heard about the process of boiling eggs in the oven. UM, WHAT? With my psoriasis issues, heat is hard, so boiling eggs is always a little scary for me (Dumping the water, specifically...). Anyway, Nessie wanted to dye eggs and we are making deviled eggs for the holiday, so I thought I'd try it out yesterday in case I messed them up somehow.

Here are the easy directions:

• Put one egg in each of the compartments in a muffin/cupcake tin
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
• Immediately place in an ice bath until cooled

  

  

I don't think I let mine rest in the ice bath long enough once I took them out of the oven, but I went ahead and cracked one open and it looked and tasted just like a boiled egg. Ben and I also went ahead and peeled the dozen or so we planned to use for the meal and they peeled SO MUCH MORE EASILY than when I boil them in water. Overall, I'd say it was a success!

My only complaint is that I only have ONE muffin tin so I had to do more than one batch. :)

Breakfast in KC (Stop 12/16)

Venesia is on Spring Break this week so she has been staying at my parents' house. Yesterday, Ben and I took advantage and decided to go grab brunch at You Say Tomato. We are nearing the "end" of our list, but I'm sure we will continue to try new brunch spots as well.

We got to You Say Tomato at about 10:00am, I would say. When we first walked in we took a look at the items they have for sale - bottled sodas, drinks, fresh produce. I thought this was neat as it the whole place had a vintage feel to it so it was fitting that the produce was in old grocery store coolers. All of the tables were mis-matched kitchen tables, they had art on the walls, and there were large plants all over the place.

  

The way the restaurant is set up is that you wait in line to order at the counter and THEN you find a table. This stressed me out a little bit because after we ordered THERE WERE NO TABLES OPEN. We waited for a few minutes and then a couple decided to leave so we poached their table from them, thankfully.

I ended up ordering the Breakfast Croissant with ham, eggs, and cheese, a side of potatoes, and fresh OJ. Ben went with the Biscuits and Gravy and a Chai Tea Latte. We split an order of seasonal fruit. The meals and drinks are featured below:

 

 

Overall, we thought the food was good. The vibe of the restaurant was vintage and cool too. Here are some of the things we did NOT like though:

• The seating situation
• Chives on everything...
• You have to order your sides separately from your meal
• The additional cost for sides was a little high
• The Chai was only okay

We decided that we would give You Say Tomato a: 7.5/10

AE TURNS 1!

I've been thinking about this post for about a month now. What to write, when to post it, how mushy to get. Eight years ago this summer I found out that Ally was going to be my college roommate. I was in New York visiting my aunt when we started Facebook chatting - trying to feel each other out. I had no idea at that moment how much I would come to love Ally and her (now) family. I had no idea that I would feel like my life wouldn't be the same without her in it. And now she has a daughter. And it's so hard to explain the feeling of watching someone you love be a mom. It's the neatest thing.

Aniston turned one on St. Patrick's Day. It's hard to believe that it has been an entire year since she came into the world. It's crazy to look at pictures and see how big her personality has gotten. It's crazy to think that she is this little person who will have hopes and dreams and love some day. And it has been the greatest to get to be a part of that.

 

Saturday was Aniston's 1st birthday party. Ben and I made the trek down to Warsaw, MO so that we could be there to see AE open presents and hate her cake. Seriously, she didn't eat any of it!! We have taken to the habit of mailing a gift for holidays so not only did we take birthday gifts, we took St. Patrick's Day and Easter gifts as well.

I also had the honor of making AE's first year/memory book. I've known for a while now that I was going to be doing this for their family so I've done a lot of Facebook stalking for statuses and pictures to use, and I also had a number of people in Aniston's life write her a letter for her 1st birthday. The letters were a surprise component to the book.

  

After the party, Ally and her family invited us to drive a little ways to Charley's Buffet for have dinner with them. It's a family-style buffet that's only open two days a week and when we got there the line was wrapped around the entire building. We ended up waiting for about 30 minutes to get in, but MAN WAS IT WORTH IT. They had so many different types of rolls, meets, and sides! PLUS, they had a 30-foot long dessert counter with a variety of cookies, pies, and other treats. To say we left stuffed is the understatement of the year. It was nice though to get to spend a little extra time with them since we don't get to see them that often. Another fun thing about Charley's is that they have a photo booth that you can take pictures at before you leave, so naturally we had to grab a snapshot with Aniston. We are blessed to be her godparents.

 

Now that the craziness of the party weekend is over, we're back to being long-distance with the Richardson's. It's hard, but we feel so lucky to know them and to (sort of) be a part of their family. Happy 1st birthday, AE! We love you!

CHS, Changes, & St. Patrick's Day

Since the last time we have talked, things have been pretty busy! To start, Cameron High School's theater department put on their student-directed One Acts a couple weekends ago. The seniors worked hard on directing their peers and ended up putting on great shows. My favorite was probably Booby Trap (pictured on the right), which focused on a soldier who sits down on a what ends up being a booby trap and throughout the course of the play we see flashbacks and flash-forwards of his life. For it being such a heavy topic, the kids did a great job. The other two plays This Is A Test and Imperfect Proposal were both comedies and definitely got some great laughs out of the crowd.

 

I think the biggest news I have to announce is the fact that I interviewed and was hired for a teaching position within the Blue Springs R-IV School District. While I love Cameron, this will be a great move for me professionally as I will be closer to home and I will be moving into a middle school Language Arts position, which is what I went to college to do. From what I have been told I will be teaching 6th grade Reading.

 

Now for some super FUN stuff! One of my co-workers and his wife are due to have their first child in April. Our English department threw him a surprise baby shower last week complete with a camouflage cake, gifts, and a lot of pink decorations. We were quote proud of ourselves for keeping it a surprise until right before the shower took place!

 

Of course, I need to recap St. Patrick's Day. Ben and I both worked all day, but we did manage to get out to Westport for a couple of hours - sporting our green. We went to Westport Saloon, because honestly, where else would we go? We met up with a few friends for a couple of beers, chat, and naturally, stick-on mustaches.

  

Lastly, I just wanted to share a couple snap shots of our home projects. We got a few small Easter decorations put up. We are hosting Easter at our house on Sunday. We're planning on having ham, shrimp, potatoes, veggies, and desserts. One of the best parts of having a house is getting to host holiday dinners. Another part that I really love is getting to decorate the space in a way that reflects us. We finished out family photo wall over the weekend and I AM IN LOVE WITH IT. We tried to represent each branch of our family. Pictures that were included:

• Duvall family
• Duvall-Cundiff branch of Duvall family
• Carl
• Tyler's senior picture
• Richard's military photo
• Helms family
• Ben and me with my brother
• My grandma Betty and me
• Aniston
• Me, Ally, and Aniston (to be replaced with their family photo)
• Ben and me
• Ben, me, and Venesia

  

I hope Spring has gotten off to a great start for you guys. I'm looking forward to seeing what it brings!