Super Bowl Sunday

OK OK OK, I am a week behind, but better late than never!

Last weekend for the Super Bowl, we spent it snowed in. It was a great day to spend in our sweats.

We got the most snow in a few days in February than we have all season.

Here's some of Mother Nature's handy work...

This is what my wonderful hubby spent a great deal of the day doing

Shoveling, Shoveling, Shoveling...

We got our satellite dish cleared off just in time to watch us some football and commercials :)

Besides Pat's shoveling, we spent a majority of our day snuggled up in blankets on the couch.

MMMMM....Besides football and commercials, we enjoyed some yummy football food.

Homemade Hot Wings! MMMM...

Sorry this was so far behind. Hope everyone else had a relaxing Sunday

MMmMMmm....Recipes Galore!

One of my favorite part of the beginning of the month is menu planning. I love to make our grocery shopping list because that means I get to scour the internet for yummy, quick to prepare and budget friendly recipes to fill our tummies. My intention was to get to the grocery story today. About 30 minutes after Pat left I got bundled up and jumped in my car. About halfway up my car decided it couldn't handle the snow on the driveway. Watching me backup all the way back to the house was quite the show :) Needless to say I didn't make it to get grocery shopping, so it is postponed for another day after we get plowed.

I think that we have some yummy recipes on the docket for the upcoming weeks. I will try to get on to update on how each one turns out but here is what is to come...

--Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

--Bean Burrito Casserole

--Buffalo Chicken Sandwhiches

--Baked Beef Ravioli

--Chicken Corn Chowder

--Slow Cooker Enchildas

--Green Chili Hamburgers

--Baked Chicken & Potatoes

--Breakfast (Waffles & Eggs)

Mmmmm. Thanks for checking in on us!

Holiday Season In Full Swing!

This is going to be one big wrapup of some Christmas and New Year's festivities. As always, we had a busy but wonderful holiday season. I got to start the Christmas season off in GA visiting my Dad and Selma and just getting to enjoy some quality time with the family out there. When I came back we had lots of family fun for Christmas. We started Christmas Eve in the Johnson household.

Here are the boys enjoying some homemade eggrolls and fried rice. Mmmm!

The adults grubbing on some awesome homemade food.

The Johnson boys opening their presents!

Peyton's 1st Christmas!

We are beyond blessed to get to spend Christmas with almost all of our family. We got to Skype with the Georgia Grzecka's for Christmas and even got to enjoy some dinner with Pat's dad on Christmas Day.

On to New Year's... We kept the tradition going by having some family up for some fun. Liz and the kids came up on the 30th, just in time for roughly 9 inches of snow and below freezing temperatures. But naturally the kids roughed the cold weather and enjoyed some fun out in the snow, as well as lots of food, movies and fun!

Happy New Year!

They "decorated" the living room with streamers.

CHEERS!

Hope the season has been full of fun and family for all. Happy 2011! May it be full of laughter, family, change, growth and even some surprises!

Christmas Time In the Ralston Home

I am SO behind on this blog. Since I wrote last its been about 3 months. In that time we have gotten married, honeymooned in Cancun and also taken a trip to GA to visit the Georgia Grzecka's. We have truly been enjoying our time as Newleyweds...no more wedding planning which leaves lots of time to spend together.

This is our second Christmas in our home, but this is the first year we decided to put up a tree. We were not going to put up a tree (we had some Christmas decorations out but didn't want to go overboard.) Yesterday we were out and about running some Christmas errands and while looking at ornaments we decided to head home and put the tree up.

Our living room ended up a war zone of boxes as we pulled out the tree and all the ornaments. We turned on some Pandora Christmas music to get us in the spirit and heated up some hot cocoa...mmmm.

And here she is... Our first tree in our newleywed home!

Only 12 more days until Christmas!

Bridal Shower & First Day of School!

WOW! What a weekend. This weekend was my dress fitting and bridal shower. I had SUCH a fun weekend. I want to thank every single person who made my day so special (even those who couldn't make it!). Pat and I are so blessed to have people like you in our lives. We are excited to put some of the awesome stuff in our home and use it! My sister and my mom did a great job planning every detail of it. I loved every single thing that we got and so does Pat. The thing he has been looking forward to and I think that Pat is most excited for..... THE TRASH CAN! haha. But seriously thanks everyone! We cannot wait to share our big day with you.

On another note, today was my first day of preschool (for the third year in a row). Every year is a surprise. You never know what you are going to get when they walk in that door. Today it was 15 sassy, energetic little girls and two (very outnumbered) boys. But like every year, we survived! It was a very long day. But I know that God was sending me some encouragement this afternoon, because I came home to a beautiful rainbow on my drive home. That is going to be a good omen in my eyes, that today was the storm, but tomorrow will be the rainbow!

"Be though the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beams that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with a prophetic ray."

--(Lord Byron)

CAMPING

Believe it or not, Pat and I have been together for over 3 years and have been putting of a camping trip every summer. This summer we finally made it on our first camping trip together (well since we went in High School...). We ventured to Leadville to Turquoise Lake and it was GORGEOUS.

Funny thing is that during the past three years, I have owned a tent (who knows where I originally got it). But in that three years it has never been used. I assumed it was the big tent we used to use in HS...until we put it up. haha. This tent was barely a 1 person tent. Here is Pat in the tent we ended up using:

Here is us in the drizzle when we got to Turquoise Lake on Day 1:

We enjoyed the Lake immensely. It ended up being clear the whole time we were there. And the water was crystal clear. Gorgeous!

I couldn't sleep in our little tent, so Bear and I took a walk down to the water on the morning of Day 2. I was the only person up in our campground and the only person on the lake, so serene...

We were not big fans of the tiny tent but Bear LOVED the tent. Any time the zipper was open she would find her way in there to lay down.

We took a lot of time to just enjoy ourselves. Us on Day 2:

We sure did love the Lake. I think that we are going to make that a yearly tradition. Anyone who wants to join us next summer, let us know! We are going to plan way earlier in the summer and get our butts camping a lot more.

More Summer Updates...

Some more fun of the summer! We went with Megan and Aaron to see Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley! Like all of the Dierk's concerts that Pat and I have been to, it was amazing. Since it was in WY, he even did a little Chris Ledoux tribute

It was my first time seeing Miranda Lambert. She was also pretty amazing. She puts on a great concert.
Our couple in crime, Megan and Aaron (thanks guys for going with us!)

Me and Pat before the concert started. It was a great time!
Another thing that we got to do is host a the Johnson family for a night at our place. After Kenzie and I went to the zoo, the rest of the clan joined us for a BBQ and some Ladder Golf at our place. Here are Nate and Kenzie kicking butt in Ladder Golf.
Pat and Peyton. Aren't they adorable?
Stryker right after he used that ax to try to cut our trees down.
We have had an awesome summer! Thanks to all who have made it memorable.