What 'cha got cookin'?

Because food is what I like best, here are some pictures of what I've been cookin' up lately. :)

 Lemon Baked Chicken, Squash Bake, Honey Sweet Cornbread Muffin, and Purple Hull Peas...YUM!

 Berry Crisp I made for my sweet dad for Father's Day. It had blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries in it. It was delish!

 I didn't actually "cook" this, but I had to share my favorite summertime drink. I call it the Frozen Pretty Pink Drink and it is my little piece of the Bahamas when I can't be there in person. Because I'm in a generous sharing mood tonight, I'm posting the recipe. You're welcome. :)

Frozen Pretty Pink Drink

In an ice cube tray, pour Sprite Zero in 8 of the cube spots. In the other 4 cube spots, pour diet cranberry juice. Freeze completely.

Empty the sprite/cranberry ice cubes into a blender. Pour in 2 shot glasses of Malibu Coconut Rum and blend until smooth. 

Pour into a glass and add a wedge of lime. Enjoy!  

 Peach and Strawberry Trifle for Papaw's birthday

Long, lost blogger...

So the past few months have been pretty busy around here, which have caused me to slack off on the blogging. To recap the time away from the blog, here's what we've been up to:

My baby brother graduated from high school! Yay, Rudi! After the graduation ceremony, we had family and friends over for a graduation celebration! Here are a couple of pictures from the night! (Of course, we forgot to take a big family picture!)



My second year of teaching came to an end and I had such a fun year with my sweet students! Once school ended, Ryan and I headed to the coast to say goodbye to his precious grandmother. She passed away a few weeks before and the whole family was able to get together over Memorial Day weekend for her memorial service.

All of the Porter cousins 

Leandra, Michael, Danielle, Ed, Lauren, Angele, Jonathan, Michelle, Ryan, and Kyle

A family friend of the Porters had the whole family over to his awesome house for a shrimp and crab boil. This picture was taken after we got our bellies full of shrimp and crab! :)

So, after we celebrated the life of Mommie, we came back home and Ryan started his weights and conditioning with his new team. They'll work throughout the summer to prepare for the upcoming season this fall. I've been working one day a week and also teaching myself to sew. I'll share projects when I get brave enough! :)

To cap off our recent absence from the blog, I'll share what we did this weekend. My sweet Papaw turned 80 last week and most of the family was able to get together for a big surprise birthday/Father's Day party. We met at Mom and Dad's and swam all afternoon, then grilled steaks and ate birthday trifle. It was so fun and we enjoyed spending time with family!

 Lindy really wants to crawl!

 Sweet Papaw and Grammy

Grammy and Papaw with their 6 kids

Aunt Pam, Uncle Casey, Aunt Cindy, Aunt Cathy, Mom, and Uncle Patrick

So that should wrap up the last couple of months. Ha! I promise to blog more often! 

Crazy?

I'm pretty sure Ryan officially thinks I'm nuts.

The other night, as I was cooking dinner, I got frustrated because I couldn't find the spices that I wanted to use. Then it hit me. I should organize the spice cabinet! Right away, I pulled out all of the spices, combined the several half-used bottles that were in the cabinet, and then made a list of all of the different spices we had. I alphabetized the spices and then taped the list to the inside of the cabinet door. When I finished, I proudly showed off my hard work to Ryan. Ta-da! He laughed at me and told me that I was a little obsessive. Is that a bad thing? I think not. :) Anyway, here's my finished product.  I didn't take a picture before, but I should have. It was a mess!

Happy Weekend!

Honeymoon Happiness

So for nine months, my sweet Ryan has been secretly planning our honeymoon. He worked so hard to make our very first vacation as a married couple the best that it could be. I actually couldn't believe that he was able to keep it secret like he did (nine months!!). But, he did it! On the night before our wedding, at our rehearsal dinner, he showed me a slideshow that he worked so hard on. The very last slide was the reveal of our destination. We were headed to Riviera Maya, Mexico to the El Dorado Resort and Spa. I had no idea that our honeymoon would be so stinkin' amazing! It was absolutely wonderful all the way around!! We spent the entire week being lazy on the beach in perfect weather and eating wonderful meals in top notch restaurants. Not to mention, I spent my 26th birthday on the beach with the man that I love! I've attached some of our pictures. I'm planning on making a post about the actual wedding soon!

Our fabulous Casita- steps away from the beach and with our own lounge pool and lazy river. So wonderful!

 Room service breakfast on the first morning. French toast and an omlet. Yum Yum!!

 My birthday lunch at JoJo's after spending the morning at the spa.

 So pretty and so yummy!

 Beach bums

 Another lazy day on the beach

 The best grilled lobster ever

 Fondue dinner date

 Oh yes, I went there...

Tina Turner Mousse and Creme Brulee :)