$200 hamburger deliciousness

last weekend we purchased a charcoal grill and we love it! i'm not sure how much we'll use our gas grill this summer after tasting the deliciousness that comes off this grill!  matt and i were inspired after watching primal grilling and bbq university on pbs late one saturday night. we learned a lot of grilling tips and some neat recipe ideas. steven raichlen is teh host and he's fun to watch. crazy hair, down to earth guy who has every kind of grill imaginable. his whole yard has grills everywhere and they're all going at once. you should watch him if you're interested in new grilling techniques. unfortunately, lately he has only been on at 2:00 in the morning so we've not been able to watch. tonight, however, i found him on at 8. good stuff! and, usually, he doesn't make the annoying "mmmm" sound after tasting his food. tonight he did, but it was mild. enough about primal grilling and on to us, specifically matt.

matt loves fire...in the winter he could just sit and watch our fire place for hours. grilling is just as much fun for him, poking, monitoring flames and smoke, basking in the aroma of the cooking meat and or smoking hickory chips. here he is lifting the lid to flip what we called our $200 burgers. after all was said and done: grill, charcoal, hickory chips, chimney starter, and food, it was a $200 meal. but soooo worth it. yummo!

                                                                                



we seasoned the burgers with gates original rub. first mixing it in the hamburger and then rubbing it on top to make sure there was enough flavor. gates seasoning is good stuff. we did use the gas grill that night too and grilled some onions brushed in olive oil mixed with garlic powder. i never thought i would enjoy just eating onions. i like them mixed in things but alone, not so much. grilled onions, caramelized were so delicious and made the hamburger that much better!

                                                                            as matt was cooking he kept commenting that they were going to be good and juicy. that they were. it helped that we didn't buy good hamburger...85% lean so there was a fair amount of fat floating around in there. hamburger is so expensive.... i was glad matt went into the store with me so he could see just how much groceries cost and why our weekly bill is so high, so often.

we paired our juicy burger with bush's baked beans and steak fries. i gave it 9/10 stars, it was that good. i wanted a second burger even though i was stuffed....i resisted and had another for dinner the following evening. unfortuntaly, it didn't live up to it's expectaions reheated so next time i may just have to indulge in two!  i should add that after the burgers were finished we still had hot coals and cooked some bone-in chicken breasts, also seasoned with gates original rub, for lunch the next day. oh my goodness, they were good too! the chicken tasted like it had been in a smoker. so moist, and delicious. and, unlike the burger, did not loose any flavor when reheated.

out on the town

last friday (july 16th) matt and i celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. we hadn't been out alone in a very long time - we really couldn't remember the last time. we weren't even alone on our anniversary last year because we had dinner with friends who share our anniversary. a great time though!

so the girls were dropped off at the grandparents' house. i was proud of myself for doing so well leaving sophie. she's a momma's girl and a bit finicky with a bottle so i was a little nervous. plus, i'd never left her for more than 30-45 minutes. she did great and had lots of fun playing with grandpa! molly enjoyed her one-on-one time with grandma.

meanwhile, matt and i were off to eat at fogo de chao on the plaza. it was a brazilian steakhouse that we were excited to try. before we even made it to the restaurant matt managed to do his first burn out in a mini van, jump a curb and almost hit a man carrying a little boy - the craziness of driving on the plaza and looking for a place to park. we finally found a spot a few blocks away on a side street. next time we'll just go straight for the side street!

once in the restaurant we were seated and explained how our dining experience would go. it started with a salad bar (huge by the way) and then when we were ready, we flipped a circular card and waiters with huge skewers of meat flocked to us. this restaurant is a vegetarians worst nightmare and a carnivores little piece of heaven on earth! there were about 15 cuts of meat to try (we didn't get to all of them). we leaned quickly that you must flip your card over to red when you don't want anymore meat. matt hadn't flipped his yet, saw three men coming and quickly flipped. they did an about face and searched for their next green-circled diner. it was hilarious!

hilarious kind of describes the dining experience (well, that and delicious!). whenever matt and i go to fancy restaurants we always laugh a lot. everything seems funny - from the weight of the silverware to understanding the menu. we think it's because we're not very fancy people and so when we try to be things get funny! matt said it's just a good thing we don't find applebees or chili's this funny!

after dinner we went to coldstone creamery. yum, yum, yum!! we'd never been there either and so were a bit confused on what to do there as well. the workers were getting a bit impatient with us and started singing a song while we were trying to decide! we walked out of there laughing too!

we ate our ice cream while riding around the plaza in a cinderella carriage. the night was beautiful and perfect for a carriage ride. what a wonderful way to celebrate 5 years of commitment to each other.

it's been awhile

whew! i finally have a chance to sit down and blog. i have so many things i have wanted to blog about lately but haven't had time to do it so i'll just catch everyone up with a short synopsis of things that have been going on.

i finished molly's shorts for her pajamas - those of you who don't know, i'm attempting to sew curious george pjs! the shorts turned out really well i thought, especially for my first pair! molly was so excited she put them on for the remainder of the evening and wore them well into the next day! but the best thing about all this was her sincere appreciation. about 30 minutes after i finished making them she came up to me and said, "thank you". made my day!

friday afternoon we switched sophie's medication for her acid reflux. she's now taking prevacid which should block the acid completely. it's been interesting giving it to her since it is in a disolvable pill form. we've figured out a system now! is it working you wonder? we're not sure. she spit up the first few doses (this was before we figured out the best system for administering it to her) and now she has a cold so this causes fussiness too. grrr....we're trusting this new medicine will do the trick though.

we celebrated my grandma's 75th birthday on saturday. it was fun getting together with family for good food and fun!

we surprised my grandma with a scrapbook full of memories!

molly had fun playing with all her cousins, especially sue.

sophie hung out by the fan with grandpa and grammy gayle to stay cool and quiet (it was a loud

fan so the noise soothed her, i think).

matt entertained us by rollerblading with skates that were too big and loosing control more than once.

we got a sam's club membership too. it was fun to walk around the store. i remember hating walking the store as a kid. my dad had to look at everything. now, i'm doing the same thing and find it fun. molly was annoyed (but she hadn't had a nap so she just might like the store)! we purchased diapers, energy bars, pork chops, strawberries, walnuts and water filters, and dishwasher soap.

sunday was spent at church and watching a great movie called the pianist. it based on a true story during wwii about the concentration camps and one man's journey to escape the nazis. very good! we love netflix!

probably the highlight of the entire weekend was that sophie rolled over! it was a struggle for her but she finally made it. i was shocked that she rolled over so soon - 2 1/2 months! and it wasn't a fluke - i can't count the number of times she's rolled over since. pretty much, if you put her on her back, she's on her stomach! fortunately she hasn't figured out how to roll on the couch yet (since it is her second favorite sleeping spot).

we went swimming yesterday also! the water wasn't too bad and molly enjoyed walking around in the pool, sliding on the frog slide and playing in the little fountain. sophie was great and just enjoyed being held as i walked around the pool and talked with the lifeguard who was a former basketball player of mine.

last but not least, story time at the library started up again today. oh how we've missed it. i say we because not only did molly miss it, but i did too! it's my time to gab with friends and catch up. molly was so excited to go and thoroughly enjoyed herself. she listened so intently to the story, danced the freeze dance with daddy, had the biggest grin on her face during the parachute and led the group in the marching band!

he's a sucker!

matt is a sucker when it comes to molly. basically she's got him wrapped around his finger and he just melts when she asks him something or does something cute. i love that they have a close relationship - i think it's important for a father to have a close relationship with his children. matt took molly to wal-mart several weeks ago to get a few things and whenever they go together they make sure to stop off at the toy aisles and look around. molly loves trains and thomas the tank engine and matt had been eyeing the little thomas train set that runs on batteries. so he surprised her and bought it. when they got home, he had me set it all up while he kept molly outside and when she walked in, thomas was chugging around the living room!

a couple weeks ago, matt decided (at 8:30 at night) that molly needed more cars and tracks to add to her train set. so, off we went to get more things to add to thomas. when we got home and it was set up, i then realized that this train set is not just for molly but for matt. he's fascinated with the train going around in a circle and loves making the track go different directions. such a kid at heart - i love it! molly does enjoy the larger track as well, and the fact that thomas is now pulling cargo. we got the farm set and she has fun putting her animals out around the track and then periodically stopping the train to give them hay to eat or milk to drink. she sets all her people up around the train to watch also.

sewing!

matt surprised me with a sewing machine today. it was supposed to wait until christmas but he said he wanted me to have it in case i wanted to make anything for the upcoming holidays! isn't he sweet!!! : ) when i got home from the awards ceremony at school he told me to go and look at what domino had done on our bed. i was scared to death thinking something was wrong with my cat. matt sensed my panic and assured me domino was just fine; it wasn't bad. i walked into our room and he told me to lift up the comforter - and there it was!

for those of you who know me well, in the past i've been nothing of a sewer, much less liking anything femine like sewing. scrapbooking was about as crafty as i would get. in fact, in middle school when i was forced to take home ec i did terrible on my sewing project. sure i got an A but my mom did most of the sewing because she got so tired of having to rip out all my seams! i've never sewed since.

when i started reading the instructions on how to thread the machine i thought it looked extremely complicated and doubted my abilities to do this easily. molly went down for her nap and i hunkered down on it. i got it right on the first try and sewed a straight line! (well, for the most part - i need some pins to hold the material still!) it was much easier than i thought.

my first project - an apron! i've been wanting one and get tired of grease splattering on my shirts. i always mean to buy one but never do so now, i'm going to make one! then i'm going to make molly a little one to wear when she cooks at her kitchen and helps me! if all turns out well, i'll post pictures. not sure how long this will all take.

my amazing hubby

today matt and i celebrated four wonderful years of marriage. it's hard to believe it's already been four years, yet in some sense, it's easy to see. we've gone from renting to home ownership to now, selling our home. we've been blessed with a wonderful, beautiful daughter who constantly brings us joy and keeps us on our toes. we've traveled a few places and had a lot of fun together.

when i set out looking for a husband, i knew i wanted to find one that would love me for who i was and am and most importantly, love God. i found him. who else, but my dear matt would want me to be as comfortable as possible and wear basketball shorts and t-shirt anytime i pleased. my dad always told me i might have to put on a dress and get a little more girly to find the right guy...nope, i wasn't going to do it. somehow i knew God would provide the man for me that would accept me basketball shorts and all!

matt is an amazing husband. he's willing to do anything for me shows he cares in the little things. for example, while i cook dinner he takes molly outside to play so i'm not interrupted. this is a huge relief since she likes to be a "big helper". matt keeps things fun and interesting with a weird dance or imitation. he's always making me laugh! :) when we had molly we were in a position where we didn't want to send her to a sitter and his job was in limbo so he quit and was a stay-at-home dad for almost 9 months. this was a great eye opener for him and now he understands that being a stay-at-home parent is a full time job and appreciates me even more! i loved that he stayed home with molly. they have a great bond and it saved both of us the stress of a babysitter. now, he's back at work, making an hour and fifteen minute drive both ways, so i can stay at home and take care of molly. his sacrifice to make the drive so we can survive on only one income means so much to me as i only desired to be at home.

there's so much more i could say but i'll save it for later. so with four years behind us, who knows what the future holds but one thing i know, there's many more to come!! i love you honey! ;)