Happenings

Ciao! How is everyone? Things here are pretty good...busy, but good. The past two months have been extremely chaotic with summer vacations, house selling stuff, long distance relationship travels, etc.

We took our long awaited 4th of July trip to Fort Walton Beach with Holly, Chad and the boys. It was fabulous! We had beautiful white sandy beaches, clear water and no oil! Even the weather held out while we were there. We had two days of rain, which was not a big deal. We had plans to shop and we did it on those two days. The last half was nothing but sun, sun and more sun. We have lots of burns to prove it!

It was sad to see that tourism was down. I am really happy that we decided not to cancel. We were fortunate enough to find this site Destin Oil Spill, which was a huge help to us. Daily videos of the beaches were posted and you could see exactly what was going. Either way, I don't think we would have canceled. Our resort had several pools, a floating river, and hot tubs. We knew there was plenty for us to do if the beaches were less than stellar.

I won't bore you with the 300+ photos I ended up with, instead, I'll post a few of my favorites.

Our resort


The lazy river...very nice!


The beach in front of our resort


The beach looking the other way. This is the pier they shot the fireworks from. We were so close!


Cole and Ross working on sandcastles


Luke as a race car


Ross, Evan and Cole with their cool new skimboards


A little surprise in my bathroom drawer. You know whoever left those was probably peeved when they got home and found out they had left all of their good bras behind.


Evan got pooped on and Chad captured the moment on film


One our favorite photos of Luke being goofy


Farley family photo


Evan and I teaching the boys the proper way to take a photo


Apparently, I'm running for sheriff


The Crab Trap...a must eat!


Putt putt golf right across from The Crab Trap.

If anyone wants the information for the resort we stayed at, please contact me and I'll get it to you.

Alright, on to other things. I made this delish recipe yesterday and wanted to post it. 1.) It's super easy to make and 2.) It's sooooo good!

A couple of notes on the ingredients:
1.) I used 1 can of diced tomatoes, not fresh. I drained them for 5 minutes.
2.) I did not have fresh parsley; I used 1/4 cup dried.
3.) I only used 1 tsp. of salt.
4.) I used 4 frozen chicken breasts and defrosted them for 10 minutes. They were still slightly frozen and that's OK. I cooked the chicken for 30 minutes then turned off the oven and let the dish sit in there for another 10 minutes. It was perfect.

Before I go, I want to give a quick shout out to Chad. Yesterday was his birthday. I think he turned 50 or something. I kid, I kid. Evan said he had some birthday smacks he wants to give you when we see you this week. I wonder if they'll be upside the head? Anyway, hope you had a great day!

Off to run errands. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend...later!

Running barefoot

Someone please clue me in on this phenomenon. I have witnessed 3 people in the last month running barefoot. What??? I was at a stop light in downtown Dallas when this guy came running across the street barefoot. I stared for a long time to make sure I wasn’t crazy. I wasn't crazy. Then last week, I was coming from the Katy Trail and two girls passed me running barefoot. Again, I stared. I’m puzzled by the whole thing. I’m weird about clean feet and I think it’s a tiny bit gross and slightly strange. I’ve seen plenty of people run barefoot in the sand, but this seems dangerous. I could MAYBE see trying this technique on a running track that sees little else but sneaker traffic; however, running barefoot on a busy street that’s littered with trash and multiple construction or work crews, I say, “No thank you!” I kept thinking, what if one of them stepped on a nail or something…yikes! I’m sure there is a benefit to this, so please enlighten me with what it is. And, does it hurt? It looks like it would be painful.

The most amazing thing ever!

OK, well maybe not ever, but darn close. Yesterday, I was catching up on blog gossip and one blog led to another and I stumbled across an amazing discovery. Did you know you can make ice cream with one single ingredient? Believe it or not, you can. What is the single ingredient….frozen bananas? I laughed and thought, “Yeah, right.” Of course I tried it and it’s true. If you freeze bananas and place them in a food processor they will take on the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. It was weird and great all at the same time. You can even freeze it after processing it and it will scoop just like ice cream. If you don’t like bananas then you’re out of luck on this one. I can think of so many who would enjoy this...parents with small children (what says fun more than whipped bananas), dieters, people with intolerances to food, etc. The possibilities are endless.

My plan is to experiment by adding new things each night – yes, I will be making this every night. Tonight I added cinnamon and a splash of vanilla extract…yum! It would be so good with chocolate sauce on top and a dollop of Cool Whip. Maybe that will be tomorrow night’s experiment.

Anyway, I just had to share because I think this is the best thing ever since sliced bread.

Directions:

Slice and freeze two overripe bananas

Once frozen (at least 2-3 hours) place into a food processor and turn on. It will be chunky at first but continue processing. Then out of nowhere, magic happens. You'll see the bananas turn into this wonderful creamy frozen texture. Depending on the type of food processor you have, you may need to scrape the sides occasionally to get all of the banana chunks to the bottom. My processor has a "pulse" button which whips it up in less than a minute.

When it's done, you'll have something that looks like this:

(Oops! I ate it to fast and forgot to take a picture.)

What to do now? Eat and thank me later. Shoot me an e-mail or post a comment if you try this. I'm curious what you think.

Need another roadie for the drive?

copyright MTV

Am I the only one who knows what a roadie is? If I say, “Let’s grab a couple of roadies for our drive” do you know what I’m referring to? Apparently, I’m speaking my own language. Of course I know what the ‘real’ definition is, but it also means something else...at least in mind it does. And, this is not a Nebraska thing! Urban dictionary knows what I'm talking about! Please see my in-laws last two posts Farley Family. It's like I get no respect!!!

Oh my!

I had to post this picture because it's just too funny not to!  Plus, it's so wrong!  Evan and Scott passed this billboard yesterday driving through Dallas.  Be sure to read the website addresses on the bottom of the billboard, otherwise, it's not funny.  I keep looking at that poor cucumber's eyes...he knows where he's going and it ain't pretty!

House for Sale

For those of you who don't know, we are moving to St. Louis! We are beyond happy! We are very anxious to be moving closer to our loved ones. Both of our families and our friends will be just a few short hours from us.

Yesterday, we put the house up for sale. We have a beautiful home and I will be sad to leave it. However, we never had plans to stay here long term and we're never truly settled in. I will be very happy to make our last official state move and settle down permanently. I hope good things are ahead for us. Wish us luck in our journey!

If anyone is looking for a house in the Dallas area, I've included our listing below.


Must See! This gorgeous home sits on 2.99 acres and backs up to trees. Covered patio(s); split bedrooms; large master bedroom and bath; beautiful kitchen; open floor plan; living room with large fireplace; game room with home theater screen and projector; 3-car garage; 1200 square foot detached shop; landscaping and so much more! Only minutes from Rockwall, The Harbor, Lake Ray Hubbard and Downtown Dallas!

Interior Features:
Carpet, Hardwood floors, Ceramic tile floors, Game room with home theater screen and projector, Separate master shower, Master walk-in closet, Split Bedrooms, Breakfast Bar, Bedroom 2 is 10x11, Bedroom 3 is 11x11, Study is 13x12 with closet (could be 4th bedroom)

Exterior Features:
2.99 Acres (1.44 is woods), 30x40 detached shop with two-post car lift, Covered Porch(es) and Gutters

Birthday wishes and lots of snow

A couple of birthday wishes are in order on this beautiful snowy day!  Happy birthday Evan and Lisa!  Lisa, I hope my brother got you something really special for your birthday.  Evan, I got you nothing...just kidding.

I had to adjust my eyes and do a double take this morning.  I thought I was dreaming but I wasn't; it is really snowing in Texas! It is snowing A LOT here.  This has to be some sort of record snowfall.  We're still expecting another 3 inches!  They said it was coming but I didn't believe them.  I love these types of days when you wake up surprised and find out they were actually right!  I think my day will consist of: staying inside, doing some work and drinking lots of warm coffee.