To Grandma's House We Go!

After driving clear across the country and getting somewhat moved in we headed back to Kansas and took Michael to the airport, sad day :( and then spent a nice relaxing week at Grandma Hyson's house. She lives in the middle of nowhere....and I love it! It really feels like I go back in time and time slows down there. On our way we stopped at Uncle Bobby's house. We got to see his remote control cars and matchbox car collection....the picture I have is just a very tiny portion of his collection! He has soooooooooooooooo many!!Then we were off to Grandma's! A wonderful week filled with quick scrabble, swimming, long dusty dirt roads, looking through piles of neat old family pictures, good food, knick knacks, crossword puzzles, sitting out under the stars listening to all the locust and catching lightning bugs, rumikub, the chicken shack, a flat tire, rhubarb cobbler, listening to old stories, thunder storms, frogs, lizards, turtles, and lots of creepy crawly things, watching huge spiders spin huge webs.....
The world's most delicious chicken....

This Spider would spin a huge web from the tree branches to the ground, just to cut it down before morning and start all over again the next night.....This is Tina....isn't she sweet......

This is the house grandma grew up in, just a few miles from where she lives now And this is the house grandpa grew up in not too far from Grandma's, such beautiful houses.....

The Whole Hog

Our first little southern BBQ adventure was to the Whole Hog Cafe. They had cute little pictures all over of baby pigs in little wagons, and sitting in little chairs with little sweaters on and little sunglasses.....which kind of made me feel a little bad for eating a pulled pork sandwich......but.....I got over it and it was delicious!

28 hours to Arkansas.....

First we got to stop in Utah to spend the night with Byron and the kids....sadly we got a way later start than we thought we would and the kids were already in bed :( So we only got to play with them for a couple hours in the morning....they were so cute....

Then on to Wyoming...................Colorado................I was pretty impressed with my photography skills, holding the camera and shooting while driving 80 MPH....dangerous? Maybe......but it was a long drive......Kansas......................

Oooooookalhoma.................

And Finally......a little blurry....but..........ARKANSAS!!!!!!!!

This one made me laugh.....oh Arkansas.........

I hate goodbyes.....

We had a little party the Sunday before we left with both of our familes. It was SO fun to hang out with everyone and talk and laugh and eat good food and spend some time together......to bad it meant we were moving hours and hours away in 2 days :(

And of course.....our family parties always end up in some sort of UFC wrestling..........

Sooooooo Gooooood!!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchilada Casserole

adapted from the Sister's Cafe

5 T. honey
5 T. fresh squeezed lime juice
1 T. chili powder
1 T. minced garlic
1 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded
1/2 a red onion sliced and sauted
5 flour tortillas
1 lb. monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces(or a little more if you like them saucy!) green enchilada sauce
1/2 C. heavy cream


Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic together and toss with the sauted red onion and shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour.


Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan, start layering a little sauce, torn tortillas, chicken, cheese, a little sauce, torn tortillas, chicken, cheese 2-3 layers or so thick, saving some sauce and some of the cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Then turn on broiler and let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy!! YUMMMM!!

I served mine with sour cream, pico de gallo, and cilantro.

P.S. I learned the coolest trick for shredding chicken! After its cooked put it in a bowl and use your hand mixer! Works like a charm, and shreds it perfectly! Its so easy.....

The 4th of July

I love love LOVE the 4th of July. We had a really fun weekend! Byron and the kids were in town which made it even better! We went down to Melba for a picnic and to sit and watch the fireworks with tons of friends and family. Melba has THE BEST firework show EVER!! My family started going several years ago, just the 6 of us...and our group has been growing and growing every year since, this year there were over 50 of us!! Once you go to Melba and experience the heat of the great balls of fire and thinking its just got to be the finale at least 3 times..... you just don't want to go anywhere else.

My Birthday Box

I have to show off my husbands handy work. I got the BEST birthday gift from him!

A few months back we went and walked around at the Eagle farmers market, and at all the jewelry booths they had the coolest display boxes to hang all the ear rings. I have quite a few ear rings, I LOVE them! But they all get lost or broken and tangled because I have nowhere to hang them all! Until now! My husband built me one of those boxes with his own 2 hands straight from memory....it was so sweet. He has been going over to his parents house every Wednesday for the past month or two. I thought he was just hanging out with his family, relaxing, and playing the piano...NOPE! He was working on this box just for me! I had no clue! It was such a fun surprise. Love him!!!
Its even more full now...... :)