24 + 2 hours

Over the weekend my mom and her new husband Chuck came in town to visit. A quick visit that is. Their able to fly for free via Stand By thanks to their work at American Airlines. They were set to arrive just before noon on Saturday so the hubbs and I headed down to Nashville early to do a little window shopping. We spent the morning checking out some of our go to stores before heading to the airport. We had plans to have lunch at one of our all time favorite eateries, Loveless Cafe. Oh my mouth was already watering before we even got their. We ended up having to wait about a hour for our table. Fine by me, as long as it meant I'd be getting some of those mouth watering biscuits at some point or another. I love the little shops around the property that your able to walk through and check out while you wait. It helps pass the time. After a bit of shopping we found and picnic table outside where we sat, relaxed and caught up a bit while we waited.

Lunch was absolutely fabulous, there's just no other way to put it. I had the Pork BBQ Plate with a side of Fried Okra and Green Beans. I normally go for the Chicken N Waffles but decided to step out of my box and try something different. It didn't disappoint either.

After lunch we headed to the Grand Ole Opry, we'd driven by several times but never gotten out and actually walked around or toured it. The Grand Ole Opry was the one thing Chuck wanted to see while he was here. Who am I to interject, I'd never been either so it was a win win for both of us. We eventually started to make our way back to town, it was only around 4pm but it had already been a long long day.

We drove them through Downtown Clarksville on our way home, when they suddenly asked if there was a spot close by they could get a picture with the state sign. DONE, we said. They where able to mark TN and KY off their list. Perks of living so close to the state boards I suppose.

For dinner I had plans to make some tasty Pizza and Salad. I already cut up all the veggies and prepped them the night before along with making the pizza dough crust. Everything just had to put together and baked. On the menu was a BBQ Chicken Pizza and a Supreme. We had a friend stop by so he joined us for dinner and everyone seemed to love the pizza's. This is the second time recently that we have made pizza at home and I forget how much fun it is.

We followed dinner up with a trip in the Westy up to Berry Bear for some Frozen Yogurt. Oh so yummy. Shortly later we called it a night, after all the hubbs and I had been up and on the go since 6am that morning.

Oh the breakfast menu for this morning as nothing other than some tasty Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing. Working ahead to save time this morning I made up the Roll's last night so they simply just had to be baked this morning. Since I had double the recipe it took a bit longer to cook but let me tell you they didn't disappoint at all. These are our Go To Cinnamon Roll's we'll never buy store bought canned or frozen ever again. We've made these a good few times now, so I've pretty much got it down to a science. They where a Win and Guest approved.

After breakfast the hubbs had to head into work for a few hours, total bummer. Mom, Chuck and I took the pups for a walk around the block, and then relaxed watching a movie before heading to Miss Lucille's to do a little shopping. Unfortunately after our little Antiquing journey it was time to head to the airport to drop them off. They had a flight out at 2:20 that afternoon. Like I said it was a SHORT visit. But it was really good to see them. I really wish they could have stayed longer but any time is better than none I suppose right. Hopefully they'll be able to come back out again soon.

I didn't take many pictures at all while they where here. Things seemed so busy that I didn't even pull my phone out most of the time.    

Gone In The Blink of a Eye

It seems like forever since I've last blogged and well if we're being honest it really has been forever. I feel like we've done so much since the New Year started and I haven't had the chance or taken the time to sit down and document it. I want to keep up with this here blog of mine for my own personal self. Being able to look back years from now and read through our journey's is something I know I'll enjoy. Sometimes I feel like we just get caught up living in the moment and enjoying life that the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of the computer. Even more so now that I'm taking 3 classes, 2 of which are online, so that tends to consume a bit of my time.

Over the last few weeks we've enjoyed a few outings around town and into Kentucky. We went up to BowlingGreen, KY and toured the Lost River Cave which was really neat. We did a little shopping around town and grabbed lunch at Chuy's Mexican Restaurant before heading back home. We really did enjoy ourselves and it was so nice to get away and explore a city we hadn't yet been to.

The hubbs had a week where he was working some late nights for awhile. These guys really missed him and would sit at the entry way just waiting for him to walk through the door. Poor puppies miss their daddy.

Oh the Snow, the first winter I was here it was pretty and I enjoyed it. Now I'm just over it. Although I am not very comfortable driving in it I have managed to get around and make it to work on the day's we where open. I think the pups are still a little unsure of it. Sometimes they seem to not mind it and then other times they seem to hate it and won't even go off the back porch when we let them outside. We took them out for a walk and they just wanted to lick it and try to eat it the whole way. I'm ready for Spring, Warm Weather and FLIP FLOPS please!!!

One snowy afternoon the hubbs decided it would be a great idea to make homemade pizza for dinner. Sounded delicious to me, however we didn't really have anything at home to make pizza with. I told him if he drove we could go to the store and get what we needed, so that we did and this was here was created. Let me tell you it as simply fabulous. I can't believe we don't do homemade (crust included might I add) more often. It's so fun and tasty.

The following morning we had big plans for breakfast, a biscuit, sausage and gravy bake. I came across this recipe on pinterest a while back and had been itching to try it. So of course being snowed in, this seemed like the perfect time. And since I had all the time in the world I figured I'd try my hand at homemade biscuits. There's first for everything right. OMG they came out so so good. I was in heaven. And it was so easy. All this time it seemed so daunting so I never tried making them. I don't know that I'll ever buy store biscuits again or even a mix.

The breakfast casserole turned out simply fabulous and we even had it for left over's the next day.

There was about a two week period just recently where the hubbs was gone for training. Here but gone. I had a much needed girls day with two of my favorite people here. We met up for pedicure, followed by Chinese for dinner. From there we went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a craft to work on while we Skyped and watched a movie with Amy's Mom and Sister that live in Utah. It was so much fun. We had yummy snacks, lots of laughs and all managed to work on our cross stitch that we picked out a bit. I don't know that any of us really paid much attention to the movie although I was totally fine with that. It was just what I needed. I didn't get home that night till almost 1am and yet I was still wide awake the next morning at like 6:30-7:00am. Thankfully with the hubbs being away and needing to work on school work I had a lazy day to myself with the pups.

Taco Monday: sure it would have sounded more catchy being Taco Tuesday but it was a Monday night. I went and had our taxes done and the hubbs cooked up the chicken for me so I could get dinner going quickly when I got home. Another one we haven't had in a good long while. These where Oven Baked Cheesy Tacos and let's just say, they where so good. I could have stuffed my face with one more. But I chose not to and saved it for my lunch the next day and it was just as good then to. Now the rice on the other hand, not really sure what went wrong there but it wasn't all that great. I'm a huge fan of rice to, so I was a bit disappointed. Thankfully the taco's made up for it.

Thursday night we had a Hail and Farewell at The Blackhorse downtown. It's always nice to get out with the hubbs and enjoy a evening together. I still don't know many wives in his company and this was a Battalion level event so there was quite a few people I didn't even recognize. It was only Platoon SGT's and up which made it a small quant gathering.

I had originally made cookies for a few of the girls at work and well long story short my annoying very very bad dogs some home managed to get the entire tray of 4 dozen cookies off the kitchen counter while I work and ate the entire thing. You can bet they got sick and threw up and I didn't feel the least bit sorry for them. I was so mad. So after the Hail and Farewell I decided to make some homemade brownies to take instead. I needed something easy and quick that I could pull out of the oven and cover to let it cool. Of course they couldn't be just any old brownies. I had to fancy them up a bit. I made up some peanut butter cookie dough and dropped spoonful's in the brownie mixture and topped them with sprinkles. Boy let me say they turned out great. I was still mad about the cookies but I think this ended up being just a tad bit better than what the cookies would've been.

Friday at work the kiddo's had their Valentines Exchange and Party. They had so much fun and defiantly loaded up on some tasty treats and cute cards. I made these cute little Gold Fish Valentines for them and I love the way they came out. So simply yet so cute.