Rain Rain Go Away

It had been pretty clear so we decided to take Dawson to the Bella Vista trail and creek. Dawson didn't really love swimming but he did it a couple of times. Then our friends Guy and Julie and their dogs Maddie and Ellie came along and they showed Dawson how it's done.
And then of course it started to pour. We stood under a bridge for a while but it didn't let up so we finally walked to our car (about a mile away). G&J had parked close so they were lucky. It wasn't too bad until we had about 1/3 of a mile left and then the bottom dropped out on us. Not too fun but we still had a good time for a few minutes.

Memorial Monday

Happy Memorial Day!
We had a good church picnic (for a little while). We got there at 3 to help set up and we had a good turn out (despite travels and the weather). And everything went fine until everyone had filled their plates an those of us who helped went through last and Scott and I just sat down with a plate of food and the rains came. It started pouring. So we all tried to stand under a little pavilion. It brought the picnic to an early finish.
What's Memorial day without a little rain? Today has started out to be pretty and we have plans to take Dawson on a trail and to swim again but it is also supossed to rain so we'll just see.
Enjoy the free day everyone!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Tomorrow afternoon/night is our annual church picnic. Scott and I will be donning red aprons to help as long as it's not cancelled due to rain. Since our last name starts with an S - we are supposed to bring a dessert. I wasn't sure what to bring until I watched a Paula Deen episode today that I had DVR'd and she made something that had my mouth watering. Red Velvet Cupcakes. I just finished making 24 for the picnic and I made 2 extra for Scott and I to sample. They were as good as I had imagined so I thought I'd share the recipe. Warning - the frosting is the yummiest I believe I've ever had. It will have you licking your fingers!

For the cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry.

The "Kellys"

Yesterday was a sad day for me. One of my very favorite people, Kelli, that I work with had her last day. She is going to work for one of the richest families in the world. (If you know where we live - you can guess who). ha! It's such an exciting opportunity for her but so sad for the rest of us because we love her so much. She is the sweetest person and always had a huge smile to greet us with every day.

I enjoyed sharing my name with her in the office. It often turned it to sentences like "the Kellys are planning a party" or "the Kellys are going to lunch" since we were pretty like minded.

So we had an ice cream party for her and that was fun. When you work in an office - you get used to people coming and going - but it's still always hard to lose one of your favorites! But the good news is she is just working a few blocks from here - so there will be lots of phone calls, e-mails and lunches ahead of us!

Ode to Reality TV

So Andy picked Tessa. Even though I wasn't really crazy about either girl (much less Andy) - I'm glad he didn't pick Bevin. She was just kind of needy and a little crazy. Do you really think they will get married and stay married?

So tonight is the big night. Jordin or Blake? I hope it will be Blake! I can't wait! I think either one will be great. I'm excited to see what they do.

I'm a little sad because after this week - there will nothing to watch. What will I do with all my time?

Steak - It's what's for dinner!

Scott's mom opening her birthday gifts

Scott's parents had decorative concrete put in their garage - GO hogs!

Thursday night my parents were in town and took Scott and I out for (what else?) - steak! They are leaving tomorrow to go to Romania for 10 days on a mission trip. This is my dad's second trip and my mom's first. I know they will have a wonderful time. My dad is going to try and update a trip blog so go here to read about what they are doing. He said he wouldn't update it until around Wednesday though.

This weekend we went to Magnolia to see my in-laws. After seven years together with Scott - I finally made it to the famous "Blossom Festival"! Magnolia has this great festival on the square that includes a steak cook-off. It's been a one hour special on the food network twice! They had 52 teams this year competing. They each cook 80 steaks and there is a big contest and then you can go and eat the steaks. They have a big parade on Main Street in the morning that all the teams ride in and pull their cookers behind them. Some teams just hang a sign on their cars and some go all out. My 2 favorite were the hawaiian float and the LSU/Arkansas float. There is just nothing better than a small town southern festival. We walked around the square and looked at all the crafts and little stores.
Scott's aunt, uncle and little cousin were also in town visiting. We had a good time spending time with family.

Dilemmas

I have a couple of dilemmas and I need to know - what would you do?

1. I told you that I got a free Sonic drink and then a reduced price sonic drink last week. Well - I didn't go to Sonic the first few days of this week. So I went today and the girl at the drive thru deal just said "pull around" because she knew it was me. When I got to the window she said "okay - $0.88." So now she is just making up prices for me. I mean - a free drink every few months would be great! But I can't let her make up low prices for me every day. That's just not ethical. So I already had wadded up extra money today to give her and told her to keep the change. So now I'm almost too stressed to go to Sonic every day. I don't want her just making up prices for me. Oh dear!

2. My big dilemma is this: I have totally gray hair. I inherited it from my Dad's side of the family. I started going gray in high school and probably for the last 5-6 years I have been totally gray. So I have to get my hair colored every 4 weeks. Every time I go - I make an appt for the next time. Also - I've had the same hair lady for the past 10 years and she's like a friend by now. She even drove to Flippin and did my hair for my wedding without me asking. But she's in Fayetteville and it's not the most convenient for me to get there all the time.
So I have an appt for 2 weeks from now but I had to re-schedule because I have a conflict. But I can't get in for almost 3 weeks after that. So that's almost 7 weeks with no hair color. Yikes - I will be a " blue hair" by then. So should I try to get in somewhere in Bentonville just this once and then go back to her? Or wait it out and maybe touch up my roots by myself? (I've done it before) When I have a baby - I plan to switch to someone up here because it will just be too difficult to get down there after that anyway. It's a little scary to try someone new but then again it will be scary if I go that long without color too.

Such HUGE problems! :-) What do you think?

Princeville and Limeades

Last night I had a couple of girls over to watch the Bachelor. He took the remaining three girls back to where he lives - Hawaii. He had dates with each one in Kauai and I was so excited because they had their dates where Scott and I went last year - in Princeville. My absolute favorite place on earth. Scott was just saying the day before that he just wanted to live in Room 305 (our room) forever. The bachelor and one of the girls sat on this exact hammock and kissed. :-)

I made a few treats and since I was having girls - I always like to make some kind of fun drink (instead of the usual diet coke or tea).......so I made Cherry Limeade and it was really good. This is the recipe.

CHERRY LIMEADE

2 Cans for frozen lime concentrate

1 2 liter of lemon-lime soda

1 jar of marrachino cherries

Put the lime concentrate in a large pitcher and pour the soda over. Empty the juice from the cherry jar into the pitcher and stir. Add in limes and cherries.

Sunday Wrap Up

1. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! I am very blessed to have such a wonderful mother. This morning our SS teacher had us name out words the describe our mothers and mine was "selfless". She has other qualities but she always put our needs before her own. And she was selfless with her time. She was always there for everything I did growing up - even though I'm sure it wasn't always how she would love to be spending her time - watching me in a spelling bee or playing 7th grade basketball on a Saturday morning - but she was there. She sacrificed a lot for me and my brother and I'm thankful for it.
2. Last night we got to go out to eat with Steve and Laurie and all of their parents. We were celebrating Steve's birthday to tomorrow. We had a good time and we REALLY enjoyed being entertained by Emily. She was just hilarious last night. She has such a fun personality. (and it didn't hurt that she called me "mama" a couple of times. She knows I love her as much as if she was my own. ha!)
3. Today Scott and I took Dawson for a walk at the Bella Vista trail. We had such a good time. It's 1.8 miles and of course by about 0.4 miles Dawson was dragging. (To his defense - it was 85 degrees.) But we took him down to a creek to get a drink and then he got his first try at swimming. We weren't sure if he would or not but I put him in and he instantly started dog paddling. He had the best time and once he was wet - he got a little pep in his step to finish the walk. We are going to go a lot more this summer so he can walk and swim.
4. I'm really sad because I failed to take pictures of #2 or #3.

Friday

First of all..........I went to Sonic yesterday morning and ordered my usual $1.75 large drink and instead I got handed a Route 44 for $1.50. Whooooo hoooo! They really did miss me last week! :-)
Last night we went to "Guess Who's Coming for Dinner" with our Sunday School class. This is a social we do where several couples host and they are told that 2 or 3 couples are coming but they don't know who and you are told whose house you are going to but not who else will be there. It's pretty fun.
We got to go to Jason and Lisa's house. I always have such a good time with them. They are the neatest couple. The other couple there is new to our class (Billy and Jessica) so it was good to get to know them a little better. They are a real fun couple - really funny and kind of country like us. They are expecting their first baby so it's an exciting time for them.
We ate BBQ and then played "Toss the Pigs" and "Taboo". We had a great time.
I had a great first week of taking over the "other" job. I think it's about to get hectic next week but it's one week down - just 9 to go!

America's Drive In

This morning started off so great! I go to Sonic AT LEAST once a day for a large vanilla diet coke. Almost every morning before work and sometimes in the afternoon so let's just say the car hops probably missed me last week while I was gone - I'm almost on a first name basis with them. Well, it finally paid off!

This morning I pulled up to the drive thru window and when I went to order (which sometimes they just say my order for me when I roll down the window), the girl said "just pull through" and when I got up there - she gave me a ROUTE 44 drink for free! I was SO excited!

It's the little things in life!

Happy Birthday to my sweet mother-in-law Judy!!!

Good news!

1. As of this Friday (if all goes well) - we have sold our car! This is my 4 runner that I love so much but we bought it and last year I got a company car. So it has sat in our garage while we continued to pay on it. So I finally decided to let it go. I sure will miss it but I won't miss the money we were throwing out the window each month.
2. My boss/friend is having her baby today! We first worked together at Wal-Mart 11 years ago and have remained friends and now she is my boss. ha! She and her husband tried a long time to have a baby so it's a blessing that she will be here today! We are just waiting on the call that Mackenzie Katherine has arrived!

3. The best news I have is that my little friend, Maddie, is FINISHED with her cancer treatments! They found a brain tumor on her in February 2006 and she has been taking chemo and radiation ever since and spent most of the year in the hospital. Her cancer is VERY serious and God is so good that she has made it through and has had no signs of it recurring. Here she is getting her last treatment! Her family is going to Walt Disney world next month with Make a Wish - I know that will be a week they will never forget!

Back to the Grind

Vacation is something I always look forward to so much every year but the down side is coming back and going back to real life.
The laundry is almost done, groceries are bought and we are all unpacked. The only thing left is to go back to work. I'm a little nervous because not only do I have a lot to catch up on tomorrow but my boss officially went on maternity leave on Friday (she's being induced on Tuesday) so I'm taking over her job (plus mine) for the next 10 weeks. It should be a FUN summer. ha! It will be a little rough but hopefully I can return the favor sometime in the next year. :-)

Vegas - Last Day 'The Stamps love to eat!"

I don't think they gave me enough gumbo!

My yummy crepe!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Scott's steak the last night

We got up early on Friday (our last day) and went to the Paris hotel for the breakfast buffet and it did not disappoint! We ate a ton of food and then had crepes that were SO good! We waddled back to our hotel and went to a premium outlet mall and shopped a little. We tried to lay by the pool for a while but it was cloudy and kind of cold so it didn't last long.
We went to a restaurant at Mandalay Bay for dinner. I had seafood gumbo that was so good and Scott had another good steak! We had planned to eat dessert at a different place but we couldn't fit it in.
We had a flight out this afternoon at 2 but we decided we'd rather try to get back early. We had had a fun time but we were kind of done with Las Vegas. We missed diet coke (they only have pepsi), sweet tea, southern accents, nice people, and most of all - Dawson. So we left our hotel at 6 this morning and luckily got on an early flight with seats together! We made it back to the Land of Opportunity around 3 this afternoon and now I have mounds of laundry to welcome me home.

Vegas - Day 4 & 5

Pots de creme - the BEST dessert!

In front of the fountain at the Wynn


The gardens at the Bellagio


The fountain at Ceasar's Palace

In front of the Paris Hotel

Our dinner tonight - so good!

We don't have much to write about yesterday. Scott had class until noon and then we checked out and went and ate lunch and did a little shopping and then checked into our next hotel and by the time we did that ..... it was late afternoon so we got ready and went to the New York New York hotel and ate dinner. Our new hotel was a good price but is less than exciting. We call it the bat cave because it is dark and dreary.
This morning we got up and went to the Paris hotel. We were going to eat the breakfast buffet but we got there kind of late and the line was so long we decided to wait until tomorrow so we just had a snack and then toured the Bellagio and Ceasar's Palace. Then we went to a mall and looked around and ate lunch. We came back to the hotel and sat at the pool for a little while. Tonight we went back to the Venetian. We were going to eat at Emeril Lagasse's restaurant but we didn't make reservations and the wait was forever so we went to another restaurant and it was wonderful! Then we went to another mall so Scott could go to an apple store. It was a nice night! Tomorrow is our last full day in vegas.

Vegas - Day 3

Today was a lot like yesterday. Scott was in class all day and I spent my time with a morning walk on the strip (I’m trying to make up for all the food we are eating) and time by the pool.

When Scott got back for the day – we got ready and walked to the Paris Hotel and ate at Mon Ami Gabi – a French Steak Restaurant. We had Steak Frites. It was good. Then we came back and went to the Wax Museum. We put some of our favorite pictures on here.

Then we walked around some more on the strip. Then we gambled the night away. (just kidding – then we went to a restaurant for dessert and called it a night).

Vegas - Day 2 "Let's get nerdy"

Scott left for class this morning at 8 and (MOM – quit reading this part) – I went for a walk on the strip. This was my favorite part of the day. The streets weren’t crowded and it was so nice outside and I walked for an hour and just looked around. I’m pretty sure I was the only person on the strip listening to Praise and worship music. (My mom told me “not to wander off by myself”. I’m still her little girl).

I spent the rest of the morning at the pool and then met Scott for lunch. When he got out in the afternoon – we got ready and then went to the Shops at the Forum at Ceasar’s Palace. The stores were WAY out of this girl’s Wal-Mart\Forever 21’s price range but it was fun to look. We ate dinner at Spago. I had seafood Paella and Scott had salmon but the portion was a little small so we had to make a stop at Cheesecake factory to get dessert.

When we were at Spago – there were 2 full tables of Microsoft nerds sitting next to us. I mean picture “Revenge of the nerds”. I heard them discussing “domains” at one point. The nerdiest one had on a shirt that said “Let’s get nerdy”. I can’t make this stuff up.