Mole Hatred

No... I'm not talking about my hatred for sexy moles like the one that Enrique Iglesias got removed.

I'm talking about the creepy-looking rodents that tear up your yard and leave it so uneven that I'm afraid even my labs will start falling into the tunnels.
How did we find out we have moles? Let's turn to our wonderful four-legged, curious children to the answer to that question. Bailey (the baby) decided to make a 'friend' out of one of the young moles early Tuesday morning. At first I thought it was a mouse, but once I realized there was no ears, it had creepy hands and that the thing didn't really have eyes.... I put two and two together. Luckily, our yard isn't that bad meaning we caught the bastards early! I'm borrowing this contraption, that almost looks like it's from medieval times, to try and capture this animal before it decides to take a 4-month winter nap!

Book Review - Something Blue

After several hours in the car this past weekend on a visit to a family wedding in Oklahoma, I finally finished the book Something Blue by Emily Giffin. Just so everyone is aware, I've never been a big 'reader'. Growing up, reading gave me headaches, therefore leading to a distaste for enjoyable reading.

Lately however, with the help of some suggestions from friends, I've picked up this 'sport' and have become quite fond of reading... as long as the book is right! My favorite book so far was PS I Love You when I realized that books could actually make me cry like a baby in public places (yes... it was embarassing!).

Back to Something Blue. Emily is a great writer with a nack for knowing exactly what late 20 to early 30 year olds are thinking. From relationships to jobs to unexpected pregnacies, this book covers it all. The story of an extremely materialistic girl and her journey to modesty and true happiness was one that I really enjoyed. I would give this book an A and recommend it to anyone in that age category!

Well.... I survived!!!

Derek and I both ran the Kansas City Half Marathon Saturday the 18th and got two good times! My goal was to come in under 2 hrs 45 min and I finished in 2 hrs 29 min! Derek's goal was 2 hrs and he finished in 1 hr 58 min! I ran for 13 MILES STRAIGHT with not a single stop or walk!! First time in my entire life! Having both families there to support us meant a lot and helped us finish strong! I feel so proud to have achieved this, especially with the number of hills in the course! I will say though.... the last 2 miles were complete "mind over body". I had to pretty much yell at myself to keep moving and to not fall over! The crowds at the end helped you forget the pain and finish strong.... as well as remembering that I gave up Starbucks this week and can't WAIT to go snuggle up with one.

Derek and I both crossed off "complete a marathon before we die" from our bucket list though! This was plenty long enough..... and the fact that our bodies were shutting down at mile 12 meant that they agreed as well.

Honey Chicken Kabobs

We had some friends over this weekend and since I'm on the cooking kick, here's the kabobs that we tried and loved. They probably could have marinated even longer, but we didn't have time!

INGREDIENTS
•1/4 cup vegetable oil
•1/3 cup honey
•1/3 cup soy sauce
•1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
•8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
•2 cloves garlic
•5 small onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
•2 red bell peppers, cut into 2 inch pieces
•skewers
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Before adding chicken, reserve a small amount of marinade to brush onto kabobs while cooking. Place the chicken, garlic, onions and peppers in the bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 3 hours (the longer the better).
2.Preheat the grill for high heat.
3.Drain marinade from the chicken and vegetables, and discard marinade. Thread chicken and vegetables alternately onto the skewers.
4.Lightly oil the grill grate. Place the skewers on the grill. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until chicken juices run clear. Turn and brush with reserved marinade frequently.

Yummy Catfish Crabcakes!

I found an awesome recipe and made it last night for Derek. We both LOVED it and it was really easy to make.

Here it is in case anyone needs a good one -

INGREDIENTS
• 1 pound catfish fillets
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning, or to taste
• 2 1/2 cups coarsely crushed buttery round crackers
• 1 tablespoon creamy salad dressing (e.g. Miracle Whip)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup vegetable oil (for frying)
DIRECTIONS
1. Place catfish in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until fish flakes easily with a fork. Drain off water, and mash up the fish. Stir in the onion, mustard, salad dressing, Old Bay, cracker crumbs and egg. Mix until evenly blended.
2. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Form the fish mixture into patties, and fry in the hot oil for 5-6 min on each side or until golden brown.
3. Drain on paper towels, and serve hot.

EUROPE!

While writing this blog, I'm already contemplating getting some lottery tickets tonight so that I can win big and move to Paris! Although London and Rome were great, I fell in love with Paris and can't wait to go back there in the future. Here's the short version of our trip along with only a few of the 550 pictures we took. We arrived in London after 6-7 hours of sleep on the plane and were excited to just get to our hotel and hit the town! Our hotel was tiny but in Covent Garden (one of the best areas of London) and we had a great view on a main street. Over the next three days we managed to see almost all of the major historical sites in London. The best for me was Buckingham Palace! In August and September the Royal Family travels on vacation and their state rooms are open for tours. Those 19 rooms are used extensively by the Queen to entertain their guests and it was pretty interesting. London pictures below.
Ratings:
City: A
Sites: A-
Food: B
People: B-

Then, after 12 years of running smoothly, there was a fire in the Chunnel only 12 hours before we were supposed to ride it over to Paris. Without getting into the entire story, we managed to find a last minute flight to Amsterdam airport where we would then take a train down to Paris. We checked out about 3:30am and caught a taxi to the airport where there was not a single sole! 24 hours without sleep, not to mention the fact that our bodies were already messed up with the 6 hour time change! Regardless, we made it to beautiful Paris only a couple hours after we were originally supposed to and our hotel was so adorable. We spent the next few days touring the amazing sites, loving the perfect weather and enjoying being in the most romantic city in the world! I fell in love with the Eifel tower and was fortunate to see it two different days (once at night lit up and once during the day!). Pictures below.
Ratings:
City: A+
Sites: A+
Food: C
People: B

The last night in Paris was spent sleeping in our cabin on an overnight train! We ended up stopping in Switzerland (we were asleep) and Brussels to let other passengers on. Views of wine country also zipped by in the morning as we passed through that area on the train. Arriving in Rome was a big change as there was trash and graffiti all over the city! Our hotel was the much larger, however, and came equipped with an actual bidet in our room (Yes....I had been looking forward to testing one out!). The sites over the next few days here were the oldest we saw and definitely worth the trip. The Coliseum was everything you would imagine and I was very excited to see the famed Treve Fountain! We drank tons of wine, burned out the phrase "When in Rome" completely and ate tons of pasta. Rome pictures below.
Ratings:
City: B- (graffiti and trash everywhere)
Sites: A+
Food: A+
People: B+ (not sure if they know what deodorant is)

Finally – The last picture is of my personal tour guide that I was lucky to have with me the whole trip. He came fully loaded with backpack, water and our travel book and even gave short histories on every site we saw!

All in all we were very fortunate to have taken such a fabulous trip!

Test post to get this thing going!

Just trying to test this new blogging thing so that I can get it up and running! Meanwhile, let's post a picture of our two children!....

Testing out a video of the girls (Lacy is only at the end on the left).....