SUMMER

The past few weeks went by in a blur. David went to San Antonio for a training for the week, I had my last day of teaching and drove to San Antonio to meet him, we spent the weekend with our cousins, then David dropped me at the airport in Dallas and I spent last week taking care of my nephews. It is amazing that it is already June and we could not be more excited that summer is here!
The Alamo

The Riggs Family enjoying the San Antonio sights..

Enjoying Texas nature at its best...

The flamingos at Sea World were fantastic, the 104' temps...not so much!

David and I had an amazing Mexican dinner on the River Walk

The historic hotel that we stayed in, the St. Anthony was so beautiful. David scored big points by surprising me with this fantastic experience.

We had a beautiful breakfast with our darling friends and family...the Riggs

Cousins

Brie and Scott were so sweet to pick me up at the airport and to let me stay at their fantastic apartment in Portland

Great shopping on 23rd with Michelle and Brie

Sweet Michelle, oh how we are so blessed to have such great friends to go through life's adventures with!

It was fun to get connected with my brother for lunch and a drop off to my parents

Elijah turned 5 while I was there...he is such a fun little boy!

It was perfect timing for me to get out and take a break from Alisa's boys and see Dillon and Luke in their Spring Musical

Grandma with her boys...being able to spend time with my parents was such a blessing.

It was an amazing week with Elijah and Rowan and it was so much fun to see Elijah's school, speech class, and horse back riding..

And thank goodness we had little Rowan to keep us laughing through all of the fun adventures the week provided.

Can't wait to see what other fun adventures the summer will bring us!

Thai Night

David and I have been enjoying hosting people in our home for various dinners and parties. This weekend we had the new captains in his office over for a "welcome to Sheppard AFB gathering. It was a really fun evening and we loved getting to know them better. With people leaving and new people joining the office, it is truly setting in that a new chapter is beginning.



For this dinner we had a vegan joining us, so I jumped online and found some great Thai recipes. The menu included:

coconut lemongrass soup served with rice

pad thai served with curried chicken on the side

raspberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream pie


The food turned out great and it was a fun night for all!

EASTER

The week of David's birthday he was gone to Alabama for training. So on Friday I picked him up in Dallas and we enjoyed a night on the town. We ate dinner at a fantastic Mexican restaurant in Grapevine and stayed at a great hotel. Saturday we ran errands in the city, did some shopping for summer clothes, and went back to Grapevine for their Farmer’s Market. It was a completely relaxing two days but we were excited to get back to McCovey and celebrate Easter here in “The Falls”.

It is so crazy that Easter is already here, this spring has gone by so quickly, but we had a great day attending mass at our church and then opening Easter baskets that we gave to each other…


David’s parents sent Mac an Easter Egg with a dog bone in it, so of course it was hidden, he found it, got it open and enjoyed every morsel of his treat!

Easter cookies were baked and decorated and plated to be handed out to neighbors and coworkers.

Alleluia, He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

SEATTLE

Last month we took a long weekend to head up to the Northwest, and it was amazing! Here are some photos to show you how our weekend went…

We spent the night with David’s grandparents at their gorgeous home on the Puget Sound. It was such a beautiful day and of course Nonnie made incredible food, Papa had some fun projects for David to complete, and we enjoyed relaxing by the water.


I was so lucky to spend time with my dear friend Harmony. We met for coffee and we also had a slumber party complete with a bottle of wine!

Thank goodness for Aunt Teri and her beautiful home! We truly enjoyed relaxing at her home, eating her amazing cooking, and sharing a ton of laughs!

The reason for the weekend visit to the Northwest was that my dear friend Kate got married! Friday we enjoyed pedicures, the rehearsal, and the fantastic rehearsal dinner at the Crab Pot.



Saturday was such a blast, getting ready, spending great girl time and then celebrating the love and commitment of Sam and Kate.




Sunday we could not have been luckier than to spend the day celebrating our friends Tyler and Melissa and the birth of their daughter. Melissa looks amazing and it was even more fun to celebrate the upcoming birth of baby Green with our friends Erik and Jenni. What fun to have the college roommates and the “girlfriends” (now wives) together again.



What a perfect weekend it was! We wish Kate and Sam a life full of joy and love and Tyler and Melissa a fun new chapter with their happy and healthy new baby girl!

FRENCH NIGHT

We had our monthly Supper Club at our house this month and the theme was, "A Spring Evening in Paris" the menu included:

L'Apéritif
Champagne and Goat Cheese Tomato Tart

L'Entrée (Appetizer)
Cheese Soufflé (served with a green salad brought by Laurel)

Le Plat Principal (Main course)
Beef Bourguignon served on a bed of Buttered Egg Noodles

Le Dessert
Mousse au Chocolat and Chocolate Truffles

We met our guests at the door with a glass of champagne and a dish of green olives marinated in citrus infused olive oil (this was a totally easy recipe that tasted AMAZING)!

There are three couples in Supper Club, we all enjoy cooking and sampling fine foods! Here is the group enjoying champagne and the goat cheese and tomato tart.

Our table decor included black placemats and napkins, silver chargers, our yellow plates, white tulips and white pillar candles.

These were all new recipes for me and I will admit that I was a bit nervous because I had heard that souffles can be finicky and that mousse is hard to make light and airy--but luckily it all tasted great and looked like it was supposed to! I love being able to try new recipes and I really enjoy being pushed to step out of my culinary comfort zone. Many laughs were shared throughout the evening and the bottles of wine flowed as fluidly as the conversation. It was a great spring evening!

82nd Training Wing Awards Dinner

Tonight we had a great time at the awards dinner for the training wing that David is attached to. It was a great time had by all and a fun reason to get dressed up! What a perfect way to start the weekend off...


The JAG office with the speaker, General Stephen Lorenz, who was both funny and inspiring as he shared his take on leadership.

A great evening, a good memory, and a perfect way to celebrate being at Sheppard for one year!

SPRING IN TEXAS

Spring is here and it is heavenly! Single blades of bright green grass are sprouting up in the midst of the brown we have been seeing for months. The weather is in the 70's and above everyday. There is a warm breeze in the evenings that allows us to enjoy our back patio AND there has been a complete overhaul on our home with all things...SPRING!

Enjoying an evening outside together as a family...simply the best of life's little gifts!

Nothing says spring like an egg tree! The branches for my tree are from a dead bush in our front yard that I painted and stuck in the vase...always LOVE when you have things around to help make decorations personal! Also, probably my favorite part of spring is that I can stick these little "nests" and eggs all around our home to make it more festive.

Even the floor vase got a sprucing up--with new buds (that Mac loves to try and nibble on)!

When my mom was here we found this fantastic server at TJ MAXX and I knew that it would be PERFECT for a serving piece and a table center piece...these green moss balls are from the dollar store and they are truly my new favorite thing in the world!

The spring mantle was such a joy to put together and truly made my heart (and our living room) feel refreshed.

The vases are all from the thrift store and I got them for $2 a piece, then I spray painted them to make them the same and set to work on painting an old framed picture that I wasn't using....the frame is the same spray paint as the vases and the center is chalkboard board paint...embellished with a great spring quote and some more dollar store moss balls.

Who doesn't love candy in apothecary jars? My favorite part of the changing of the seasons, is changing the jelly belly colors out...

The entrance to our home is so cheerful with our save the date photo in one of my favorite, bright, spring frames and of course...more eggs in their nest :) But where did I get the moss wreath...I bet you are wondering...

Well...the moss wreath...I MADE! For $6 I was able to make a wreath that will last through the spring and it is so cute. I used a Styrofoam wreath, glue gun, sheets of moss from the hobby lobby and some green sheer ribbon...and here it is!

I know that there are some days when everyone feels a little low, or life seems a little hard...but I can promise a little spring in your life will go a long way to making your heart smile every time you walk into the room!
Happy Spring Y'all!