House Projects

We've been doing all kinds of things around the house lately. 

We got a tv to go on the porch to enjoy as the weather cools down :)

We decided to paint our bedroom to open it up some. We had a dark brown accent wall and the other 3 walls were a lighter but still brown color. We went with gray and it looks amazing, we love it. We thought since we were painting it was also time to get rid of the Carolina blue bathroom we've had since we moved in. 

6 paint samples later we made a decision....

Back to the Grind

 Back to school means back to our busy fall fun... football, dinner with friends, enjoying time outside as it cools down. 

We had dinner with Trey's family at Bida Manda one night to celebrate lots of promotions!

Trey works from home 1-2 days a week so we decided to change my craft area into a legit office for him. It's in the guest room so the dogs enjoy hanging out on the bed while he works. I bought a new rug to go next to the bed and now Vegas thinks she's young again and will jump up on the bed! 

Beach Weekend

The last weekend in August we decided to enjoy one last summer beach weekend before football season starts back and life gets busy in the fall. We went for a walk on the beach Friday night after dinner and the sunset/moon were so beautiful. 

We lounged around for most of the weekend, took the dogs for walks on the beach, to play in the sound and just enjoyed family time. Doesn't get much better. 

Weekend at the River

My last weekend of freedom before heading back to work we headed a couple of hours east to the Pungo River. We stayed with Rick and Jennifer and her mom's trailer on the river. It was a gorgeous weekend, the boys did a lot of fishing while the girls got some sun and we all had plenty to drink. All while looking at gorgeous scenery. 

Apple Spice Pork Chops

My coworker found this recipe on pinterest and said it was delicious, so we tried it out and she was right! It made me feel like a fancy chef :) 

What You Need:

4 thick cut pork chops

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 medium apples, cut into thin wedges

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp chicken bouillon

1 cup water

salt & pepper

What You Do: 

Season the pork chops with salt and pepper

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet. Once the oil is hot put the pork chops in the pan. Let the chops cook for 5-7 minutes, flip and cook on the other side another 5-7 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. 

Put the apples, onion and butter in the skillet, stir and cook about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften. 

Add the bouillon, water, brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg to the skillet. Stir until everything is mixed together. Return the pork chops to the skillet and mix everything together (get the chops back down to the bottom, below onions and apples). 

Simmer everything together for about 10-15 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by about half. Stir occasionally, let the apples and onions soften. 

Disney World Summer 2015 - Part 2

Wednesday night we headed back in to Magic Kingdom. It's always so pretty at night! We used our fastpass+ to ride the Mine Train, saw the fireworks and the light show on the castle.  Magic Kingdom was open late that night so rode all kinds of rides we might not normally try to fit in - Dumbo, Barnstormer, etc. It was a lot of fun. 

Thursday morning we made it to Animal Kingdom bright and early and headed straight for the Safari, that's when the animals are usually up and moving and then we don't have to use a Fastpass for it if we just head straight there when the park opens the line isn't too bad. 

We walked through the Jungle Trek, rode the River Rapids (I got soaked) and rode Expedition Everest!

That night we had a surprise for mom since it was her birthday - we had reservations at the California Grill, one of their favorite restaurants on the top of the Contemporary that they don't usually splurge on. It was very enjoyable, delicious food and you get to come back to watch the MK fireworks from their observation deck. 

Friday we went to Hollywood Studios and I finally saw the Beauty & the Beast stage show! 

That evening we had dinner in the RV then did a little hotel bar hopping - the Wilderness Lodge bar and the Animal Kingdom Lodge bar. 

The dogs love to snuggle in grandma & grandpa's big bed in the RV. 

We spent our last day at EPCOT. We spent some time in Innovations, which we don't normally do. Trey and I did the Sum of all Thrills which you create your own roller coaster then get in a seat that virtually lets you ride your coaster, it was pretty neat. And it goes into some depth about how math is involved, showing you that you need more speed, height, etc to complete your track. 

For our last night we made reservations at the Garden Grill in The Land. Trey has never eaten there and I've only been there once, years ago. It's on a rotating platform and characters come around to greet you during your delicious family style meal. It was enjoyable and not terribly over priced. 

After dinner we were able to get in line for Soarin and for once the stand-by line wasn't too crazy long. After getting off the ride Trey and I sprinted over to Mexico to try to get one last delicious Passion Fruit Margarita before the park closed at 9:00. Well we got there at 8:57 and were not too happy when they wouldn't even let us in the bar and told us that last call was at 8:45. I wish I had known that before sprinting across the park. So instead we hopped on the monorail and ended up at the Polynesian bar. The bartender there was able to save the day and made us passion fruit margaritas even though they aren't on their menu!

We caught a glimpse of Magic Kingdom's fireworks taking the monorail back towards the campground. 

After a fun week in Disney we had to make the 10 hour trek back home :( The dogs were troopers and enjoyed sitting up on the dashboard seeing what was going on out there. 

Chad went  out of town the day we came back so it worked out nicely that we stopped the RV on his side of town and mom and I went to pick up Lucky. He was very excited to see us and ready to hop in the car and head to his grandma and grandpa's house!

It was an amazing week but it's always nice to be home to your bed :)

Disney World Summer 2015 - Part 1

As my birthday gift this year my parents took us to Disney! My mom's birthday is only a couple of weeks after mine so it was kind of a joint birthday adventure. They still have an annual pass from when we went in October and we took the RV to Fort Wilderness so we were able to take the dogs too :) 

Vegas, in her old age, has gotten a little weary of riding in a large moving home so we got her some anxiety meds for the ride and she did better than she has in the past. 

Yay Disney! 

On Sunday our first stop in EPCOT was the Coca Cola tasting room, I somehow have never tried all of these. I hadn't been missing out because they are disgusting!

We rode a few rides and then headed to the World Showcase. We had a snack and drinks at the Rose & Crown Pub and then went to watch the acrobats in China. They are amazing. 

We were impressed and excited that Snapchat had some cool filters for our location - the monorail saying and one for the globe

Monday morning we had reservations at 8:05 at the Crystal Palace restaurant but Magic Kingdom didn't open until 9:00. The point of the early reservation was to be able to go in before everyone else :) pretty cool! We even got a special shuttle from our campsite to the Magic Kingdom since transportation to the parks starts an hour before they open but we had to be walking in at 8am not just heading over there. So we walked in with a few others who also had early reservations but definitely not the normal huge crowd. 

More cool Snapchat filters

The other perk of going in early is that you should finish breakfast before the park even opens and can then hurry over to rides before the lines get long! We quickly rode Space Mountain twice and many other rides. 

We walked back to the Contemporary from Magic Kingdom and spotted Nana & Pop's brick along the way. From there we took the boat back to the campground. Since August in Florida isn't exactly amazing pretty much daily we would go back to the RV around lunch time, take the dogs to play at the dog park, lounge and nap inside the AC during the heat of the day and then head out again at night. 

That night we had extra special plans. For mom & dad's 40th anniversary gift we wanted to give them something that was unique and they wouldn't do for themselves. We found a fireworks cruise that leaves from the Boardwalk, tours you around that lake area and then heads over to EPCOT to see Illuminations up close and personal. 

We got extra lucky that night, Hollywood Studios was having their Frozen Summer Fun and actually did fireworks, so just as Illuminations ended we cruised over to the front gate area of Hollywood Studios and could see those fireworks too. 

Tuesday we went to check out the changing scene at Downtown Disney. They are doing lots of construction and updates. It should be pretty nice when it's complete. 

Then we headed in to Hollywood Studios. That night we got to see the Frozen Fireworks up close. Fireworks in Hollywood Studios are very close and personal as they don't have space in the "back" like Magic Kingdom does to set them off and the scraps even fall on you. 

Wednesday morning we headed into Magic Kingdom early again, but this time we were able to take the boat over. 

We had reservations inside the Be Our Guest restaurant for breakfast, just after park opening. The breakfast includes an entree of your choice, a pastry dish for the table to share and juice/coffee/soda. It was like $20 so a little pricey for not a huge amount of food but it was good food, a cool atmosphere and just a fun thing to check off the list. 

After breakfast we rode a few rides and then headed back for our mid day break!