Columbus Day Weekend and Felt Food

We had a good weekend. We just hung out at the house and ran errands. Played some basketball - we have a hoop in our front yard. At our house we have some talents, however basketball is not one of them! We had our friends over for dinner and made these caramel apples. Perfect for fall and they aren't cupcakes either! : )

Martha loves to be outside. She ran to the "park" and went all the way to the top and sat in the last part of sunlight for the day.

This Saturday was so productive for me. I created 4 new felt foods - in one day! Unbelievable. I'll share a new one with you each day of the week. This one I'm showing is my favorite. It's a slice of red velvet cake. The frosting makes it looks a piece of wedding cake.

My High Flying Adventure!

Today, I had one of the best adventures of my life!

I flew in a helicopter!

It was a "Huey" to be exact.

It's was a Spouse's Day thing on base.

We flew at 500 ft.

And at 100 mph.

Over the white sandy beaches.

It was awesome!

Here's the one I actually flew on:

The ride was so smooth!

It wasn't really that noisy.

I did have ear plugs in.

There was one time we went up a little and had to come back down.

Felt kinda like going down a rollercoaster.

So fun!

I was smiling the whole time.
Literally! : )

Flying past all the posh resorts.

Everybody on the beach would watch and wave.
The pilots would wave back.

Everyone was so proud of the military. I am too.

Flying over the crystal clear blue water.

I saw 10-15 dolphins. 1 shark. 3 sting rays. A huge school of fish. Tons of jelly fish.

Man, it was so awesome! I can't even describe it all. I swear the window has my fingerprints on it from pointing to everything I was seeing! It probably has a forehead smudge on it from me leaning to see everything too. : ) This was a great place to fly over too. So much to appreciate and see. Matt is so jealous. I'm sure he'll get his time soon. : )

Pumpkin Pie

Here's what I've been "baking" in my craft room! : )

Just in time for Thanksgiving. I think they turned out great. I love it when the idea in my head comes out exactly as I dreamt it would be.

Halloween Cupcakes!

Okay, I promise my next baking post won't be about cupcakes! : ) I just had to make some more cupcakes because I found these super-cute cake toppers at our local cake store and I couldn't resist. I used a Sprinkles pumpkin cake mix with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. My favorite topper is the spider with it's long legs. You could always use those black plastic spider rings if you don't have a local cake shop. I'm sure you can get a whole bag of rings at Walmart for $2. Cheap & easy cupcake decorations.

And an apology for this post to my sister-in-law, Jen, who detests spiders! Nothin' says love like a spider on a cupcake. haha.

We're In!

Sorry it's been a week since the last post. We moved into our house on Wednesday and have been painting and unpacking ever since! We are almost done. We like our house a lot. The best part of the house is the backyard. We have a swing set. It's just not a rinky-dink swing set either - it's serious. Sydney calls it "the park." I took this picture laying from our hammock. The hammock is also known as Matt's "park!" It's not a great picture of the set, but you get the idea. I'll take more pictures of the house and post them soon.

As you can see, Sydney is super happy to be outside. We can't even describe how much we love the backyard! The weather is perfect right now so we are outside often.

So today after church, the back part of the house if awfully quiet. I thought they were unpacking the closet. I guessed wrong.

Caught red handed! : )

Oktoberfest

Saturday night we went to Oktoberfest with our friends, Neil and Karisa and their daughter Annika. We had a good time. It was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be but Sydney had fun. That's all that matters in my book! There was a huge slide. Sydney tried it. It wasn't pretty but she was all smiles at the bottom!

There was a fire truck that she got to sit in.

And a clown that was making balloon creatures. Sydney loves balloons. She was so happy to receive a flower creation. Here she is "smelling" the flower.

We still had a little time after the festival so we went to an absolutely fantastic park. It was enclosed with 6 different slide structures, 2 splash areas, and a huge bubble tower. We'll definitely be going back. They are so many play parks and splash pads in this area - Sydney's dream come true!

Next weekend - Seafood Festival! : )

Chai + Cupcakes = Heavenly!

I love chai. I love cupcakes. And the two together make a great pair!

I first tried the chai cupcake at Sprinkles. It was great. That means I had to find a way to make my own. Sprinkles isn't readily available to me and they only serve it on Fridays. Granted, today is Friday - it's coincidental. I still don't have a kitchen yet so I went to my friends house we made these cupcakes. Absolutely delicious - the chai buttercream frosting is the best part. Yum-O! If you like chai I really recommend this recipe. Thanks Karisa!

While we are still on cupcakes, let take a look at some super cute ways to display them!

Holy Smokes! I love these. They are from Michelle Miller. I don't how to get them, but I'm going to try! : )

I might get this stand for our next party. It's from Martha Stewart Celebrates at Walmart. It's new so I don't know how easy it is to find.

Thanks for putting up with another cupcake post! This weekend we're going to Okoberfest, so the next post maybe about good ol' German bratwursts! : ) I'm excited about that too! Have a great weekend.

Frozen Custard

It's been like a vacation here. We are living in an extended stay hotel, Matt's off work, we eat out, go to the beach, shop, and do something on a daily basis. It's been fun. Don't get me wrong - I'm looking forward to moving into our new house soon. I'll just enjoy our vacation until then. Today, we went for some frozen custard at Shake's. We had one back in College Station so it brings back college day memories. It's very good. The best frozen custard is Goodberry's in North Carolina. A good runner-up is Ritter's in Ohio. Shake's comes in 3rd in my book. Here's Matt sundae. I didn't get anything that fun.

You like how I rate all these desserts?! I guess that one reason I like to travel so much. You get to taste and try all sorts of yummy stuff. I guess it's a good thing I like to workout too! : ) haha.

The High Speed Chase

On our way home from church today, we witnessed a high speed car chase. No joke! This red Camaro flew past us in the left lane, and immediately thought "I hope he gets a ticket for going that fast." I mean - it was insanely fast. Next thing we know here comes a police car flying past us. Then all of a sudden there is a huge dust cloud, the red Camaro had turned around (off the road) and flew past the other way (with the police car right after). Thankfully we had turned to get on base and away from the drama. Honestly, we both thought is was kinda cool (because you only see that on tv) and truly scary at the same time. Imagine the accident that the high speed car chase could produce. Anyway, that's our excitement for the day! : )

A walk to burn up the cupcake calories!

Yesterday, we went on a little walk at a nature park. The past couple days we have had beautiful mornings. We tried to walk on the beach the other day but it was actually kinda cold! As you can see, we are loving it here!

Now...to cupcakes! : ) We tried to go to that cupcake store that I had talked about previously but it was CLOSED! I couldn't believe! Not just closed on a Saturday, I mean shut down. Such a shame! I was so excited about Nutella cupcakes, but thankfully I found a recipe and will be trying it as soon as we move into our new home! Thankfully, we have a cute little cake bakery in town and I bought some cupcakes there. Here's the proof because they aren't goin' to last long! : )

Dog Demo and Splash Pad

So we went to a base play group today. They met at the dog training center and showed the kids what the dogs can do. It was real interesting. It was the first time I've seen a live demo. Syd really liked it too.

These dogs were so smart, obedient, and active. It makes Dixie look like, well....

haha. She's such a good dog!

They have a number of splash pads here in town. We took Sydney to one today. Here's a few pictures.

She was blissful!

Our 1st weekend back in Florida

We're doing great here. It's a good season - it's all "new."

A new place to live.

A new home to live in (we have found a home here, we are just waiting to move in).

A new season of the Martha Stewart Show. : ) Starts tomorrow.

A new season - fall. Even though it still feels like summer!

A new cupcake shop to visit! And get this - they have a nutella cupcake with chocolate frosting! (No worries - I'm also going to get a vanila/vanila!)

A new football season. I do love football.

A new church. We did visit one we liked today.

And last but not least - a new zoo!

Here's our pictures from today:

A baby monkey - so cute! It was born in May.

Sydney feeding the sheep.
Isn't this the cutest. It looks like the little boy is actually petting the otter!
You know these two!
The funniest of the day was this raccoon sitting in the hanging basket. He was pretty big to fit in the basket but he got in there none-the-less. And he popped right out when Matt threw him a animal cracker (legally - it wasn't just one of Syd's animal crackers).
So, anyway, we are doing well. As I said before, we did find a house. Hopefully everything will work out and will be able to move in soon. I'll keep you posted. It's really nice here and it reminds of a lot of our old home in the other part of Florida. Tomorrow, we're off to do some exploring and already have 2 social outtings with friends. It's always good to know people when you move! : )

We're Here!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we made it to Florida safe & sound.

I'll post again soon!

Matt's Graduation

So Matt graduated from his training yesterday. Whoo-hoo! That means we move - again! : )

Here he is getting a pin or something. I'm so proud. He's so highly educated these days! haha.

The family picture.

Sydney and her friends - Kaitlyn and Avery.
Me and my friend Laura.
Unfortunately, the picture I took with my other friend, Tiffeny, turned out blurry. She's the mom of Sydney's friends. It was really great meeting our friends here. We had a lot of fun and we'll miss them dearly.

Now, we are onto "the move". I don't even want to mention what number we're on. All I know is we'll have 4 different addresses by the end of this year. Crazy! I'm surprised anyone can even keep up with our current address these days! : ) So, this weekend is packing and we'll be in Florida next week! Maybe I'll be able to get some sun there since my doctor told me just last week I looked real pale! That's great, huh?!

Have a great weekend!

Abiliene Zoo

This past weekend, we went back to the Abiliene Zoo. It was a nice little day trip - very hot though!

Matt and Sydney:

Action shot of feeding the giraffe:

Little Rock Trip

So 2 weekends ago, Sydney and I went to visit my best friend, Lauren, in Little Rock. We had a great time. We just hung out. We did go to the Little Rock Zoo. It was fun. Here are some pictures:

Sydney - not happy!

Talking on the phone to dad. She loves talking to him on the cell phone.
Lauren also took us to a cupcake store! Whoo-hoo! : ) I had a vanilla and Sydney had some black bottom cupcake with cream cheese in the base. I have decided that every cupcake store I have to eat a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting. It's going to be my standard so I can rate cupcakes more efficiently. You know - to serve you, my faithful blog readers! haha.

And we're going to be moving in exactly one week! I can't believe it. We're very excited. Not for the moving process but to be back in Florida. Hopefully, all the hurricanes won't affect our move!