Dog Days of Summer

We have been really struggling around here with the HOT, HOT weather. We decided that it was time to take the girls to my parent's lakehouse to cool off a little bit. We had a great day of swimming in the lake, jet skiing and hanging out on the dock with my parents. We discovered today that Maggie loves riding the seadoo with Austin. She started out standing on the footwell and they would drive slowly and then it progressed to her halfway on the seat with Austin behind her. It was hillarious! It looked like she had died and gone to heaven when she was riding with Austin. After their outing on the jetski Maggie decided that she wanted to lounge on a float in the water. She hung out next to us and we were also able to get Mya in as well. She isn't a very good swimmer and gets scared. She sat in my lap on a float and was really happy.

Me with Mya on my pink raft.

Maggie trying to cool off.

To Tyler We Went!

Saturday was Austin's mom's birthday. His aunt Roo organized a very nice family dinner at Bernard's in Tyler. We got into town around 5:30 and went straight to dinner. We all enjoyed different dishes from thier list of specials. It was a very nice time with great family, conversation and food! We did take Maggie and Mya with us. They love going to thier grandparents house in the country. They live on a huge pecan orchard with lots of trees, grass, wildlife and tons of space to run around and play. On Sunday we woke up and sat outside with his mom, dad and the dogs and enjoyed our beautiful surroundings and some coffee. Here are some pictures that I took of the everybody during our morning coffee session. It is always great to get out of the big city and visit his parents in East Texas. We are all looking for a reason to go back and visit soon!

Dinner with the Champions!

Thanks to my mom and grandmother for being amazing cooks, I have gotten a lot of great recipes from them over the years. This is one of my favorites and I paired it with a summer salad to kind of cool it down a little. It is hard finding things to cook in the summer because of the hear and it is way more fun to put on a roast or something yummy in the crockpot during the winter. Here are the recipes for the plate that I have pictured:

Rosemary Chicken:
Chicken Breasts- I use as many as I need
Fresh Rosemary- I use 1 sprig per chicken breast
Fresh juice of 1 lemon- you can add more if you like
1 spoon of butter
Olive Oil- enough for the chicken to baste in
1 oven bag

Put all ingredients in oven bag and close it up and let marinate for 1 hour.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Summer Strawberry Salad:
Freshly cut strawberries
Feta or blue cheese
Spring Mix
Chopped Walnuts
Dressing: Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette

I also served it with homemade macaroni and cheese. Enjoy!