Where did October go?

Lately...

1. Getting the house organized. We inherited a few pieces of beautiful furniture from Austin's grandmother. She is moving out of her home and into either a retirement home or assisted living.
2. Wishing for cooler weather. I want to start wearing sweaters and using my crockpot more. Both of these things really do require cooler temperatures.
3. Watching lots of college football and Ranger's baseball.
4. Working.
5. Traveling. Last weekend we went out to Horseshoe Bay and spent the weekend with the Clark family. It was a great time with friends and the boys went wake boarding. Yes, wake boarding in the lake in October. Austin was in the Harlingen area this weekend for a good buddy's bachelor party and next weekend he is going to New York to visit Chase with Chris.
6. Hanging out with friends. I went out to Southlake on Friday night for Taylor Kelly's surprise party. Paige threw him a Mexican fiesta with catering from Joe T's. She did a great job and everything was amazing.  I helped Paige with baby Piper, and loved every minute of it. Piper is such a cutie pie!

That is basically our month of October. I cannot believe it is almost November but can't wait for the upcoming holidays with good food and family!

With lots of love,
Skylar

Ready for Fall

I can't even begin to tell you how ready I am for cooler weather. Cooler weather = crockpot weather. If you know me well enough, you know how much I LOVE to use my crockpot. Here is a recipe that I am dying to try and I will as soon as it cools off a bit. Here it is, I had to share. Enjoy!



Prep Time: 20 minutes


Other: 6 hours

Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (1.25-oz.) envelope chili seasoning mix

1 (12-oz.) can beer

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 (15-oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce

3/4 teaspoon salt

Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, finely chopped red onion, sliced fresh jalapeños

Preparation

1. Cook first 4 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8 minutes or until turkey crumbles and is no longer pink. Stir in beer, and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture into a 5 1/2-qt. slow cooker; stir in corn and next 6 ingredients until well blended. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours. Serve with desired toppings

My Little Cheerleader

We went to the Texas Co-Op today in Dallas and saw a Longhorn cheerleading outfit for Mya. I have wanted to get one for her for a while but they never had her size. She has it on for the game today and will be wearing it next weekend for theTexas - OU game. Here are some pictures we took of her cheering for the Longhorns. Don't worry, if I find a TCU cheerleader outfit for her, she will have that as well. Go Horns!!!

Since the last post:

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It has been crazy around this house with weddings, out of town trips, football games and WORK!! Here is a synopsis of our last two weekends. Sorry I don't have any pictures; we are becoming increasingly worse about capturing things on camera. We need to be better in the future:) 

Over Labor Day weekend Austin took me to the Four Seasons in Las Colinas for a nice getaway. It was amazing! We laid by the pool and had some cocktails and then had dinner while watching the TCU game. If you ever want to get away, this is the most perfect place. Before we left for the Four Seasons, we had a little mishap with our golden retriever.  Maggie was playing in the backyard, and when Austin went out to get her he realized that she was bleeding a lot and licking her paw. He then saw that she had pulled out one of her front toenails. The toenail was enormous! I felt so bad for her. We were already having them boarded at the vet for the night so we had her looked over. They put some medicine on it along with a coagulant and said she would be fine. She has been doing better but hasn't been moving as fast as she normally does. 

The last part of the holiday weekend we drove over to Tyler to see Austin's family. His sister and cousins were also in town, so we all got together at his Aunt's for a great BBQ dinner Sunday night. It was a good time with great people and fabulous food. We then went and saw his adorable grandmother, Nene. She has been in the the hospital recovering from surgery. She is doing well and getting stronger every day. 

This weekend we went to the UT game in Austin. We stayed with our good friends, Chris and Myles. The live out in the Lakeway area.  We were so jealous of the beautiful area and scenery that they get to enjoy every day. We ate on Lake Austin at the Hula Hut and tailgated before the game. We had a good time, and it was great to see some friends. We can't wait for all the upcoming horns games and always love going to Austin and catching up with friends. 

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!