Month Catch-Up

Here's what I have been up to for the past month, lots of fun stuff. Hope your summer is super awesome and you are making time to do the fun stuff that makes you smile.

My lovely sister (who is a sister with the School Sisters of Christ the King) had her home visit the end of June, so it was lovely seeing her and having some good old fashioned family time.

Including a picnic by the Mississippi and a triathlon (badminton, horse shoes and croquet)

 I got to spend an awesome afternoon with my adorable Godson and his family.

Threw a summer party that was a blast. Lots of great food, drinks, awesome people, fun games and all around good times. (Minus, of course, the mosquitoes!)

Celebrated Jeremiah's niece's 1st Birthday.

 

recipe & picture from here

Made these for our my dad's side's family get together.

My little brother moved to Wisconsin earlier this month. That makes three of us :) I'll take it!

I've been loving concerts on the square (there was this insanely good harmonica player the last time I went), if there is any free music concerts offered in the summer in your part of the country I highly recommend you attend. 

Alright, that's it for me for now. I'm off to enjoy some more summer fun :)

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 15)

It's summer! I am supper excited :) Excited for longer days, warm weather, plants on the patio, flowers blooming, fresh fruits and veggies. I love it! Alright on to a quick list of my recent crazy life.

 

 ~~ 1 ~~

We had a siblings day a couple weeks ago because my younger brother was up for a wedding so we had some awesome hangout time and went to the great Wollersheim Winery (which I love). We're quite the stair-steps in the above picture.

This is what happens when Kevin chooses the pose. I can say that I think we entertained the lovely lady that took our picture, we were quite the group ;)

~~ 2 ~~

Did you know that they call Rockford, IL the Home of the Sock Monkey? Yeah, me neither. But it's true, I was there.

 

~~ 3 ~~

Over Memorial Day Weekend (I'm telling you, this is a hardcore catch-up post) my parents were up and we spent Saturday hanging out with my Dad's family and visiting the graves of my grandparents, great-grandparents and even great-great grandparents. The rain held off and it was a beautiful day.

We said a rosary at each of the cemeteries. It was a nice day of reminiscing about the past.

~~ 4 ~~

Last weekend I spent in the Wisconsin Dells with my boyfriend. It was a wonderful mini-vacation. The above picture was taken on the Original Wisconsin Ducks. I had never been and loved it. Wisconsin is such a gorgeous state. The tour was of course filled with all kinds of corny jokes that you had to laugh at, it's a very family friendly little tour.

~~ 5 ~~

 These Kangaroos were in the "nursery" the grown ones were outside in a larger area.

While in the Dells we also went to The Timbavati Wildlife Park. It was neat to see the variety of animals they had, but I didn't like the lack of space the animals had. They are doing a lot of remodeling,  so it may be better in a year or two.

 Can you tell he's an animal person?

~~ 6 ~~

 I was given a bunch of rhubarb and have enjoyed finding awesome stuff to do with it. I found this recipe that where you cook down the rhubarb and add some sugar and water to make a concentrate for drinks (bottle on the right). Add it to some sparkling water and you have a rhubarb Italian soda. The jar on the left is the cooked chunks of rhubarb that you can eat over ice cream or whatever.

~~ 7 ~~

I am in love with this sandwich! I made 1 big sandwich (using a hamburger bun) and cut the sauce recipe in half and it was awesome. It's a super quick and easy meal.

I hope you all had a wonderful week month, enjoy the weekend! 

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.

Bring it On! The Playoffs are Here!



Williams' Interception! (www.packers.com)

 I grew up in Illinois cheering on the Packers with my dad.  Which wasn't easy, considering we were in Bears or Rams country (depending on who you talked to).  In high school I was one of the few on our football cheerleading squad who actually knew what was going on, and I'll admit that there were times that I would have much rather been watching the boys play then facing the crowd "cheering".  So anyways, I went off to college (also in Illinois) and was surrounded by, yep, you guessed it, bears fans.  Well I've lived in Wisconsin for a few years now, and let me just tell you that it is wonderful watching the Packers play with people who actually want them to win.  It's still a bit strange for me.  So yesterday I went over to a friends to watch the Packers WIN against the Eagles.  It was glorious.  See this was a hardcore football fan only party.  It was serious.  There was lots of yelling.  Lots of edge of your seat silences.  Lots of high-fiving.  A bit of smack talk, just a little.  Lots of good food (hey every party needs good food).  It's a party that will be repeated on Saturday when the Packers beat the Falcons.  Oh how I love football season in Wisconsin!