Celebrating seven years of marriage!

On Saturday, Ben and I went on our anniversary date.  We ate dinner at Zinburger and then watched Captain America: Civil War.  The Marvel movies have become party of our anniversary tradition- one always comes out the week of our anniversary, so we go see it. :)

 At dinner :)

 Anniversary cocktails

In the theater

Monday was our actual anniversary and we celebrated with a special dinner and gifts once the girls were in bed.  Ben grilled shrimp and we made a cesar salad and bread with olive oil.  I also picked up a bottle of champagne to enjoy in our toasting flutes. :)

 Our anniversary dinner on our wedding china

I picked up this beautiful cake from Whole Foods.

Well... it only looks beautiful, Ben and I couldn't even finish our slices and then we threw the whole thing away- it was pretty awful (but makes a funny story)    ;)

 Anniversary picture

Thank you Ben for a wonderful anniversary!

Happy Thursday y'all!

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday with brunch, church, presents, family time, and a four-mile-run with Kyla to end the day.  It was such a wonderful day with my family and I loved every minute of it!  Thank you to Ben, Caroline, and Elizabeth for a fun and special day.  I love you!

 We had brunch at Capitol City Brewing.  

It was so yummy and we all ate a ton!

 I had a spinach and mushroom omelet with whole wheat toast, bacon, and potatoes.

It's become a tradition to get pictures of the girls together on Mother's Day.

Well... these are the best we got. :)

I was clapping to get their attention, but they started clapping too

After pictures we went over to the basketball court and played, chalked, and blew bubbles.

It was so nice and relaxing :)

Caroline will follow Elizabeth ANYWHERE

Love this smile :)

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Seven years of marriage!

Seven years ago today, I married the best man I know.

Dear Ben,

The last seven years have been the best of my life.  We have had our ups and our downs, but we are always working through the good and bad together. I am so thankful that God placed you into my life eight years ago and that together we have made a wonderful family.  Thank you for everything that you do- taking out the trash, emptying the dirty diapers, making dinner, driving us the Church, loading the dishwasher, watching me run, wrapping Christmas presents, listening to me on a good day AND listening to me on a bad day.  Thank you for being the last person I see each night and the first person I see each morning.  Thank you for being loving, funny, considerate, supportive, my biggest cheerleader, caring, giving, unwavering in your love, support, and faith in us, in me, and in God.  I love you with all my heart.  Here is to seventy more years!

Love,

Abby

Mother's Day Gift Ideas!

Mother's Day is this Sunday!

In case you are looking for some last-minute gift ideas, I came up with a small list to help you out. :)

 Her favorite lotion/ body wash/ bubble bath

I always enjoy opening my favorite scents. 

 Going out to brunch

This is one of my favorite gifts on Mother's Day.

A long breakfast with alcohol :)

 Get her her favorite chocolates.

M&Ms or Godiva, whatever is her favorite :)

 Time.

This is all I wanted my first mother's day.

Time to do laundry, time to take a long shower, time to sleep in, time to read a book.

It's free and the best gift! :)

 

 Flowers.

Always a goody. :)

 

 A massage is a GREAT gift.

Anytime, for any reason (but especially mother's day)

 A new sweater or top from her favorite store.

Or... a gift card to her favorite store.

Control over the DVR for the day (and the remote).

Want to step this up... record her favorite shows in advance, take the kids out of the house for a few hours, and hand her the remote. :)

Hope you have a great mother's day!

Happy Cinco De Mayo y' all!

A little bit of this AND a little bit of that

I found some random photos of my phone to share.  They all have (good?) stories that go with them, so I hope you enjoy! :)

 I used Ben's chocolate chip muffin recipe to make mini-muffins a few weeks ago.

They turned out awesome and we ate all of them within the week.

(I did give a dozen away, so it wasn't too bad)

 Elizabeth loves oreos and I picked these up for her.

Ummm...I inhaled about eight of them before I even knew what I was doing.

Oreos, of any kind, must stay away. ;)

When I was visiting Adam and Brigette a few weeks ago, we discussed lactose free ice cream.

Well, I picked this up at the grocery store and tried it.

NOT A FAN.

Breyers and Lactaid make really good lactose free ice cream that I think I will stick with.

Although... I am tempted to get some vegan ice cream from Whole Foods, has anyone tried this?

 Me and the big girl, and her purple cup.

Always purple.  Always.

I took my little to the doctor on Monday.

Double pink eye and an upper respiratory infection.

#notfun

And that is a little bit of this AND a little bit of that.

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Date night at the Melting Pot

A few weeks ago, Ben and I headed to the Melting Pot for a date night out. 

We had such a great time enjoying a long dinner, just the two of us.  We took our time enjoying each course and filled up on the first three courses (and cocktails) that we didn't have any room for my favorite part- the chocolate fondue.  

 Selfie before dinner :)

 Isn't my husband the cutest?

I certainly think so! :)

 We did their new pick three entree, so Ben and I each got to pick our own three to try.

This is my entree- filet, salmon, and shrimp.

Yummy!!

 Cooking our dinner....

Our waitress brought us champagne at the end of the night because we were celebrating our anniversary (a little early).  

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Weekend Review: Girls weekend in Raleigh!

This past weekend, I went on my very first girls weekend away!  I met my college friends Dana and Stacy in Raleigh (it's half way between where we all live). 

I got into town early to avoid the DC traffic.  Once I checked into our hotel, I used the guest pass to visit the best gym in the entire world- Lifetime Fitness.  I had never been to a lifetime fitness and it quickly blew me away.  I was so impressed with the gym that I talked about it all weekend.  :)

After my run, I went over to Massage Envy for a Swedish massage that I had scheduled earlier in the week.  I had the best 50-minute massage and left feeling completely relaxed, pampered, and ready for a weekend of fun!

I went back to the hotel to relax and get together some goody bags I made for the weekend. 

 I thought it would be fun for all of us to have some goodies to help us enjoy/survive the weekend :)

 All of us got: girl's weekend wine glass, bottle of wine, bag of kettle corn, peanut butter snack, chocolate candy, sun screen, hand sanitizer, granola bar, 

 and a survival product (tums, tylenol, and shout-to-go wipes)

Dana and Stacy arrived around 5:30pm and we quickly got to chatting and planning our weekend. 

 Stacy and Dana when they got to our suite

We were looking over dinner options and decided on 18 Seaboard.  I made our reservation online and then we got ready for dinner.  Stacy's friend, Lindsay, came out to dinner with us.  I quickly discovered that Lindsay is my couponing soulmate and we discussed all the free things we enjoy getting- mostly doughnuts and chick-fil-a.  :) 

The only picture of the three of us: Me, Stacy, and Dana

 My dinner :)

After dinner, we went to get hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts because why not?. We waited in line with a bunch of kids going to prom and then enjoyed eating our doughnuts while watching the conveyor belt.

 Waiting in line for doughnuts

We got back to our hotel and enjoyed hanging out, talking, drinking, and enjoying the fact that we didn't have to worry about getting up with kids in the morning. :)  I think we all thought it was kinda surreal that we were away and not at home.

Saturday morning we got up and enjoyed a huge breakfast and then decided on shopping at the outlet malls.  We showered, dressed, and made the 40-minute drive to the outlet malls.  When we got to the outlets, we decided we were hungry again and grabbed lunch at a little pizza place.

 We each got a slice of pizza for lunch.  

This was the biggest slice of pizza I've ever had.

After lunch, we preceded to shop for six hours.  SIX WHOLE (CHILD-FREE) HOURS!  We did stop for pretzels, but besides that carb reload, we shopped, shopped, and shopped some more.

We drove back to our hotel and relaxed for a bit and then decided on Mexican food for dinner.  We asked the hotel for a recommendation and they sent us to La Rancherita.  Every bite was sooo good.  I tried to get pictures of some of our drinks and food.

After dinner, we walked around Apex, got some ice cream, and enjoyed an evening of drinking, getting lost, and telling stories. :)

Champagne for our last night :)

Sunday morning we enjoyed a champagne brunch before heading out and back to reality.  I want to say a huge thank-you to Stacy and Dana for meeting up for our first (annual) girls weekend away.  I also want to say thank-you to our husbands: Ben, Paul, and Jeff for keeping all the kids while we went away for some much needed rest, relaxation, alcohol, food, and shopping. :)

Happy Monday y'all!