Grab your date....

because I have a great date night planned for you!!! I have recently received news of two great deals for two great restaurants and thought that I would share! (maybe I should have gone into advertising!!!) One is for a great cause and one is well, a great treat to partake in! So on Wednesday night, July 30th grab your date (co-workers and friends are great) and go have dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and then follow it up with dessert at the Cheesecake Factory!!!

Reason:

Joe's Crab Shack
From 4:00pm-close they will be donating 10% of their proceeds to the First Candle organization. All you have to do is take THIS flyer and present it to your waiter at the time you pay. Now you are probably wondering, who is First Candle, Mandy? Well this is actually an organization that became very important to Sam and I this year. First Candle is recognized as one of the top fifteen children's charities in America. They are working to increase public participation and support in the fight against infant mortality, including SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and other areas, including stillbirth and miscarriage. They are apart of the SIDS Alliance which have a single focus of funding cutting-edge research projects to understand and reduce SIDS. Most of you know that my niece, Lilly, passed away due to SIDS about 5 months ago and we never want to see another person go through what her parents and the rest of my family had to face. So if you don't want to fix dinner one night this week and want to help out a great cause, I would ask that you go enjoy some Joe's Crab Shack! If you just don't have time to go eat, you can always go to the First Candle website and read and donate directly there.

The Cheesecake Factory
Now for dessert! Honestly I have no direct reason to tell you about this other than to help you satisfy your sweet tooth, but I heard through the grapevine that Wednesday, July 30th was National Cheesecake day!!! I went directly to the source and confirmed that on Wednesday you can go to the Cheesecake Factory and have ANY of the cheesecakes for only $1.25!!! I just couldn't keep this to myself!!!

So hopefully I have helped make your week a little more exciting!!! Enjoy and don't eat too much!!!

Hawaii meets Dallas

I feel like I have been a horrible blogger. Hardly any writing, no recipes, no thoughts, nothing! I promise things will come back alive in me! In the mean time I had some pictures to share from last weekend. Sam's sister Stephanie came to visit! Stephanie lives in Honolulu, Hawaii; I know, must be a tough life! We haven't seen her in like TWO years, so it was a much needed visit. It definitely did not last long enough, but it was so good to see her. She felt really weird being in the metroplex and just could not get over how different our two worlds are. It was so great getting to hear all about the simple "island" life. Steph works her booty off just to be able to live there and take advantage of beauty of Hawaii. I am not sure how long she will end up staying, but for now, she is living the "dream"!!!

It is always a ton of laughs when Sam and Steph get together! Most of the time I do not get their jokes, but its fun to see them laugh (I guess I just don't have that particular humor part of my brain!) When someone asks me what Sam's sister is like I always just say, Sam in the girl form. No they don't look all that much alike (they do have the Sessler blue eyes and walk alike), but their brains think so much alike! I just love it when the two of them are together! It was also great getting to see my in-laws again. Sam and I are so blessed with such great families and we cherish each moment we get together!

I also made some cookies for a baby shower. I have made ones that are very similar to these, but I still thought I would share. Just to make sure you knew I was still baking away!! Also, Sam sent me to a cookie class last weekend for my birthday and can I just say I HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! I learned some new recipes and techniques that I can't wait to use. Thank honey; you really know the way to my heart...food and baking!!!

fore!!!

One of Sam's closest friends, Ryan, came in town last weekend to hang out with us. He dropped his wife, Brittyne, off at the airport on Friday morning to go study abroad for the rest of the summer, so he decided to stay for the weekend. I took some shots of the guys when we went to play golf on Saturday, so I thought I would share. (Yes, I played. No, there are no shots of me while swinging. I personally think I look ridiculous with a large booty when I play! Sorry folks, no flash photography!)

Sam and Ryan on the 1st tee box

He taught me everything I know!

We made Ryan walk, while we rode inthe cart!

I know this picture is blurry b/c they were moving and I dont' have the best camera, but it's still cool.

Ryan in his sweet "golfers" hat!

We had a fun weekend Ryan. Thanks for coming to hang out!

PS. If you want to read about how Ralph Pedigo is doing check out Meagn's blog! Thanks for the prayers, I know they were felt by the Pedigo family!

So Proud...

Today was an "iphone" holiday in my husband's world. That's right, out of the house at the crack of dawn to go get his new iphone with his iphone shirt on and coffee in hand! He was #51 in line and only 50 phones were available at the store he went to....somehow he still got one. I am so proud!!!

The Shirt

The Line

(Apple Store is the grey one to the right)

Rocky Mountian High - Colorado

We spent last week in Colorado and it was fabulous! The mountains are one of our most favorite places to be and where we have some of our best memories (it might also be the place this relationship started over 6 years ago). The 9 hour drive to Durango was exhausting (and I was just riding), but well worth it. We stayed at the ski resort, but also spent a lot of time in Durango and Silverton. I am not much for camping out, but love living up the outdoors during the day! (that's my kind of camping...hotel, showers, hot food, and a warm bed at night, and nature during the day!) Sam and his dad spent a good portion of the trip fly fishing. They had a tough start, but by the end were catching a lot! Sam just loves the time he gets to spend with his dad out in the middle of no were trying to find the "best" spot on the river! I don't join in on these trips much (usually b/c somehow I end up catching more fish...here's my technique - cast, then sit in a chair and read my book until I feel the pole move, then yell at Sam to come over b/c there is NO way I am touching a fish and getting the hook out of its mouth...now that's fishing!) Anyways, besides fishing we mountain biked (I might have had to walk some due to the fact that this was the steepest, rockiest trail I have EVER been on, plus I was using a boy bike!), went jeeping in Silverton, rode the Alpine slides (so fun!), shopped in the fun shops, and watched the best firework show I have ever experienced. I would totally recommend going to the mountains at least once on the 4th. Watching them in the valley and having the sound echo around the mountain was a really neat experience!
The whole reason we went to CO was to celebrate Sam's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. We got some bad news before we went though and found out that nan and gramps were not going to be able to go due to health reasons. We were all very saddened, but even though they were not able to go, we did get to spend some time with Sam's family from AZ. This included 7 kids under the age of 8 and three more on the way!!! Needless to say we had a great time with the kids and got to experience lift with lots of kids! The second day we were there we got some more bad news that Sam's aunt had to leave early due to health reasons and the pain she was in! Even though we were missing some people, we still had a great time. I really hope we do it again one day. Here is a glimpse of our fun (there's a lot - sorry):

The View from the top

Before we went mountain biking

Sam getting ready to do the slides

The Alpine Slides (so fun!)

Rob and Reed racing Sam

Little Reed

Melissa and Amy
Sam & Rob on the Jeep trail

A View on the Jeep trail
Sam and I in front a mini waterfall (red,white, and blue)

Greg & April before the fireworks

Melissa, Logan, and Sam and I ready for the fireworks
The fireworks - not the best pic, but you can see the mountains behind them
I would also ask for your prayers once again. Awhile back I mentioned that my friend, Megan's, dad was on the list for a kidney transplant. He did not end up receiving that kidney, but I found out today that he will finally being receiving a kidney TODAY. So please pray this afternoon that the surgery would go well and that the Lord would bless Ralph with this new kidney. Please also pray for Megan and her family as they travel to Dallas to be with Ralph. Thanks much!

Happy 4th of July

Thanks to my mom I had fun stuff to make 4th of July cookies and I just couldn't pass that up! I hope everyone has a fun, safe holiday! I promise I will blog more after a much needed vacation! Peace!