Bread Winner's Breakfast

 
This was probably the best food we had the entire time we were in Dallas  My food was a Cream Cheese and Raspberry Stuffed French toast and Brandon had Eggs Benedict.  If I ever get back to Dallas, I will certainly be hitting this spot up again!

Sonny Bryan's Texas BBQ

As if we really needed food again today, we found this place by asking at the food tour for a great Texas BBQ joint.  This is a place that if I were to drive by, I would never stop.  However, it was GREAT!  Julia Childs even came to this place once!  Dr. Phil from the food tour even arrived and a great time was had by all!

Uptown Dallas Food Tour

 
Here's our group we went on the food tour with.  It was a great bunch of people.  There were people from Dallas, Memphis, Pennsylvania, Australia, Russia, and of course, Iowa!  It was a great group with a LOT of great food.  These pictures were taken at the Lebanese restaurant. While we were on the tour, we had to have a name of a famous Texan.  I was Jennifer Garner and Brandon was Willie Nelson.  We also enjoyed the tour with Dr. Phil, Anna Nicole Smith, and George W. Bush to drop a few names....

We walked along some of the McKinney Avenue Trolley tracks and happened to see this really old cart come out of the maintenance shop.  They told us that for every gallon of gas it uses, it also uses a quart of oil! 

This art was along our walk.  It's a tribute to the Texas State Fair and corn dogs that they invented.  No one seemed to agree with us that the Iowa State Fair is really the ONLY state fair that a person needs to go to. 

It was a great walk around the area.  It seemed like we walked a long ways, but they told us that it was somewhere around a mile and a half walk.

Another picture of our group walking the city streets.

This coffee house was also a wine bar and we had some refreshing mimosas here.

A final toast, and El Primo Mexican Restaurant. I was very proud of myself for trying everything even the Chicken and Cheese stuffed Jalapeno.  I knew it would be way too spicy, but if you are going to go on a food tour, it seems like you should at least try everything!

Here's a list of some of the food we ate...
BBQ Brisket Nacho topped with a Pineapple Pico de Gallo
Hand stuffed Chicken & Cheese Jalapeno
Chicken filled Enchilada Suizas with a Mild Green Tomatillo Sauce
Authentic Chips & Salsa
Frozen Margarita (Nominated Best Margarita in Dallas)
Moroccan Sweet Tomato Spread with cinnamon & orange water
Vegan Hummus with Tahini & Fresh Garlic
Babaganoush with Jalapenos & Pomegranate
Grilled Lebanese Pita Bread
 Traditional Lahm bil Ajeen with Pine Nuts
BBQ Burger Bites with Smoked Gouda, Bacon, & Barbeque Sauce
Ketchup Mixology with Five House Made Ketchups 
Southern Fried Pickles with Ranch Dressing
Honey and Jack Adult Milkshake
Oh My Ganache Chocolate Cake
Cake Balls

Airplane

It's been 10+ years since we have been on a plane together.  We are off to celebrate our 10 year anniversary for a couple days in Dallas.

18 Months

I am BIG.  I weighed in today at 30.5 lbs (98th percentile) and in 33.5 inches tall (84th percentile).  I am very happy and love to talk.  I am pretty good at saying 3-4 word sentences.  I want to be running around outside, and I can't wait until it gets warm enough to run and play for a long time.

Spin

It's a lot of fun spinning this shovel on this race track.

Easter with the Leiran's

Lowell (6), Papa Norman, Lawrence (5), Aiden (5) Parker (3.5), Brandon, Emery (1.5)

Papa and GG and the silly boys!

 
Nothing beats an ice cream cone cupcake with lots of frosting!


Of course, we have to clean up after ourselves.

Happy Easter

The Easter bunny brought chocolate...

and trucks!

Lined up and ready to hunt for Easter Eggs.

I'm still trying to figure out why there are eggs all over the place.

Aiden found the most, 22 eggs

Butter

Look at me making butter for Easter.  All we put in this jar was a pint of heavy cream and then did a WHOLE lot of shaken'!  Yum!

Tough Boys

 
While Mom and Dad were away, we both took some tumbles ont he ice and ended up with some shiners and scrapes.  We are some TOUGH boys.

While Mom and Dad Were Away…..

 

 
GG made us egg carton lunches to see what we would eat.  She was SHOCKED that Aiden ate both black and green olives.

 

We made cards for Aunt Diane's birthday.

We headed down to the Waterville Store to have some cake.


Lots of Nexus and Kindle playtime.  We also slept in the same room as Lowell and Lawrence.  Emery had the big room ALL to himself!

 
On Saturday morning, we headed up to the school for an Easter egg hunt.  We found a lot of eggs!  We had such a great time playing with our cousins and our second cousins Oliva and Tyler.  I hope Mom and Dad leave us again with Papa and GG to play!

Get Away

We left the boys at Papa and GG's house for a little day and a half get away.  We visited the Lefse factory in Rushford, MN.

It's amazing how they make lefse in a factory.

We walked all around Lanesboro and enjoyed the sights and the lack of people since there is still snow on the ground.  Brandon didn't really like this sight from way up on the hill.  We also saw a play at the local playhouse.

 
We stayed at a B&B called The Inn at Sacred Clay Farms.

 
We had the Loft suite on the top floor.  Our room was gorgeous.

We also had this little sitting area as part of our room.  It was pretty cool to have a whole wing of this place to ourselves.  The breakfast was FABULOUS.

Dentist

Today was the first time I sat in the BIG dentsit chair all by myself.  I did such a great job and the dentist told me that I do an excellent job of brushing my teeth!

Today was also the first time for Emery to visit the dentist.  He's got a whole mouth full of teeth.

Occupied

I read books in my crib after my nap so that Mommy could finish up painting the walls.  I am such a helper!

Reading

I REALLY like books!  My parents don't read NEARLY enough of them to me, so I sit and read to myself!