Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Recipe Wednesday:Potato Salad

Linking up with Andrea, sharing yummy recipes today. (Her chocolate cake looks really good... Go check it out!)
 Last year, I experimented with a new potato salad recipe. I was on a kick when I was experimenting with different home made dressings so for this salad I did the same thing. I didn't have high expectations (I never really do when I make new things), but it was good. And Dave LOVED it. Probably more than anything else I've ever made.

You probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen already, too. 
This is the only photo I have. I should've thought about taking some while I made it the other day, but I was also occupied with a two year old and a very busy nine month old. Haha :) 


Shopping List
7-9 Red Potatoes
6 eggs
1/2 small red onion
1-1 1/2 cup mayonnaise 
2Tbsp mustard 
2tsp sugar
2tsp salt
1tsp celery seeds 
1-1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 
Dash of pepper

Boil potatoes. Remove from water and cube. Set aside. 
While the potatoes are boiling, hard boil the eggs. (I put eggs in water and turn on the burner. When the water is boiling, turn off the burner but leave the pot there for 14 minutes. Drain water and immediately put in an ice bath for 2 minutes.) Peel and slice the eggs. Set aside. 

Slice the red onion into small pieces. 
Gently mix the potatoes, eggs, and red onion in a medium sized bowl. 

Dressing:
Combine the mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, salt, celery seeds, red wine vinegar, and pepper in a small bowl.  Stir well.  

Pour dressing over potatoes and gently stir. Serves 6. Refrigerate leftovers. Seriously good stuff! 

He likes it too :) 



Monday, April 27, 2015

Quick Weekend Recap

Did we ever have a fun weekend! Auntie Anna came to visit for a couple nights, and we had so much fun! 

Before she came, we hung out at home and played with the boys.


Anna arrived late Friday night so we didn't do much then... Just a couple hours of visiting. Saturday morning we ate breakfast. 


Aiden was thrilled to have company! We met Dave for lunch, then walked around Nebraska Furniture Mart getting ideas for the new house. Anna and I were both yawning by this point, so we found the nearest place to get some good coffee. 

Aiden followed Auntie Anna around where ever she went. Pretty sure she spoiled him! 



We met up with Dave after work and tried to go for some authentic local barbecue. It's prom season around here and we underestimated that. There was an hour and a half wait at one place, two hours at another, and the third place had a line out the door and around the corner. #bbqfail 

Anders kept falling asleep in the van. Poor lil guy! (Kept getting woken up!)



We saved the evening by finding a Thai place nearby and had a good meal there.

Later that night, Anders got wild! He was not tired at all and was all over the place. I decided to ride it out and wait until he was ready for bed. Baby is in charge at this house! 


No hands! 

Dave had to work again on Sunday. Anna, the boys, and I headed to an outdoor market for a few hours. 




It was nice and sunny but there was a chilly wind. Brrr. 



After the market, the wind died down and it was nice and warm outside. We took the boys shopping at an outdoor mall. Lots more stroller time :) 

Anna had to leave Sunday evening and she took this family photo for us before we brought her to the airport. 


Thanks for coming, Anna! We had the best weekend here. 

Happy Monday, all! 


Friday, April 24, 2015

Friday Favorites: Vacation Flashback Edition

Today I've decided to combine Friday Favorites and a little flashback from my 23 day winter vacation. I've started so many different blog posts about Florida, only to have wifi issues, photo issues, or boys-need-mom-now issues that I haven't blogged a single one of them. Right now I have two boys napping at the same time (!!!) and I really want to do something just for me. Here I am, determined to recap some of my FAVORITE moments from sunny southwest Florida. I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for today's Friday Favorites. 

Our number one FAVORITE thing to do while in Florida was go to the beach. Hands down. We love the beach!!

 This was our favorite beach to go to. Fort Myers Beach. We had a favorite spot to set up all of our stuff and the boys played like crazy.


 We loved going back for the sunset, too. Such beautiful weather, beautiful surroundings, and gorgeous light. The boys seriously loved it as much as we did!




We loved having so much time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa. So much quality time to just be together!
 Fun times around the house! Grandma and Grandpa's new house in Florida is probably our favorite place to go in the winter now. :)




This lil guy here loved his stroller. Loved the fresh air, the sunshine, the sand.

We got to go back to our favorite beach a bunch of times! Twenty three days in Florida gives you lots of time to do all of your favorite things!



This was probably my favorite time of the day. Grandma put Anders to sleep for naps, for night time, and really any time he was tired. So awesome for this mama :)
 This lil guy loved going for naps and to sleep at night in Florida too. Here he is just hanging out in the afternoon, about to go for a nice nap.
 Such awesome quality time with grandma!



As we were driving down there, I told my sister that I wished we could make a detour and go to Disney World. The whole time we were there, I'd make comments that we should just go for a quick little trip. That how could I be in Florida so long and not go to Disney World? One day my mom and I were sitting on the beach and I told her I'd been looking on Craigslist for a cheap double stroller so I could take the boys to Disney World by myself. I think she thought I was nuts (that would've been nuts - I definitely realized that later) and said "I'll come with you!" I didn't want to ask her because she had had knee replacement surgery two months before that and I didn't want her to feel like she had to come and maybe overdo it. So we talked about it, and decided we could go and we'd just take it easy. Spend a nice relaxing day at Magic Kingdom. (Does that sound possible?)

We planned to go on a Tuesday, but the night before, Aiden was up all night with a fever. So we stayed home and by mid morning, he was feeling much better. We decided we'd go the next day.

This was one of my favorite trips to Disney World. I was counting up and I think I've been there seven times before this. What I didn't realize before was how much cooler it is when you bring your kids. It was such a magical day.

Here we are in the parking lot, ready to take on Magic Kingdom!

Anders met Mickey. Aiden screamed, and waved "buh-bye" to Mickey as we left the room.

Here's my big (tired) boy, ready for his first ride on Dumbo the Flying Elephant!

Grandma and Aiden after his second ride on Dumbo :)

One of the only photos we got of the four of us. It's a Small World ride.

Anders's first taste of ice cream. He loved it!

Anders loved Dumbo the Flying Elephant, too!

Aiden's third ride on Dumbo.

My partners for the day. I took six or seven photos and this is the best one. #mamatried

We were walking around Fantasy Land and I saw the line for The Barnstormer wasn't really even a line. I decided to bring Aiden on the ride while my mom and Anders sat in the shade. I didn't realize it was a rollercoaster! This guy held on so tight to me through the whole ride, and when we got done, he was THRILLED!! Look at this smile!! I think this was his Favorite ride of the whole day!

Taking a little break on the train.

The end of our wonderful day at the Magic Kingdom. It was the best day! The longest line we waited in was twenty minutes (to see Mickey Mouse). Besides that, it was a max of five minutes on every single ride. Were we ever lucky! It wasn't too hot. It really was one of my favorite trips to Disney World!

One night toward the end of my trip, we decided to go out for dinner in town. We had eaten and were leaving the restaurant, when I looked up and saw Aiden holding on to grandma and grandpa's hands. So so so cute! I missed it with my camera, but I got this photo. So cute!

Dave flew down there on two of the weekends we were there. The second time, we picked him up from the airport and headed straight to the beach. :) This beach was even better than Fort Myers. Gorgeous white sand, aqua colored water, some waves, lots of shells, and hardly any people. Just perfect!



Seriously, you guys! Perfect!



That same night, we drove a ways back toward grandma and grandpa's, then had dinner and watched the sunset. <3 p="">

More fun times at Fort Myers Beach!


On our last night, we went out for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

Fort Myers Beach again. I seriously love Florida in the winter!



On our last day there, Dave and I got to go on a date! Grandma and Grandpa watched the boys and we did our favorite vacation thing. We went sailing!



Whew! Thanks for making it to the end. That was long, I know, but I couldn't narrow the photos down any more. What an unreal winter vacation!! We are so lucky!

P.S.  My sister and her kids came with us, but I won't share any of those photos for privacy and security reasons.