Two Delish Recipes to Share

I wanted to share two recipes that I have made recently.  They were both loved by my family...well, all but Avery since she is such a picky eater.

Shrimp Scampi (From Nun Better Cookbook - from Louisiana)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup dry or cooking sherry
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup minced parsley
hot cooked rice
Parmesan cheese

In shallow pan over low heat, melt butter.  Add sherry, garlic (I chopped mine), lemon juice, sugar, mixing well.  Arrange shrimp in a single layer in the sauce.  Spoon sauce over shrimp.  Broil at low heat for 8 minutes.  Remove from broiler and let stand for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle parsley over the shrimp.  Broil at high heat for 3 minutes.  Spoon over hot rice and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

**Josh and I both loved this, and it was so simple.  He said he would have liked it over pasta, but I loved the rice to soak up the sauce.  YUMMY!

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants when I lived in San Antonio was Los Barrios.  My Great-Aunt Bernadine took me there, and I fell in love with it.  Before I moved away, I got one of their family cookbooks.  I made this recipe for my father-in-law's bday and for 4th of July.  It is a great SPICY dip.  I think you can turn down the heat with less serrano chiles.  It has a kick for sure!

Cilantro Dip

Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream
One 8-oz package cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup mayo
1 bunch cilantro, tough stems removed, finely chopped
3 serrano chiles, finely chopped
3 scallions, chopped
Dash of soy sauce
(I put the cilantro, chiles, and scallions in my mini food processor to chop)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until thoroughly mixed.  Transfer to serving bowl.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Service with Tortilla Chips, Crackers or Raw Veggies.

Enjoy!!!

Enchanted Day

We had such a beautiful morning here in Houston that we decided to take to our favorite nursery, Enchanted Gardens.  They have such beautiful scenery and fun animals for Avery to look at.  I also took a camera class this morning so I was trying out some new techniques.  Not sure if you see any difference, but I will continue to work on perfecting my pictures!  I have a great subject. 

Just a Swingin'

Tonight it was actually not too hot in Houston.  We haven't really gone outside too much because it is unbearable.  I knew Avery wanted to go out so bad because when I asked the dog to go outside, Avery said "outsi' and ran to try to open the door.  We put her in her swing, and she just loved it.  Earlier in the summer, she didn't want to go too high and wasn't too into the swing.  As you can see from the video, she could stay there all day and loves to use her new word, "NO."  Even though I hate the word no, she says it so cute with perfect timing, you can't help but giggle.  Pardon the ugly backyard...Josh wants to replace the side fence like he did the back fence, and the grass doesn't want to grow under the tree so we are going to work on that. 

Avery's belated One Year pictures

Here are a few pictures from Avery's belated one year photo shoot at 15 months old.  It has been so hot and rainy over the last several months, but I was determined to get some outdoor pictures of her.  The photographer here in Houston is Gloria Stamper.  She photographed our wedding and is amazing!  We had so much fun and even decided to try for a family photo.  She took so many pictures, and our CD has 69 on them so they are hard to choose, but here are a few of my favorites.

Take a look at all of her curls.  We just love them!!

This was at the end of the shoot and the sun was going down.  We decided to see what she would do in this reflection pool...boy, did she have a blast!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we did! 

19 - 20 weeks until we meet Baby Girl #2.  With that said, I think I am going to have to change my blog name...I don't know what I was thinking because we always wanted more than one child and I never really liked Jon and Kate plus 8.  Any suggestions on cool blog link names without including our last name???

Just a little more....

PINK will be added to our household in January.  We are having another GIRL!!!  We are really excited that we got to see our healthy baby girl today.  Josh told the doctor he was considering a vasectomy after this baby but he might wait...haha!  Josh told me last night that he would be happy with either one, but I think he is a little shocked with how much estrogen our home will have.  Me, two girls, a girl dog and a girl cat!

I am so excited because I love my sister and love the fact that Avery will have a sister.  The doctor said the baby looked good and weighed about 9 ounces.  He said there was no spina bifida or cleft palate.  She is in a breech position right now, but he said there is still a lot of time to turn. 

Thanks for all the sweet thoughts and prayers!  We are so excited for the next five months to fly by so we can see our new baby girl! 

Pigtails

What little girl wouldn't love her hair in pigtails?  When I picked up Avery from school yesterday her teacher had put pigtails in her hair. It was too cute.  I don't know how she kept her still to get them in.

On another note....we find out the sex of Baby #2 tomorrow at 9AM.  We will keep you posted.  Please pray for a healthy report for Baby #2. 

Who says you can't do that....

Like I have said in the past, Avery is into everything.  She keeps us entertained to no end.  Here are a few of her recent moments. 

She pulled my shoes out of my room and tried to put them on.  Ok, I know it looks like she has a pacifier a lot.....she had gotten so great about only having it at night, naps and car.  Since vacation she has been sick so we have given it to her more.  I need to break her again...SO....

I tried to take it away!  Look at that face.  LOL!

My mom got Avery this baby playpen.  It is really for her dolls, but we can't keep her out of it.  She is going to be a good big sis though...look at her feeding her baby the bottle. 

Having tons of fun!  It is just too cute, but I am hoping she doesn't break the playpen soon. 

Fabulous trip to Aruba

Josh and I had the most amazing vacation to Aruba!!  It is now our favorite tropical destination.  It is so beautiful, clean, friendly and ironically very safe.  It is sad that the island had to go through the media wars after the Holloway case, but don't let it defer you from Aruba.  It is spectacular.  The one downside is that it is quite expensive.  We have decided next trip that we will definitely rent a car because even though the island is small, the taxi rides are based on destination and not mileage.  We went to a fantastic restaurant for Josh's birthday, and it was $60 plus tip ride.  We stayed at the Marriott Aruba Surf Club thanks to our dear friends, Brooke and Jason!  It was a timeshare and so nice.  Our hotel had a lazy river in the pool area which was so nice when you wanted a break from the sand.  Here are a few pics and more details. 

Happy 34th Birthday to my sweet husband!!!  We celebrated at a wonderful place on the water called Mirandi.  It was all open-air on the water and was by far our favorite meal.  Delish!

The gorgeous sunset from our table. 

Looking back into the covered portion of the restaurant.  It is a giant palapa.

The host was so nice and took our pictures.  I think he liked my camera which was great because he taught me a few tricks. 

Picture from the beach looking back to part of the resort.

The water was so clear and just like glass.  No waves at all until a boat stirred it up a little

Making Josh pose for me.

Had to show you how clear the water was.

Iguanas were everywhere.  See if you can spot three of them.

Last night...it was so windy.

Posing again...that is the downside of having one person that loves taking the pictures.

View from our balcony.  It was so pretty.

Packed and ready to go home to see our baby girl but one last walk on the beach.