the Lord has Risen, Easter festivities....

Thankfully, I did not have to work this past weekend, so Gary and I were able to dress up, go to church, and celebrate the sacrifice Jesus made for us! We are so blessed to have everything that we do; each other, our family, jobs, a home, our sweet healthy pup Bentley!! So much to be thankful for this Easter season!

We had our friends Aaron and Emily over for Easter dinner. Emily and I split up the cooking tasks and together provided a wonderfully delicious meal for our husbands. Of course on the menu was Easter ham with potatoes, yeast rolls, green beans, and salad.

But not just any salad.... you may remember a few months back a post about the "Wine, Women, and Words" book club cookbook. Well I have used another recipe which I would like to talk about! This recipe is from the happy go lucky, Maureen Swindall!! Miss you!! I have had this salad at many a good ole Chapin party and making it for Easter reminded me just how delicious it was!!

This salad is made with basically any lettuce you like, strawberries, walnuts, and (I added red onion). Then you make the vinaigrette, which I think is what makes it so delicious!! Anyway, in true party fashion, Maureen lays out the directions for putting the salad together and making the dressing. After putting all the ingredients together for the dressing she says you must, "shake it like a polaroid picture to combine." Well who am I to change her winning recipe, so enjoy the picture of me "shaking like a polaroid picture." haha

Here are some pictures of the table I set as well as the "family picture"

Everyone got an egg shaped cookie with their initial on it!!

Video of Bentley getting some exercise!!

product review

In my previous post I mentioned buying lots of things for Bentley's grooming. Well I found something that I would like to share with everyone (who has short haired dogs).

Yesterday, I was looking for a brush for Bentley and I wasn't sure what kind to get. They have pronged ones that look similar to human brushes, then they have the spiky prickly ones which I am more familiar with because this is the kind my dog at home, Hunter, has. So I asked the lady working at PetSmart what is a good brush for a lab? She led me immediately to a Kong product. It is called the "Zoom Groom." It is basically made of rubber and has "fingers" on one side. You can use it as a brush, as I just did, or you can use it while giving a bath the help massage in the shampoo.

Anyway, a brush is a brush right? Well the reason why I wanted to share this with you guys is because if any of you have a lab usually their hairs do not clump up in an easy fashion, they are just here and there and fly all over the place. well this brush clumps it all up, easy to pick up AND when I was done brushing him there was some extra fur on the ground and I just rubbed the brush over the carpet and it picked it up!!

ok ok, maybe I get a little bored at home and this brush isn't as amazing as I'm making it out, BUT WHAT IF IT IS?

until next time...

spring is in the air...

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of my problem.... I have a problem with buying handbags. I was in HomeGoods yesterday getting some things for Bentley, I went to the register, I paid, and on my way out.... I had to pass the handbags. Well, I decided to take a look just to see what they had, no intention to buy of course :) well, in real addict form, I found one I couldn't live without. It is yellow, my fav. And before getting in line to buy it I thought, what would Gary think? Well, I remembered a conversation we once had about how I am always buying handbags and he said, "You have on in every color, how many more do you need?" and I said, "I don't have one in every color, I don't have one in yellow." SO I then thought that he wouldn't mind if I got one in a color I didn't already have. haha, long story short, I bought it, and I love it, and Gary of course didn't care.

Also, I was getting some things for Bentley, like shampoo, a brush, nail clippers, you know, doggy care stuff and I came across the cutest little dragon toy...

Now, Bentley already has more toys than he could ever need, but if that is true what is one more right? And even though this dragon is pink and Bentley is indeed a boy, HE LOVES IT!!

And last but not least, we have been planning a trip home to SC for the beginning of June and we weren't sure how we would bring Bentley's big crate. It just seems so big and bulky and he doesn't even fill it up yet, so I didn't want to bother with packing it. So I was looking for a smaller crate to bring home, but I wanted it to be inexpensive since he already has a real crate. Well, this is what I found!! haha, true to our camping roots!! This tent was $25 online but I found it at HomeGoods for $7.99

until next time...

fun in the yard...

When we first bought our house, we knew there was a lot of work to be done on the yard. You could tell it had not been taken care of in years, to call it a yard would be an over-statement because in fact, the grass is more like weeds, and all the bushes/shrubs/trees are over grown. But since we didn't buy and move into our house until the fall and the inside was just as desperate we put off any yard work until the spring.

WELL YESTERDAY WAS THE DAY! We had some good weather, so we took the opportunity and set out for Lowes, got some yard work tools, some flowers, and some weed killer. The grass had a lot of dead debris, so we raked out the whole front yard. Also the small bushes in the front yard we wiry and out of control, they got a hair cut. We used to have this big yellow bush right in the middle of the yard... it was horrible, well I trimmed that down to a nub and then Gary and I dug up the stump. Yes, parents, we dug it up instead of lighting it on fire and ordering a pizza... I know that is tradition but we decided to break out. haha! Also we have really large hedges that line the sides of our house, they probably haven't been pruned in years! We didn't get to both sides yesterday, but we did finish up the pruning on one side, they look so much better!! And of course pretty much everything got a layer of weed killer, we have a dandelion farm!

I didn't plant the flowers yet because we still have some weed killing work to do, but the transformation has begun and as the warm weather continues to stay we will be out in the yard a lot more!! We have decided we are done with the inside for a while, so most of our upcoming house updates will be yard updates!

On a side note, this morning I feel like a train hit me. I am so sore. Also, Bentley went DOWN the porch steps for the first time yesterday. He is a pro at going up but to get him down to the yard we usually have to carry him. Since he is already getting so big, we spent some time yesterday bribing and encouraging him to come down the stairs. After about 20 minutes he started to make his way down and finally made it to the bottom!! There were lots of treats involved, and I don't think we will have a repeat performance any time soon, but he DID do it!