A Weekend of Firsts

What a wonderful weekend I had. I really needed this weekend because I've been positively itching to go to Oklahoma for a nice relaxing weekend to see my parents (it's been 14 months since I've been there). When Todd said a little over a week ago, "let's take your fathers day present to him", he didn't have to ask me twice. Ummmm, YES, please!

It has been hot and humid there. Summer is in full swing. I'm not used to that yet. Saturday brought an unexpected rainy afternoon. We sat on the porch, enjoying the cool breeze, admiring the *gorgeous flowers*, and watching the crazy hound dogs frolicking in the raindrops. We had nothing else to do after we ran to town to do a little shopping and of course, hit a few garage sales so Todd could find a bargain. It was a perfect day.

Speaking of gorgeous flowers, I think my mom is playing a trick. How can these 3' lilies be real???  See exhibit A. I swear she stuck the most perfect fake flowers in her flower bed just to fool me. They are too perfect and too gorgeous to be real! 

Exhibit A: the tall one is 3 FEET tall

Don't they look PERFECT?!?

Absolutely amazing

Ok, fake ones couldn't be this gorgeous.

Keystone knows the drill in OK. He's not a new dog in this hunt. He demanded his walk and treat from grandma on Saturday morning. Since the little ones had never been there before and we got in so late Friday night, mom didn't take them on the morning walk. I joined them on Sunday morning and took them for their introductory lap around the field. They did awesome. I felt like several times, they would look at Keystone and ask with their eyes, "is this what we are doing? Is this it, because this is fun! Are we going that way?" and it was so cute. The little ones probably walked 4 times our distance with all of their running back and forth. Joey and Jessie would stalk each other in the tall grasses.

Another first for them was the neighbors swimming pool. Keystone LOVES to swim and is used to diving right in. Joey and Jessie didn't quite get it. So we will go find a creek for them to walk into for them to find their fins. They are intrigued with the concept. If all humans had gone in the pool, that would have made a difference. I could see that Jessie wanted to want in and Joey wasn't traumatized. (I'll share pics later on this experience.)

As for food, Saturday morning we had sausage gravy, homemade bun toast, and fried eggs for breakfast. For dinner, we had chicken fried steak, mashed new red potatoes from the garden with gravy, buns, and zucchini baked with Parmesan and panko bread crumbs. It was all fabulous. 

For breakfast Sunday, we had bacon, fried eggs, and awesome grain & nut pancakes with fresh fruit. So yummy. I had cupcakes all weekend too. Strawberry and also banana-peanut butter cupcakes. But not together.

My breakfast today, YUM!

Todd's breakfast: he loves my mom's fried eggs.

On our drive home, we accidentally found a Taco Tico. I wasn't hungry, but I had room for a couple of beef enchiladas. I love those things.

My Taco Tico beef enchiladas--I love their sauce

Now it's time to get back to my normal eating pattern. With the addition of a few extra cupcakes we brought back.

 I love going to Oklahoma. Now Jessie and Joey understand why Keystone and I get so excited about going. Todd does too, actually.

And now for a pic of part of our garden:

I'm cooking Rainbow Swiss Chard for the first time tonight.
And there is a red tom peeking at you at the top of the picture!