County Fair

One of the best things about summer in the Midwest is going to a County Fair. It's a country extravaganza with rodeos, carnival rides and good music. We attended the Madison County Fair in Nebraska the other weekend and it was just a perfect date weekend. We love going to rodeos and this was one of the best ones we've seen together. Steer wrestling is by far my favorite event but all the events are fun to watch. You just feel "American" going to a rodeo. You know?

The fair was full of carnival games and rides as well as 4H exhibits. We enjoyed seeing the 4h students hard work and ribbon winning projects. I think it is great you can get a ribbon for the best grown potato or best looking jar of hand cut flowers.

We also went to a country concert and watched Brett Eldridge and Billy Currington.  It was a great show and even though we had seats in the grandstands with the rest of the lazy people (who wants to stand in general admission right next to the stage? Jk) I still found moments to sway my hips a little to the best and sing along before being asked to sit back down.

There is a fair in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa or Minnesota almost every weekend. So if you are ever looking for some healthy entertainment check one out the next time you visit! I have to recommend Nebraska ones though, they know how to rodeo!

Fitness Friday 2

This one is a doozy on the legs! Make sure you don't have anything too strenuous planned for the next day!

Rochford

To celebrate my brother's birthday, we are meeting up at my Aunts's cabin in the Black Hills.  Kyle and I met at South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City so anytime we can travel West to the Hills we jump at the chance. Our final destination is Rochford for birthday festivities but we made a pit stop to hang out in Rapid to reminisce in our favorite local spots prior to finishing our road trip.

Bully Blends is the best place for breakfast and coffee  in Rapid and it is our must go anytime we are here. I can't lie we usually get 2-3 coffees a day while in Rapid because there are so many great spots but Bully has the best atmosphere to chill and enjoy the moment. Then we were able to enjoy a little stroll in Founder's Park together with Mozzy.

For lunch, we are getting sushi at Ichibahns. I can't even count how many birthdays and anniversaries we celebrates together at the sushi joint. We always order the same thing- Kyle spicy tuna roll and me  Coconut roll.

The trip out to Rochford was nostalgic. We drove past Rimrock the church we went to regularly through college. As always, the smell brought back lots of memories of our college days. When we arrived at our destination, my brother and sister-in-law immediately took us for an ATV trail ride. I can't lie, I was pretty tense the whole trip but I still had a great time hanging out. For dinner we ordered from the Moonshine Gulch. Betsy, the owner, makes some dang good food and its a must to have her make us supper at least one of the evenings. We were able to share burgers, onion rings, fries and laughs all evening.

Saturday, we went bike riding and on another longer trail ride.  We also made a trip to Hill City, a bug tourist trap in the Hills. Us girls found a quilt shop and we spend almost our whole stop there looking and choosing fabric for our next projects. We also swung into the ice cream parlor to enjoy a few scoops in a waffle cone.

 Later that evening, the boys hit up Deadwood to gamble that evening and us ladies played cards and dominos past 1am! By the end of the evening we were making up games such as "Xtreme Dominos" where you can play your chain off a double brick. Very entertaining!

It was a little bitter sweet leaving Sunday morning. We had a great relaxing weekend and so much fun with family. Our dog, Mozzy, enjoyed exploring the hills and I really think he liked it up there but I mean, who doesn't? He got lots of attention, exercise and napping in. He honestly, did not want to leave and seemed really bored at home the following day. We can't wait to go again! I believe we are planning on spending our one year anniversary up in the Hills and we already started making our list of activities to do this Fall.

Fitness Friday

 I have so many other things I would rather do in the summer besides sweating in the gym! So, this month I have been challenging myself with fun quick workouts to maximize my time. Quick 25 minute workouts inspired by Jillian Michaels, are perfect. 

I am trying to add some new cardio challenges and more body weight strength training to trick my body into improving on my fitness.

 Every Friday I will post a quick work out that is approved by me for you to try!

Shower Sugar Cookies

Summer is a time for showers--not rain showers! Baby showers and bridal showers! The perfect compliment to hosting a shower is to have some delicious treats to share with your girlfriends. I am a huge fan of sugar cookies since you can buy an assortment of cutters to fit your occasion and are fun to make. Plus, you can easily frost with royal icing and sprinkles to personalize them. 

I made these cute "panty" cookies for a bridal shower and they were a hit. A friend and I decorated around 2 dozen cookies to share with our girlfriends. We used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the bride's bum. Then we whipped up some royal icing, to create the panty outline. Here is a great tutorial with how to frost with royal icing properly. 

To decorate, choose a few colors that coordinate with the theme of your party. Add some royal icing in a small bowl and add a few drops of food coloring, I like Wilton's, and mix together. Place the colored icing into piping bags. You can easily use zip lock baggies to frost, but I use piping bags so that I can use different decorating tips. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle a few colored jimmies to add some sparkle and embellishments.

6 Months!

Our puppy turned 6 months today! Mozzy is one of the best things that has happened to us. It takes a lot of work and responsibility to have a dog but it is totally worth it. So happy he survived the puppy potty training, 4 month dumb phase and teething. Spoiled dog alert.

Fun Mozzy Facts:

 1. His favorite color is pink
2. He ate his dog food sitting down until he was 5 months
3. He hunted and caught 4 birdies now.
4. Shoe of choice is Loryn'sToms
5. He is an engineer in training (works at home with dad designing)
6. Finally can catch food thrown to him (examples below)
7. Loves yoga.
8. Loves getting his ears cleaned
9. Sleeps with a My Little Pony fleece blanket
10. Weighs in at 45lbs

Kat's Cheesecake

My little sissy was here to visit and we decided to make a cheesecake for dessert. We call this cheesecake recipe, "Kat's Cheesecake" since my mom's specialty is cookies and my specialty is cakes. Since she is the baby of the family, we let her have cheesecake. It is a delicious recipe and so easy to whip together for any occasion.

My favorite cookie my mama makes is a ginger snap cookie. She occasionally will send me a few dozen in the mail and I eat a few and then freeze the rest to have until the next shipment. I un-thawed some of the ginger snap cookies to make the cheesecakes cookie crust instead of the traditionally graham cracker crust. Also, we decided to take advantage of the fresh berry produce and make a blueberry fruit topping to garnish the dessert. Of course, we also had whip cream on the side to add to the sweetness!

My little sister made the crust while I mixed the cheesecake filling in the kitchen aide. We tossed the spring form pan in the oven over a water bath and laid outside to get our bronze on while the confection baked for 45 minutes. We knew the cheesecake was done when it was a nice golden brown and jiggled a little in the middle. Place the cheesecake in the refrigerator to cool (about 2 hours).

We put the blueberry topping on the stove to simmer while we ate dinner so that it was warm and gooey when we were ready to indulge in our cheesecake dessert. It was an amazing finish to a wonderful night and a great visit. Love my little sissy--thanks for the help!

--Recipes--

Bountiful Broccoli Harvest

We harvested a bunch of broccoli from our garden. The best time to harvest broccoli is in the morning while the soil is still cool. Also, harvest the veggie while the bud is still firm and before it flowers--I made this mistake on my first harvest and lost a few heads in the process to the yellow flowers that make the broccoli almost inedible.

Since I love broccoli and it was so organic our of our garden, I wanted to use it all. I made a delicious salad using Paula Deen's recipe off Food Network. It was delicious for something I've never made before. I also used some of the broccoli in some veggie skewers on our Egg Charcoal Grill. They were perfect veggie sides for the summer and everyone loved them.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th! My parents, older brother and little sis came to visit us to help celebrate the Holiday. We had a lot of fun together --We  enjoyed the Lake and got ourselves a sun burn, we rented a pair of kayaks to cruise in and ate breakfast on out new patio furniture.

Hope you have a great day!