Happy Birthday Christopher!

Yesterday was Chris's 24th birthday and we celebrated all day! And by celebrated I do mean "ate".

We started off with breakfast at Cracker Barrell (his favorite restaurant of all time) where we had quite a spread...

After breakfast Chris had to go to class and I went to do a little tutoring. When we got home we worked on creating this:

This is truly the best cake of all time. Chocolate Sheet Cake. And surprisingly, my husband who doesn't care for too many sweet things, LOVES this cake. Paula Deen would be proud because between the cake and homemade icing this cake requires 3 sticks of butter.

The finished product.

For dinner we had Chicken and Rice which is another one of Chris's favorite foods. We ate dinner with his family (who had the exact same meal) on the Web Cam! I know, we're nerds...but at least we are nerds who love our family!

Happy Birthday Christopher!!

Another 5k!

Well I guess I am on some type of running spree...I'm starting to like it more, I think... As much as you can like running right? My friend Shelley told me that "No one really loves running...they just love the feeling you have when you finish..." So if thats the case then I guess thats me!

Anyway, so this past Saturday there was a 5k/10k in Olathe called the Olathe Heart and Sole. All the proceeds went to special olympics so I thought that was a good enough cause to get myself out of bed and run 3 miles at 8am. Our friends from church Jason and Regan ran in it as well so that was really fun. (Eventhough I ran about the first hundred yards with them and then slowed down to my pace... : ) They ran the 10k and I ran the 5k. Here are a few pics from the run!

The good news is that I finished one minute faster than my last 5k! I wasn't really aiming to have a better time, for me the goal was just to finish, but that was an added bonus.

Lettuce Wraps!

I experimented with a new recipe tonight and it totally worked! It even got the husband stamp of approval! (So you know it was filling : ) Also, this is very healthy!!

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced (I used garlic salt)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground turkey
1-2 tablespoon fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup peanuts, crushed
1 head lettuce

1. Heat onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
2. Add ground turkey and cook thoroughly.
3. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Serve in a bowl and add a spoonful to the middle of a lettuce leaf.
5. Wrap, eat and enjoy.

I did it!

Well I reached my goal and ran my first 5k this morning. I was pretty nervous, especially this morning, but once I started running...I actually had fun! And the best part is I finished in my best time yet...right about 35 minutes.

So will I do it again...yes! It was pretty cool to watch some of the half marathoners coming across the finish line...very inspiring. And I just kept thinking..."if those people can do this...so can I!"

She's 24!

That is what my sweet 3rd graders wrote on a TON of signs and put all around my room for my birthday on Wednesday.

Well, Wednesday was my birthday but we really started celebrating last week when we were home with the rest of the Branigans and finished up our celebrating last night! On my actual birthday I woke up to a beautiful bouquet of red gerber daisies and a funny card from the hubs. Then when I went to school my sweet friend/teammate Shelley greeted me with a starbucks coffee tumbler full of starbucks chai latte! Yumm!! Later in the day after lunch my class gave me a birthday party which was out of control/chaotic/hysterical. My homeroom mom brought in cupcakes that spelled out "Happy Birthday Mrs. Branigan" and ice cream. She even brought in toppings for the ice cream so we could make sundaes! On top of all that my class gave me a really cool gift...There is a Culinary Center in downtown Overland Park that has cooking classes and they gave me a gift certificate so I could go take a class! The funny thing is that I have been wanting to do that since we moved here and they didn't even know that. They also gave me some fun cooking gadgets and one of my little boys gave me planted tulips. (I hope I don't kill them...I don't exactly have a green thumb...)

Well Chris and I finished up the celebrating last night at Red Lobster. We ate coconut shrimp, garlic shrimp, and crab legs! It was SO good. And I have to give the "Best Crab Leg Cracker" award to none other than Chris. I don't know how he doesn't but he gets all the meat out! Haha.

All in all I would say it was a fabulous birthday!

Culture Shock

So as of late, we have come to realize that there are many of our friends who are completely unaware of our highschool mums. We have actually had quite lengthy conversations and mixed reactions from our friends as we "google image" search for pictures. Well the wait is over...while we were home we each dug out a mum and garter, dusted them off, and took a few pictures!

kick'em!

Spring Break!

Oh my goodnesss...where have I been?!

Well, Chris and I got to go home to Dallas for just a few days during spring break and we had so much fun seeing Chris's family. (My family was in the Grand Canyon with Taylor so we'll have to catch up with them next time!) Most of the time we just hung around and vegged but we did manage to make it to Spring Creek for some barbeque! My birthday is coming up so we celebrated a little early and I really can't think of a food I miss more than Spring Creek. Haha. These Kansas people really don't know how to do good barbeque.

We also had some yummy Red Oven, Red Velvet Cake. I don't think it could get much better than that!

Ok, since this post has turned into a food fest, I'll just leave you with a few pics!

(We are really working on taking more pictures I promise...)

Can there really be 24 candles on that cake?!