We survived!

We went, we camped, we conquered! We were the first ones to the campsite we picked our site and set up camp. It went smoothly, with no arguments. So far, so good. Check out our little set up:



Pretty sweet tent, huh? Notice the hand sanitizer on the table. I know, I know.

We proceeded to cook our tinfoil dinners on our little gas grill, which turned out better than we were expecting. So far, so good.

People started showing up and setting up their tents and eating dinner. I wasted no time in busting out the s'mores and doughboys. Really, the only reason to go camping at all, in my opinion. I brought along leftover sparklers from the 4th so we had some fun with those. It started getting dark and slowly the families that just came for the s'mores and friendly banter started to pack up and leave. Just four families stayed the night. Our air mattress took up almost the entire inside of our tent, but it was sure worth it! While we did wake up with our butts almost touching the ground, it was still better than sleeping on dirt! We had bacon and eggs for breakfast, which was pretty tasty, thanks to the Chaplins camp stove. Our grill just wasn't cutting it.

Our super awesome campfire:


Miriam roasting a mallow:


Overall, I'm very proud of myself. I didn't scream over a bug (unlike some people....cough, Linda), even when the bugs in the "bathroom" attacked me and my bum. I slept pretty well. The weather was great. Bottom line: It was fun. I'd do it again. WHAT??? Did I just say that??? Get the straightjacket, I must be going crazy.

We left the campground early and headed home b/c we were meeting with a realtor to see some houses. Mostly depressing, but we did find one with some potential. I'll tell you what, looking for homes is sooooo tedious. I thought we could do it without a realtor, but after looking online for a solid week, I'm sick of it, and tomorrow I'm finding a realtor to do our dirty work for us. Any suggestions?

So for years and years I've gotten the email saying the lady stole the cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus and now she is passing it onto us, blah blah blah. I always deleted it. Don't ask me why. But Linda made them and I ate one and I fell in love. So I made them tonite. They are quite delish, I won't lie. I must warn you though, it makes a truckload. Like, 10 dozen or so. No joke. I would suggest halving the recipe (which is very simple), or freezing the extra dough balls and saving them for later, when you really could go for a freshly baked cookie but are just not in the mood to make them, or a mess.

Neiman-Marcus Cookies

2 cups butter (that's 4 sticks)
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp soda
5 cups blended oatmeal (in the food processor)
1 8 oz Hershey bar blended (again, in the food processor)
24 oz milk chocolate chips (2 bags)
3 cups nuts (optional)

Blend butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, salt, baking poweder, soda, and oatmeal. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, bake at 375 for 10 minutes.





The dough *barely* fit in my KitchenAid bowl. It took a little coaxing. Whenever I see "soda" written in a recipe I remember the first time I saw it and wondered just what kind they wanted. Coke? Sprite? Dr. Pepper??

We went to the Brewers/Phillies game last night. It. was. awesome. The Brewers came from behind and won in the 8th inning, with some incredible plays in the 9th, most notably the catch from Corey Hart. It was awesome. I love baseball more and more. Seriously, where is that straighjacket? It was even more fun b/c we tailgated before the game with our friends Ryan and Ashley. And even though it was raining the whole time, it was still fun. Nothing beats a good weenah before a baseball game. Toss in a s'more, some doughboys, and a cold Sprecher and you're set. Life is good.