Peanut Butter Dip and a Cheese Ball (awesome tasting enough it should count)

Dip and I have a love hate relationship. I know hate and dip what? I just don't love anything too chunky or little green things in my food. Time and again I get to a party, have a big old dollop of dip on my plate and quietly work around the things in said dip I am unsure of. Then I get the comments and side eye from "friends". To them I say back off and try side dishes of the non little green things variety for once because I'm exhausted.


 
PEANUT BUTTER DIP
Blend 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 8 oz package of cream cheese together. You can add milk until desired creaminess.
Dipping with granny smith apples allows you to place this in the health food category for sure. 
 
This recipe is simple and got me through many a week while working at Pinecove Christian Camps in good ole Tyler, Texas.  Weekly bible study and my leaders peanut butter dip was my sanity. Not that being in charge of 8-10 8th grade girls non stop for 6 weeks straight would do that to a person . Or teaching sand volleyball from 1-4 in the afternoon. In the SUMMER. In EAST TEXAS.(Side note: if the children can still walk under the net, they will not be able to get the ball over the net.EVER). However, all of this helped me get to my lowest weight EVER. See, peanut butter dip=diet food.
 
CHEESE BALL (counts as dip because its awesome)
2pkg cream cheese
1pkg ranch seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 cup chopped pecans

*Let cream cheese soften then mix all ingredients together except pecans.
*Use wax paper to form into ball. Cover ball in pecans.
*Serve with chips, melba toast or whatever your heart desires!

Another simple recipe found via a bible study. Hallelujah, Amen.

In closing, it is imperative that you serve all items a side of guns....





Guns up for those Red Raiders that is!
 
 
Thanks and Wreck em',
 
The Daniels

Vacation Recap: We Survived Stingray City

First I would like to clarify that I know the difference between steel and steal despite what my last post might have you thinking. I may suck at spelling but gosh darn it i no my homonyms....
Moving on.

Two weeks has already passed since our last vacation. I thought I would share a few pictures from our adventures. We went to Grand Cayman with J's dad and step-mom. Now I had already experienced swimming with the Sting Rays during a cruise stop in college pre Steve Irwin tragedy. I wanted to do it again this trip but did find it a bit more frightening. Jay on the other hand found it TERRIFYING. Jay is many things but a risk taker, not so much. Exhibit A

Our honeymoon:

Seriously, the little girl didn't even speak English. She spent the rest of the trip sticking twigs in Jay's ears cracking up every time because he. would. freak. out. like it was a snake slithering into his ear canal to suck his brains out.

Me, no prob.

Back to Grand Cayman. Jay decided he would pay the $50 to ride on the boat and watch the rest of us with the stingrays. Once everyone on the boat (including 8 children ranging from ages three to seven) held the sting ray I look over and see Jay sticking his toe in the water to check it out! And then...... 

Doesn't he look like he is having a blast! Ah, memories.

Clearly I have been in a blogging slump. I don't know if it is so much of a slump because that would suggest there was a high point. And after reviewing my posts littered with run on sentences (like this one), incorrect punctuation and lame jokes, that is debatable.

Let's just call this blog a pathetic attempt at chronicling my life for others to see when I knew from the beginning I didn't have a way to upload pictures. Who reads a blog without pictures? NOT ME. This is when I began googling and finding random crap to post in lieu of pictures. It all went down hill from there. (Wait a sec, see there, high point)

Anyways, I am fully aware that pictures are not the only thing holding me back from blogging greatness but here I am to give it another try anyways. I am hoping I can blog on the ipad because our laptops are dead but last time I checked it couldn't be done on the ipad (serious side eye to my husband who claimed the ipad can do it all and more! psh please.)

I think one problem is I was trying to hard. Its like every post had to be re edited and re worked a thousand times. Obviously not for correct spelling. Anyways, I have like 5 posts half written and saved and I just got tired of writing so what made me think people wouldn't get tired of reading I'm not quite sure. After noticing most blogs just talk the basics, I am going to give that a try. So let me start with a breakdown of our weekend...

We went to San Antonio with our neighbors Joe and Lisa to stay and my in-laws. Lisa and I braved the outlet malls ON THE SATURDAY OF TAX FREE WEEKEND. Seriously people. I am so glad that Lisa had never experienced a Texas tax free weekend cause I don't think we would have gone because of the scars that can leave on a woman. However, we had great success and it wasn't even that busy until 1:00 when we were leaving. We bought way too many wonderful things but the purchase that made it all worthwhile?

(still trying to convince Jay $99.99 and no tax is a steel for these things. I mean it is right ladies?! thats over 1/2 off of something that just doesn't really go on sale! We were shocked!)

We then wound down with lounging at the pool and having drinks with the boys when they returned from golfing. As always Jay's mom cooked amazing food and then we played a hilarious and very informative game of trivial pursuit (which the Daniel's won-holla). My favorite new tidbit: Clowder=a group of cats. Who knew? Not even the crazy cat couple.

Last night J and I got wild and crazy by having a weeknight date! Ah the days of Thursday being the same thing as Friday and champagne Sat twice a week (*wink to ash black).  I just finished the book The Help and LOVED it...maybe even more than I LOVE Emma Stone herself. So J is took me to dinner and a movie. Awe so sweet of him, he loooves me sooo much. WHATEVER, I had to let him buy a $200 golf club first. My expert review? Book is way better. I thought too many key things were changed or left out. But it was still a good movie. I have decided I don't really like reading books then seeing the movie because the whole time I am comparing.

Well there you go, my first post back! Hopefully it won't be 10 months until I post again....