The Whistle Stop Cafe

Maren and I had cabin fever this weekend so we took a little road trip over the bridge to Shoshone.  I felt like we had stepped into that movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

Interesting stuff at the Whistle Stop cafe...stay away from the BBQ!

I'm not sure what this is...

Can you imagine how long the lines would be now-a-days if checkers still had to use these?

Colorful store!

Maren's been having car problems...so we bought this...problem solved.

Maren proudly displaying her pedicure (exploitation!). Notice the sandals?  It's a lot warmer here than Rexburg...just sayin'.

The old railway station in Shoshone.

It's reminiscent of another time, a simpler time.

I never had much interest in the old west until my cowboy husband Ben came along.   He's a cowboy straight out of the old west, and I'm a glamour girl right out of the 1940's.  A perfect match!

A cool looking Americana house and barn on the way home from Shoshone.

Soldier's miss so much when they are away on deployment.  I talked briefly with Ben throughout the weekend and I never did get a chance to tell him about our weekend trip to Shoshone. 

I suppose that is my motivation to blog, so that he can see and read about what's going on back home.

  Plus it's super fun to get comments from my friends!

Molly the Pedicurist.

This is Molly.  She loves, no lives, to give pedicures.

This is photo documented proof that Maren is exploiting my dogs for free pedicures. 

This is the most thorough pedicurist that has ever walked the earth.

Notice the attention to detail?

Yep.  Exploitation.

By the way, thanks Maren for taking Molly outside last night when I was too scared because we were watching Vampire Diaries.  I can't handle scary movies or TV shows!

Half Mexican

This is my mom's Spoonbread Tamale Pie, it's a family favorite!  It's more of a Tex Mex casserole, but since I'm half Mexican I can claim that any dish I make is at least half Mexican :) 

Here's what you will need:

It's a tricky recipe so you might need some encouragement from Rosie.

Doh!!!  I forgot an onion and salsa!  I guess I will be heading back to the store! BRB

Ok I'm back, let's get started.

Chop 1 medium onion and sautee with 1 lb lean ground beef in a skillet:

Next add 1 can of whole kernel corn, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup salsa & 4-6 teaspoons of chile powder:

Looks pretty doesn't it?  Mix it up real good. 

Next in a separate bowl stir 1 cup of water with a 1/2 cup of grits and add to skillet:

It's hard to see, but I promise I mixed the water & grits combo in really good!  Now add a dash of salt & pepper and cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Okey dokey onto the topping!!  This is the tricky part.

In a saucepan scald 1-1/2 cups of milk with 2 tablespoons butter and 1/2 teaspoon of salt:

Next gradually add 1/2 cup of grits while stirring:

Stir until it's thickened up,  make sure you keep stirring because it will burn if you don't...not that I would know from experience.

Once it's nice and thick you will remove it from heat and quickly add 2 beaten eggs and 1-1/2 cups of cheddar cheese:

I cheated I put the beaten eggs in with the cheese and added them at the same time.

Stir until well blended:

Set aside for a minute.  Grab a 9x13 pan and spread the skillet mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan:

Now spread the topping evenly over the skillet mixture:

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Yum!!  Careful who you feed it to though, it has been known to snare soldiers.  Uncle Sam included...and trust me you don't want him to want you!

Medicine Man

There was a moment early on in our getting to know you in person phase of dating that Ben refers back to a lot.

We were sitting in the Hart building upstairs over looking Rexburg through the big bay windows...right next to the gigantic statue of Thor the viking mascot. Romantic huh?

It gets better.  I believe we were having our first DTR (defining the relationship). Keep reading Ben was fascinated with this moment in our dating history and it has come up many times including today on skype.

I randomly burst into sobbing uncontrollable tears.  Yep.  I did.  So embarrassing.  I had been having these random bursts of sobbing tears, throughout the past 6 months because I was grieving and that's just part of the process. 

What's significant about it, is that it was the last time that ever happened.  Poor confused Ben.  He had no idea why I was suddenly sobbing, he just put his arm around me and pulled me in close and held me until the hurting stopped.  Like I said it never happened again ;)

My dear friend and fellow army wife, Mandy, has said it perfectly she saw the way that he healed me.  She said it was amazing to see the change in me, he put the spring back in my step!  When others have wondered why I married a military man after all that, she knows it's because only a soldier like Ben could ever understand.

I'll never forget the first time I really laughed in front of Ben...I mean a good hard long laugh.  He noticed it too.  I can still hear him telling me how that was the first time he had ever really heard me laugh, and he liked it.  I wish I could remember exactly what we were talking about but he said something so funny that I burst into uncontrollable laughter.  It felt great and it has happened many many many times since. 

Thanks for making me laugh uncontrollably over and over again!

The Underwear Caper!

Ben's undies went MIA in Iraq last Sunday. 

LOL...I've been dying to use that line all day!

He claims they were "stolen", but that man has said the same thing about the last 5 missing wallets and his original wedding band. 

So since I am slammed at work this week I didn't have time to pick up new undies for Ben (I can't wait for the "I am a man I do NOT wear undies" line :) I asked my mom if she could take care of it.  Pft hahahaha!  Btw thanks mom for that rush shipment of undies to Iraq!!!

So the underwear was returned to Ben earlier today and order has been restored to the universe once again.  Although, Ben now has double the underwear.

I got a nice surprise phone call from cutie pie soldier this afternoon at work.  He called just to tell me goodnight and that I am his beauty queen!

Yep!  That man knows a good lookin' woman when he sees one!!

Got Milk?

This is my Boston Terrier Lemon....rockin' the milk stache!

She makes this look good!

....and here's how she looks the rest of the time:

With a pretty smile like that you can see why they would want to use her for the Got Milk ads.

And this is my other Boston, Molly, she never smiles, she never jokes, and she thinks milk staches are for puppy's only.

If Molly were to choose an occupation it would be accounting or something in the legal system.  She really likes following rules.

A change in routine...

I scrapped my usual Saturday routine to accomodate a skype date with my handsome soldier, and also have lunch with my parents and Irma. 

The dogs were excited to see my mom....molly needs to wipe that big smile off her little puppy face!

Notice the smile on Molly's little puppy face?

This is a motion photo.  Lemon is jumping on my mom's lap.  These dogs are wackadoodle!

 This is Irma my 102 year old grandma playing with the wildest dogs you have ever seen.

Then again this is the wildest 102 year old woman they have ever seen.

Irma was inspired to dance for us with her cane.

Irma the original poser!  This is documented proof that posing is one of my genetically inherited traits.  I'm just going to hang on to these photos for posterity.

She needed a little rest after all that posing!

Then we went to Golden Corral where I spotted someone for Irma to flirt with:

No not the big guy directly behind her head.  Look back a little further to the right and by the window.  You can't see it but he's hooked up to an oxygen tank...harder for him to run...which makes him the perfect target for Irma's attentions!  She may be 102 but she is not dead!  This woman knows how to flirt.