Dailies | 11th Anniversary and Memorial Day Weekend

Holiday weekends are the best.  This year's Memorial Day weekend encompassed our 11th wedding anniversary, delicious food with friends, and pool and sun time with Jasper. Take a look at these linen chair covers that will look beautiful as a table decoration for this day. Here's a recap of everything that happened.  (the flowers are from Matt's mom - so pretty!)

For a low-key celebration, we took the whole fam-damily to one of our favorite parks.  We frequent many parks in the area and they all have their specific uses for us.  The park we went to this time is one we use when we want to kick back on a blanket in the shade for some peace and quiet, or as much quiet as you can get with a toddler in tow.  It was Jasper's first time here!

These two turds came along as well.

This is a large and sprawling park, yet we always make a beeline for the exact same spot under this tree.  We should just call it "our tree."

"Our tree" has an impressive exposed root system.

I can't get enough of his facial expressions.

Daddies make the best toys.

But playing with daddy always runs the risk of surprise kissy attacks.

His most frequently used expression - slack jaw, vacant eyes.  You know he's thinking about something really hard when he pulls this face.

He loves his "ah-gahs," or his version of saying "a dog."

No wine for me this year!  Instead, we packed some sparkling white grape juice.  I usually buy sparkling cider, so I had forgotten how tasty this stuff is.

Looks like Jasper is trying to join in on the toast.  More likely that he is roaring over the fact that he can't push his cart fast enough in the grass or something.

Jasper got some bubbles too, though his were of a different variety.

I'd been having a massive craving for a ham and swiss croissant sandwich and these were sooo satisfying.  I heated everything up (dutifully following pregnancy rules regarding killer deli meat) and added lettuce and sweet hot mustard.  SO good.

We purchased this Greek orzo salad from the deli and it turned out being pretty amazing.  It had olives, sundried tomatoes, 3 kinds of bell peppers, red onion, parsley, and feta cheese.

We also brought a port wine cheddar cheese ball and a block of jalapeno Jack cheese with an assortment of crackers, but the sandwiches and salad were so filling that we could only manage a bite of the cheese ball and didn't even open the Jack cheese!

Being a stinker.

There are low hills near our spot and Jasper's favorite game was climbing to the top and running down.  He wore us out!

Throwing the soccer ball down the hill was another favorite activity.  He got really excited seeing how far it would go.

Annnd more running.

No daddy, your sunglasses are supposed to be worn this way, trust me.

Cool dude.

Yeah, good luck getting those glasses back.

Back at home later that evening we had slow-churned vanilla ice cream with soft Lofthouse sugar cookies.  We saw them while grocery shopping and both agreed that they sounded like the ideal no-effort anniversary dessert.  Why are they soooooo delicious!?

Sunday morning I had my first small cup of coffee in 3 months.  I'm a huge coffee drinker, but during the first trimester of pregnancy I can't stand to be around it, smell it, or even think about it.  Being able to drink it again is a reliable indicator that I really am over the hump of First Trimester Hell.

We had plans to have a yummy dinner with our friends later that day so Jasper got an afternoon bath.  He loves his bath time and was all smiles afterwards.

Kara made a crazy good white queso dip... did not want to stop eating this.

For dinner, Remington smoked a pork tenderloin with an amazing flavorful rub on the outside, and we topped it with some Skinnytaste BBQ sauce.  If you haven't tried making that sauce, you're really missing out.  Between the four of us we have made it about a billion times.

I made creamed corn and brought some salad fixins' and we popped in some easy and classic Sister Schubert frozen dinner rolls.  Kara shared a homemade pasta salad as well.  Everything was so delicious.

That's one serious plate of food for a toddler!  We like to give him opportunity to try new things.  He doesn't always like it, but sometimes we'll find a new food that ends up being a favorite.  He wouldn't touch the corn or the salad, but we got him to eat some pork (he loves dipping in sauce!), pasta salad, and rolls.

For dessert, Kara made tiramisu and cherry homemade ice creams with a bite of lemon pound cake on the side.  NOTHING says summer has arrived like homemade ice cream!

Monday morning we did a few shopping errands, including the purchase of Jasper's big boy car seat!  I can't believe he's already outgrowing his baby seat, but we'll have a new baby to put in there in just 5 short months!

I thought it was about time to bust out my own ice cream machine and churned up some homemade pina colada ice cream from Annie's Eats.  We sneaked a few bites of it while it was churning (couldn't wait!) and almost died from how incredible it was.  If you're looking for an incredibly fresh-tasting and refreshing ice cream to make during the hot months, MAKE THIS NOW!

Ordering pizza is not something we do often, so when we do indulge it is a real treat!  I'm still dealing with a little food aversion to tomato sauce, so I ordered a white sauce thin crust with chicken and mushroom.

Matt ordered a pepperoni and sausage regular crust.  Jasper loved both varieties - the boy loves his pizza!

It was a searing hot day, so during Jasper's nap Matt inflated his pool (we got this one from Amazon) so he could swim when he woke up.   Last time he swam he was apprehensive about the slide, but this time he was climbing up and going down all on his own.

Making big splashes!

Let the summer begin!

Daddy, could you please move?  I'm trying to slide!

It works on the belly, too!

#selfie

He let us know when he got bored and had had enough, but he humored us for a few more photos.

Mama's turn to lose her glasses.

Later that night we tore into the pina colada ice cream.  It was the best recipe I've ever used.  I don't eat dessert on the weekdays but this stuff is still sitting our freezer taunting me.  It will be on repeat this summer for sure.