Weekend Re-cap!

6th Anniversary Date Night

Caleb's first ride in a swing at the park

Hiking at Brazos Bend State Park . . . .I know his hat is huge, but it works, right?!

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday . . . okay, it's neck and neck with Christmas, but it's still at the top of the list! Here is a re-cap of some of the fun things we did over Caleb's very first 4th of July weekend:
The small group chicas came over for lunch and swimming on Friday . . . it was so much fun to have everyone over! Cameron and I made home-made ice cream on Thursday night to share with everyone (this is only the second time we have used our ice cream maker since we received it as a wedding gift - now that we realize how easy it is to make, it may become a dangerous and yummy habit!). Here is the recipe that we used from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook:
4 cups half & half, light cream, or milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbs. vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
Combine half & half, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in whipping cream. Place in your ice cream maker and follow the ice cream maker's directions. (It took about 40 minutes start to finish). The recipe also suggests that you could add fruit, chocolate chips, 2-3 tbs. of coffee crystals for 'mocha' ice cream, or almonds.
On Saturday we took our first trip to Brazos Bend State Park. I was a little nervous about encountering an alligator (I think Cameron was secretly hoping that we would!), but we never ran into any - probably too hot for them. We hiked for about an hour and Caleb was quite the trooper. The Garzas invited us to join their family for a picnic at Lost Creek Park and it was so much fun. Caleb had his first ride in the swing at the park - he seemed to enjoy it!
Sunday was our 6th anniversary - I can't believe how quickly time has passed! Avery and Will were great babysitters while we went out for the evening. Thanks to my parents for the Cheesecake Factory giftcard! We ate way too much and I'm looking forward to eating my leftover cheesecake! We took time to reflect over the highs and lows of the past year of our marriage and write some goals for the upcoming year. After a quick stop at Target, we ended our evening at our favorite new park.