Bread winner!!!!

So, I was totally inspired by Michelle the other night, when Stephen posted pics of her on Facebook with fresh baked bread and homemade minestrone soup that she had whipped up after school.  I thought to myself, "Stephanie, why don't you make stuff like that?"  I didn't have a good answer for myself, so I decided that I would wipe the dust off of my bread maker and get cooking!  Michelle generously shared her recipes and today I made a hearty meal of Pseudo Sourdough Bread and Minestrone soup.  They both turned out good!  It was definitely the best bread I have ever made.  With that being said, I have only made bread one other time when we were first married.  It didn't rise and ended up being about 2 inches tall.  It was the densest, hardest, grossest stuff I have ever seen.  I even made Mark try it!  So tonight I really wowed him when the bread actually looked like bread.

I'm not sure if that's what the bread is supposed to look like, but it was still yummy! 

My fam, enjoying the meal.

Tonight, after eating our filling meal, we headed on a long walk around the neighborhood.  The weather has been very brisk and cool.  It's truly been amazing.  I had to wear a sweatshirt and Monroe donned a hat!  We stopped and played tennis for a while.  It felt great to play again.  I hadn't played since we moved to Chicago.  I make it sound like I am really good.  Just for clarification's sake,  when I say playing, I mean that I run around trying to get the ball back to Mark, minus any rules, skill, or grace.  It sure is fun, though.

We then headed to Starbucks for a warm drink and then to Walmart, because I needed to return something. All in all, a very good night with my little family.

Now to our trip!  We truly had a great time.  The drive was a bit overwhelming.  Twelve hours with an infant is really pushing the limits.  The drive was even more complicated by the crazy storms we had to go through.  It was nuts!  There were points that I could only go 20mph.  We ended up arriving at Mom and Dad's around 2am.  I have never been so glad to get somewhere.  The next day we went on a frantic search for Monroe a dedication dress.  I hadn't been able to find a thing here in Chicago and was really hoping I would find something perfect in Tulsa.  After going through every children's store at the mall, we finally found the sweetest little dress in Macy's.  I never go in there, and was surprised to find exactly what I was looking for.  I wanted it to be sweet and little girl-like, if that makes sense.  It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but it is pink with little gray polka dots.  We also found her a little headband and pink shoes.

Besides doing some shopping, we made time to visit our favorite restaurant in Tulsa, DesiWok.  It was so amazing, as usual.  Later that evening, we went to a place that Mom has been talking about for months, a Self Serve Frozen Yogurt Bar!  Wow!!!!!  Why don't we have these in Chicago?  You start out by choosing between two sizes of cups (big and bigger).  Then you can choose from tons of yogurt flavors.  You can put as much, or as little as you want.  I ended up going with Tahitian Vanilla, Dark Chocolate and Cookies and Cream.  Then you can add whatever toppings you like.  They had everything you could think of.  I added almonds, coconut, strawberries, and raspberries. Amazing!!!
It wasn't super expensive either.

Sabbath was great!  After a wonderful Church service, we went home to have lunch.  All of my family, Mark's family and the Mattson's came.  That afternoon, we got family portraits made.  We hadn't done that for 17 years, so it was about time!  I am a little worried that they didn't turn out.  I just wasn't feeling it.  Monroe was super fussy and very hard to control and the whole situation kind of stressed me out.  That night we went to visit Mumsie!  It was great to see her.

After lunch, loving on Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Murrill

Sunday we celebrated Monroe's birthday (again) with our Tulsa friends and family.  It was wonderful.  I miss those Tulsa peeps so much.  They are so wonderful and will always represent home to me.  Monroe had a great time, but was completely exhausted after.

Later that evening, we went with Stephen, Michelle, Mom and Dad to Hunter Park.  The guys played Frisbee Golf and the girls walked and played at the playground(specifically Monroe).

Before we left on Monday morning, we went for breakfast at The Broken Egg and then we were off for another 12 hour stint.  (I swear, it gets harder and harder to leave our parents.  More and more tears seem to be shed.  You'd think it would get easier, but I guess the older you get, the more important family becomes.)  There were no storms, which made the trip a lot easier.  So that was our trip in a nutshell.  I probably over-shared...oh well:)