Speech Therapy @ Target

I found treasure today in Target's dollar aisle...

I'm so excited about my new therapy materials! Target has all kinds of workbooks and flash cards addressing all areas of speech and langauge: phonological sensitivity, rhyming, opposites, same & different, counting....they also had TONS of stickers, notepads & other back to school items! All for just $1.00 each! 

They also had workbooks involving math exercises (addition, subtraction, multiplication), spelling exercises, physics games, history workbooks, geography workbooks & more...

Shout out to all my speech therapy & teacher friends: Go to Target! You won't be disappointed & neither will your bank account because it's JUST a dollar. =)

Cue: My husband laughing at me when he sees this because of my Target obsession....ha.

Coming soon: Post on our ALASKA trip! Stay tuned!

Southbound 35

Wow. We have been so busy the past few weeks! Time for a little update here. :)

For this part of the post, the title "Southbound 35" doesn't exactly fit.  Just pretend it's "Westbound 20." I know, doesn't sound quite as catchy, but maybe it will better your West Texas geography skills. So..what is Westbound on I20, you ask??

We went to ABILENE over Father's Day weekend to celebrate my wonderful Daddy & my 25th birthday!Can't believe I'm a quarter of a century old...wa waaa. I received lots of fun gifts, (including my new bike from my hubby!) had a blast celebrating by the pool & eating homeade ice cream!

We also had fun at the Riddle Reunion over the weekend!

Continuing on in our adventure....we celebrated the FOURTH OF JULY over a wonderfully long weekend in the Texas Hill Country! Thursday, we met Don & Sandy (Kyle's parents) in San Antonio. We enjoyed walking around the downtown and riverwalk area!

 Thanks random photographer guy from Arizona who helped us learn more about our camera & it's lighting features!

The next day, we drove out to Hunt, Texas to enjoy the Hill Country at the McCollum's Ranch. It was relaxing and absolutely beautiful! 

We hung out by the Guadelupe River. 

Kyle did some fishin'

Some went swimming...

...and it was fun!

Later that weekend, we attended the official Hunt Rodeo & Dance. I tell you what, it was THE place to be. Later, we swam all day in the pool at the house, got the guns out to "shoot stuff," went 4-wheeling, played catch phrase, ate way too much delicious food and got a little sunburned. Did I mention there were 6 dogs to keep us entertained? In case you were worried, there was NEVER a dull moment. We were busy having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures...oops! I guess we'll just have to go back sometime! :)

Fast forward another week, and we were headed Southbound on 35 again! Except this time it was to WACO.  My cousin, Courtney was in town with her precious 7 month old baby boy, Ethan! Patrick was away for a church trip, so she was visiting her parents in Waco.  Kyle and I hadn't seen Ethan since January, so we jumped on the opportunity to come to Waco to see the most handsome baby boy in the world! He has changed so much since the last time I saw him...and he has such a personality!

We went to "Oso's" the new frozen yogurt place in Waco!

It was delicious. Even Ethan got a taste!

Ethan thought he hit the jackpot when cousin Kyle ...or should I say, "Mr. Trickster," offered E a bite of his yogurt! 

Such a cutie!

Love you Ethan Joseph!

Moving right along, the next day John and Whitney Collins  invited us to go out on the lake with them on their boat! It was such a blast....we loved seeing Lake Lewisville. And, it was fun because Betsy Morris, an old Abilene friend of mine (who is also one of Whitney's college friend's from HSU) joined us for the day on the boat!  We got out the wakeboard and ski's & each had a turn...

This was Betsy's first time to ski! She got right up in just a few tries...

Thanks, John for taking this cool pic while I was skiing!

And, the most BEAUTIFUL sunset!

I think that is about it for now. Thanks for keeping with me for this marathon of a blog post! Now, it's time to pack for Alaska....we leave in 2 days!!!

Fruit Pizza

Yesterday, Kyle had a "team meeting" at work. It was his turn to bring a snack for the group, so since I would be home in the afternoon, I asked if I could make something & bring it up to him at work! He gave in and I was excited to make a yummy dessert.  FRUIT PIZZA. I have been wanting to make a patriotic fruit pizza with the fruit arranged in the shape of a flag or star, so this was my excuse to finally make it. 

I'm not huge on creating my own recipes, instead, I like to get inspiration from other wonderful cooks & adopt their delicious recipes for my own. :) However, just for kicks, I decided to post the recipe and pictures of this deliciousness....

FRUIT PIZZA

1 log of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough

1/3 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. cream cheese

lots of yummy fruit (chopped)

First, spread out the cookie dough on a flat surface.  Roll until it is flat & shape in in a circle.  Bake it for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. (Be careful not to cook it for too long! Then, it will be hard)

While the dough is baking in the oven, put the cream cheese, sugar & vanilla in a bowl.  Mix it until fluffy.

(I love my Kitchen Aid Mixer...thanks to Kyle's Na Na for passing it down to me!)

Choose fruits that you like and that have a lot of color. More color = more fun.

Once the dough has been baked, let it cool for about 30 minutes.  Once cooled, spread the cream cheese mix on the cookie. Then, have a ball creating an artistic masterpiece with your vibrant fruit! I experiemented a little and this is how mine turned out....can you say, yumm?



I attempted to make mine patriotic with the star in the middle. Plus, it was fun stacking the blueberries on top of each other. :) Hope you enjoyed this little recipe. Maybe you can create your own, too!