Sunday, February 24, 2013

Weekend At The Ranch

This past weekend was eventful around our house! On Friday night one of my best and dearest friends  had her assignment night, or Drop night as you've heard me refer to it before. Her and her husband found out that they will be joining us in Florida as their first assignment as well! I could not be more excited or feel more blessed that the Lord placed us together again as we continue on to the next stage in our husbands careers. It was so much fun to relive the excitement of drop night with her and remember all the wonderful (and awful) emotions that go along with it!

On Saturday we headed out to a local ranch here in Del Rio, called Trash Rack Ranch, with some new friends. Earlier in the week we were propositioned with a stay there for a very discounted price , so obviously we were in! The ranch is owned and operated by the sweetest couple who host hunters from all over the country who come to hunt exotic game on their 100+ acre properties. Although we didn't hunt while we were out there they were amazing hosts and cooked us some awesome food and drove us around their property after we were able to see the animals feed off the feeder before dusk hit. George, the owner, made us some killer steaks for dinner and then we spent the rest of the night hanging out around the campfire making smores and playing board games. We were invited by some classmates of 13-14, who are about 7 months behind the hubs in their UPT training here at Laughlin, so it was fun to make new friends and enjoy the gorgeous desert scenery.  It was a total blast and I am so glad that we chose to take the plunge and try something new.

Some of the animals that live on the property...
including "Hooker" the pet goat
featured in the forefront of the photo.

Del Rio can be beautiful, you just have to
know where to look ;)

The awesome steaks George made for us! 
Hanging out by the bonfire

Such a fun night


Love,
The Etheridges

Monday, February 18, 2013

Derby Days

This past Saturday we decided to partake in one of the newest forms of entertainment here in Del Rio, the Women's Roller Derby Tournament. Yes, you read that right, we went to an actual meet between two women's roller derby teams and watched them compete at the Del Rio civic center. It was actually a ton of fun, and not surprisingly a BYOB event if that gives you any inclination as to the classiness of it ;) It was fun to have something to look forward to this weekend as a last "hoorah" for some of our friends that are heading out of Laughlin this coming week! It was certainly a once in a life time experience, and we weren't about to miss out on something this interesting!

I thought the Del Rio ladies had
a pretty creative team name!




Other than our exciting evening out on the town on Saturday we have been enjoying some quality time together before things start getting hectic. Over the next few months we will be moving twice, going through some intense training, and life will all around be much more chaotic than it has been since we moved here over a year and a half ago! By the time we officially PCS away from Laughlin we will have been here for almost 2 years, which is insane to me! It's crazy how time flies. 

As far as Valentines Day went we stayed in and cooked a meal together, which we do every year! We always make one of our favorite meals and enjoy a quite night in. We personally enjoy that more than fighting the crowds and trying to eat out somewhere in town. My sweet husband bought me the customary bouquet of flowers and a beautiful framed poem with the other half of his wings that we broke on graduation day! 




A few more photos from our weekend ;) I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! 

Kitten loves chewing on glasses...

The most delicious spread from Trader Joe's!
It's fantastic on waffles and pancakes in place
of butter! 


Love,
The Etheridges




Sunday, February 10, 2013

Copy Cat Goodness

      Here's a delicious copycat recipe that I found the other day from a fellow blogger, "The Recipe Critic",  via Pintrest. The hubs and I both agreed it was pretty sensational and it will be making a regular appearance on our weekly menus. I've never had this dish from Chili's, where the original recipe is from, but if it's anything near as good as this copycat it's got to be stellar! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did :) I also served it with a side of asparagus since I had some left over in the fridge and it went very nicely with it once it was seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper and put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350! The best part is...it tastes even better heated up the next day. Doesn't that just make any recipe 10x better?

Chili's Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:
chicken breasts, boneless skinless
4 teaspoons
 cajun seasoning
4 tablespoons butter or 4 tablespoons margarine
3 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
8 ounces penne pasta, cooked and drained
roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, fresh shredded, to taste

1.  Rinse the chicken in water and put in a Tupperware container or large resealable bag. Add the cajun seasoning and shake to coat thoroughly.

2. In a large skillet, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  Add the chicken and turn when needed. Make sure to check with a knife to make sure it is no longer pink.

3.  When the chicken is almost done, in a saucepan combine the heavy cream, 2 Tbs butter, lemon pepper, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.  When the cream mixture begins to bubble, add the pasta and remove from heat stirring well.  

4.  Once chicken is cooked, cut thin strips on cutting board.  

5.  Spoon the pasta onto a plate and top chicken, diced tomatoes and parmesan.  Sprinkle with more cajun seasoning if desired!  Best when served with a side of texas garlic toast.

     In other news, not much has been going on in The Etheridge household. The hubs has been in limbo as he transitions out of UPT and starts his first phase of many trainings. I'm still plugging away at the coffee shop, where I will stay until we head out of Del Rio in the late spring! I will tell you that this whole "not having school" thing is pretty awesome. It's nice not to have to wake up every morning and worry about what assignments I have to get done that day or fret about getting everything out of the way during the week so I can spend time with my sweet husband and friends on the weekend. 

Our days around here pretty much consist of researching things about our next home in Florida (aka the nearest and best dog-parks, cinemas, and vacation spots) and spending some much needed down time together between and after our working hours. We also got our welcome packet, pictured below, from Tyndall! It seems that I'm still having a hard time grasping that it's really happening and that it's our next assignment, but getting this in the mail made it seem slightly more real ;) 
Not a day goes by that these two don't crack us up!

Sleepy kitten

Our welcome packet, which
was accompanied by two sweet pins ;) 

Love,
The Etheridges