Vacation and Relaxation

We were due for a vacation and somehow ended up taking two within the last couple of weeks. It’s made for a busy month, especially since it’s the holiday season and Ryan just started a new job, but it’s also sure been fun!

 

First we went to New Orleans with some friends. We spent most of our time eating and sitting at bars watching college football. Let me tell ya that the gumbo in New Orleans is amazing, I had it with just about every meal except breakfast, that was my line ; )

 

At Pat O’Briens with my love  

 

 

Next we went to Cancun. Talk about relaxing, beautiful, fun the list goes on and on… We stayed at Secrets Silversands and pretty much were beach bums for four days straight. Our time was spent tanning, swimming, walking the beach and most important eating! The food at the resort was so good, unfortunately, we didn’t stay long enough to try all the restaurants so it’s an excuse to go back someday : )

 

I didn’t keep a camera on me much (didn’t want it to get wet etc) but we still managed to take a few pictures….

 

View from our room

 A little selfie action on the beach

 

Someone saw us taking selfies and offered to take a pic : )

 

 

Love this guy!

Gobble Gobble!

This year we had 2 Thanksgiving, both delicious and oh so filling. I swear I gained 10 pounds between both meals. First we hosted Thanksgiving for my family on Wednesday; it was way more work than I ever could have imagined so I didn’t really get a chance to snap a lot of pictures. All the work was worth it and I would do it again next year! ; )

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, Ryan went to the A&M game so we didn’t head to the lake until Friday. We had Thanksgiving dinner that night with everyone and then spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out. I love going to the lake house, it’s so relaxing and fun to be with the West family. Per the usual I didn’t really take a lot of pictures, in fact I only managed to snap one but it was a good one. Jacob and his Uncle Ryan : )

 

And that was our Thanksgiving, nothing crazy but we sure had some delicious food and were blessed to spend so much time with our loved ones.  

 

 

Munchkin is Finally Here

He’s here; well he’s been here for over a month now I’m just a little late in my post, ha ha! Nicholas Xavier Botello was born on November 6, 2014 and boy is he a cutie. We’re all so in love with him and it’s so fun having a baby around again! Here are just a few pictures of our new nephew:  

This one was taken at the hospital.

 

 

Here he is with a bib I got him ; )

 

 

 

And of course an A&M bib from Uncle Ryan, start them early!

 

 

My Sister sent me this one last night, and it's a favorite! 

 And that's Nico, love love love him!

 

Halloween

This year Halloween fell on a Friday, but since we were getting up way too early the next day for the A&M game we had a low key night. First we went over to Koby and Sarah’s to see the kiddos in their costumes. They were absolutely adorable!!!  

Afterwards we went home to give out candy but first I had Ryan help me dress Sandy in her costume.

 

 

As you can tell from the picture, she was less than amused. ; )

 

We ended the night at the neighbor’s annual Halloween party. I didn’t snap any pictures but there was lots of karaoke action so it was fun!

 

 

What We’ve Been Up To

 

Boy has October flown by, it’s almost Halloween! Since my last post, we’ve hosted a baby shower, celebrated birthdays, enjoyed some Aggie football and had the chance to spend some time with the latest West baby.

 

Let’s start off with some pictures of baby West, what a cutie! I love his little feet and hands and that baby smell, he’s just absolutely adorable! Last week we went over for dinner and were able to hold him, he’s just so soft and snuggles on your chest so sweetly.

 

 

 

 

I caught him yawning and it was just too cute not to share.

 

 

 

Speaking of babies, my older sister is due with her third baby in November (although we’re betting he’ll make his appearance much sooner). So last month my cousin and I hosted a baby shower for her and it was a blast. Unfortunately, I don’t have the pictures yet but when I do I’ll post them. For now all I have is a selfie I took with Ryan that day. ; )

 

 

 

So since my new nephew is set to arrive soon, my sister wanted to celebrate some upcoming birthdays while she still had some free time. The boys decided to go paintballing for my nephew’s birthday and the girls went to brunch for my little sister’s birthday. Brunch was delicious and I heard paintballing was a blast; I’ll take their word for it because I just don’t see myself trying it anytime soon!

 

  

 

Besides spending time with family we’ve also been enjoying some college football. Ryan is a huge fan so I’ve learned to really enjoy it too. A couple weeks back we went to the A&M vs Ole Miss game and although the Aggies didn’t win, there was a huge group that went together so we had a blast. I only managed to snap one picture (I’m horrible at this picture taking thing) and it happened to be on the bus ride there, but I guess one is better than none. : )

 

 

And that’s what we’ve been up to, not incredibly exciting but we wouldn’t have it any other way. ; )

Family Time!

A little late in this post, but a few weeks back we had a fun filled family weekend! Ryan’s grandparents were in town and it was also my grandmother’s birthday, so we got to spend a lot of quality time with our loved ones. I have to admit I really tried to take a lot of pictures but of course I wasn’t as successful as I had hoped, although I did have a cute little helper (I’ll explain further).

 

Mimi and Papa flew in Thursday and they were staying with us that night so we had everyone over for dinner. Side note: Not to brag but dinner was delish. I made a pasta dish and Sara made homemade garlic bread which was ooohh so good! Anyway, while Sara was preparing the bread Paige and I took some pictures. I have to give her full credit for the following two pictures, they made me smile! She might need some practice taking pictures :)

 

The next day we were all off from work and the boys went golfing while Mimi, Sara, the girls and I went to the mall. I love these sweet pictures of Charlotte and Paige playing.

 

That night we went to Koby and Sara’s house and again had an amazing dinner! I probably gained 10 pounds this weekend ; ) Paige and I took more pictures and I also snapped a picture of Ryan with his grandparents (not the best picture, but I do love how Paige photo bombed it, ha ha!).

 

Saturday, Ryan was off to College Station for the game and my family came over to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday. We ordered pizza and had some homemade strawberry cake (Pinterest recipe) that was absolutely amazing!

Of course Sunday came and we had to say goodbye to Mimi and Papa, but first we met everyone at our favorite breakfast spot. I got Sara to snap a picture as we were saying goodbye. What a fun weekend, so glad we got to spend so much time with everyone!

 

 

Bunt Cake Happiness

A friend shared this recipe and it was too easy and too delicious not to pass it along.

Let me start by saying that I LOVE to bake, but sadly I never do since eating a dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies etc. isn’t the healthiest thing. So instead I bake when I know there will be a large group around to eat it! This week my boyfriend hosted a fantasy football draft so it was the perfect excuse to try a new recipe.

This one calls for 5 ingredients total:

German chocolate cake mix

Eggs

Oil

Water (quantities for the eggs, oil & water on cakebox)

Coconut pecan frosting

 

 

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all ingredients together  *I used my amazing kitchen aid mixer to do this, (thank you Kathy & D!!), but you could just use a bowl and spatula

Grease bunt pan

Place mixture in pan

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes (I checked mine at 25 minutes and it needed a little more time so it baked for 30 minutes total)

 

And that’s it! Enjoy!

Pam

The Real World

After 8 years of college (yes 8 years and no I’m not a doctor), I finally graduated with my BS degree in May 2013. Since then I’ve been looking for new ways to fill my all-of-a-sudden pretty normal and not so hectic schedule. Let me tell ya working 40 + hours a week while being a student was not an easy thing, but thankfully that chapter of my life is over, although there was a moment there when I considered grad school, clearly I enjoy the torture! So now finally at 27, I find myself in what I call “The Real World.” Work, work-out, cook dinner (or watch my boyfriend cook dinner, I’m a lucky gal), a little junk TV, sleep and repeat. This schedule may bore some but I’ve actually looked forward to it! I enjoy the lazy nights at home, the grocery shopping, the cooking, the eating (especially the eating), the junk TV that makes me feel great about my life (ha ha), the time spent working on my career, the going to bed early, the waking up early, the work-outs, the time I get to hang out with family and friends, but most importantly I enjoy the drama-free, homework-free life!  

And in conclusion, here's to the new chapter filled with future posts about food, family, friends, my Aggie boyfriend and best friend, and any other of my many blessings I might have forgotten to mention. Life is good and god is great! Oh and because like I mentioned I'm in love with an Aggie, in honor of their first game of the season I must sign off like this...

Gigem!

A new blogger, Pam Pam