The Things I Learned...

The things I learned this past weekend after a 10 hour roadtrip...

1. Make sure to check directions when it comes to a split in the road, before you end up driving 30 minutes out of  your way and luckily realizing it before ending up in Minneapolis instead of Chicago.

2. Heads Up is a great road trip game! But be warned that if you post the video, your friends may get confused that you were driving in Europe.

3. Pulling an all-nighter on the drive there is all fun and games, until you have to drive back and try to stay awake after getting minimal sleep all weekend!

4. If you drink enough and have great friends, it is possible to sleep 3 girls in a full-size bed (not queen or king, a full/double) without anyone falling out or moving the entire night!

5. After navigating all weekend, you may wake up sleeptalking when you get home, telling your husband that you're going the wrong way.

6. Free suite tickets to a football game are awesome, but beware of the ticket-giver becoming a stage 5 creeper!

7. Snapchat is a great way to show all your friends back home all the fun you're having, and make them slightly jealous or curious about your trip!

8. Toll roads are not cool, especially when you end up paying $20+ in toll fees.

9. 312 beer on tap in Chicago is amazing!!

10. Saving the best for last...last-minute spontaneous roadtrips with your friends are amazing, and having no definite plans is great because you can do whatever, whenever!! As everyone says, you only live once, so make the most of it! I would do it all over in a heartbeat!

If you want a full recap of our trip, check out my previous post here!

Roadtrip Shenanigans

Linking up with the lovely Sami to share about my weekend!

This weekend, two of my friends and I roadtripped to the Nebraska vs. Michigan football game in Ann Arbor, with a stop in Chicago on the way! We decided to do this on a whim about a week ago, and I'm so glad we did! We had an AMAZING weekend, and here's the awesome recap to share with all of you!

1 and 2. We left on Thursday night and drove through the night to Chicago. We only had one minor detour (#2), as we missed an exit and almost ended up in Minneapolis, but we caught ourselves before we got too far!

3, 4, 5, 6. Once we got to Chicago, we spent the day sightseeing! We visited the Willis (Sears) Tower, and got to see the beautiful views from the top, which was so cool! We even got to walk out on "The Ledge", which is all glass.

7. We also visited the Harold Washington Library, which has 9 floors, crazy! 

8 and 9. Our last stop of the day was Grant Park, which had a huge fountain, some beautiful views of Lake Michigan, and great looks of the city in the background.

After we got done sightseeing, we were on Hour 36 of being awake with no sleep, so we took a short cat nap before going out on the town for the night!

We ate at Giordano's pizza, which was super yummy!! The pizza was so thick and cheesy and I loved it! Then we went out in "Wrigleyville", which is a strip of bars close to Wrigley Stadium! We had so much fun, and even got to hang out at the Husker bar there! We danced and drank until we couldn't anymore and took a cab back to our hotel and crashed for the night!

Next up, gameday in Ann Arbor!! We got up early Saturday morning to drive to the game!

1 and 2. We made it to "The Big House", aka, Michigan's stadium! It holds over 100,000 people, wow!

3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Don't worry, we got FREE box suite tickets from a guy at our hotel, so we enjoyed our premium seats for the game! Here are some pictures of our view! The Huskers won, which made it even better, as it was a close and exciting game!

8 and 9. After the game, we went out in downtown Ann Arbor, met some fun people and found some Husker fans too!

Sunday, we survived the long 10 hour drive back with many laughs and memories from our trip! I'm so glad I got to spend a fantastic weekend with these two wonderful girls and I can't wait for our next adventure!!

Deep Covered Baker Recipes

One of the nice cookware items I received for our wedding was the Deep Covered Baker from Pampered Chef, and so I'm always looking for new recipes to make that use it! Here are some good ones I've found so far!

Taco Pasta Bake

Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Taco Stuffed Shells

Baked Pork Loins

2 or 4 pork tenderloins

1/2 finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp thyme

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

*any other seasoning of your choice

Combine all ingredients and rub over the pork tenderloins. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until meat is fully cooked.

Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Four Cheese Mac N' Cheese

Creamy 3 Cheese Pasta

4-Ingredient Pizza Bake

If any of you have more ideas to use my deep covered baker, please feel free to share!

My Shenanigans

Even though I had to work this weekend, we managed to be social for a few things!

1. Friday night we reunited with our summer softball team for dinner and delicious margarita's at Roja

2. Saturday night, we got together with some friends and had some intense games of girls vs. guys Catch Phrase, in which the guys won all 3 games, unfortunately!

3. After Catch Phrase, we went bowling. I did ok and only had a few gutterballs.

4. I finished my book this weekend! Any of you familiar with this series? Now I can move on to the 3rd book, yeah!

How was your weekend? Can you believe it's November already? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Be sure to go link up your weekend with Sami!

New Recipe...Yum!

I tried a new recipe this week and wanted to share with you, as it was super easy and super delicious!

Baked Chicken Chimichangas
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 8 oz bag pepperjack cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp taco seasoning
1 lb cooked chicken (shredded)
8 tortilla shells (soft)
cooking spray
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
salsa

Stir together the cream cheese, pepperjack cheese, taco seasoning, and chicken. Divide among tortillas and fold up each tortilla. Lay tortillas seam side down in a sprayed pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, flip over, and bake for another 15 minutes.


Eat and enjoy! Serve with sour cream, salsa, cheese, and any other toppings you would like!

Harvest Time

Earlier this week, I got to go back home and experience harvest season. During this time back home, you just constantly see combines, tractors and semis, as farmers are working to get the crops out of the fields!

I was lucky enough to get to ride in the combine with my friend Jaimie, which I was super excited about! It's been a few years since I've gotten to ride in the combine, and I really enjoyed it!

I just want to take this time to thank all the farmers for their hard work during harvest and pray that they stay safe and have a productive crop!

Home Sweet Home Weekend Shenanigans

Ryan and I went back home for the weekend to see our families, and here's the recap:

1. Love going back to our small town, so pretty and peaceful during this harvest season!

2. Visited our nieces first, here's the twins, almost 4 months old!

3. Read some books with our older nieces.

4. Next stop was our other niece and nephew, she's getting so big!

5. Ryan losing in wrestling.

6. Sunday, we celebrated my mom's birthday while all of us kids were home.

7. Enjoyed the beautiful fall weather playing some bags outside.

8. Us 3 kids with grandma!

9. Got to go on a couple walks with the fam and Suzy, our dog.

Since our high school football playoff game is on Halloween, our town moved trick-or-treating to Sunday, so we even got to see all of our adorable nieces and nephew all dressed up!

It was a great weekend and it was so nice to spend time with family and enjoy the nice weather!

Are all of you getting excited for Halloween this week?