more pictures!

We posted some pictures from our last few weekends of visitors on our photo journal!  We added the Beth & Al visit, Valentine's Day, and Mom & Dad visit, but we haven't gotten to the photos from Ivan & Mary's visit yet!  Hope you enjoy- there are some really neat ones of the caverns under my mom and dad's visit!

http://stefanandrachel.shutterfly.com/ 

Dad and Mary Visit

Last weekend we had a great visit from my Dad and Mary. They left Mary's parents house in southern Minnesota Thursday morning and drove straight through and made it to our place around 11 Thursday night. Friday morning Rachel and I had to work for a couple hours so they got to sleep in, then we had a nice brunch. That afternoon we went to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, it was 33 acres of plants from around the world and many native plants and flowers. Next we headed downtown to the Buckhorn Saloon for some prickly pear margaritas and Shiner beers. After the first round, Dad and Mary walked down to see the Alamo, then we went to a great Mexican restaurant called the Picante Grill. That evening we relaxed at home and taught Rachel how to play the card game, "500." She caught on very quick, and we played for a few hours.

On Saturday we headed out northeast of San Antonio to a drive-thru Safari animal park. They had hundreds of different animals, and some came right up the car. After the park, we went to our favorite barbeque place and had some amazing brisket, ribs, and pork. Next we headed to a historic little town called Gruene, first we watched some live music at the oldest dance hall in Texas. Next we walked the streets doing a little shopping and enjoying the weather. Then we headed home to relax and play some more cards. Rachel was even better, but Dad and I still represented.

Sunday we got up and headed down to the RiverWalk to walk around for awhile. Around 12 we were already hungry and ate at a Mexican restaurant and sat outside right on the river. This was awesome; until after dinner Rachel accidentally knocked her sunglasses into the river! She was sad, but quickly mentioned that there is a mall close by, so we stopped in and she got some new shades. Next we headed northwest to the Hill Country to the Sister Creek winery. It was a very nice winery that had actually won several awards. We did a self-guided tour then sampled 8 different wines. After the winery we went to the small town of Boerne for some antique shopping and exploring. When we got home we had an awesome homemade meal of pork tacos, then watched the Academy Awards.

Monday Rachel and I had to work until around 1 o'clock, during that time Dad and Mary went back down to the RiverWalk to take the riverboat cruise and some more exploring. Next we took a convertible ride, then sat out in the sun next to the swimming pool. After the sun went down, we went inside and Dad and Mary made Mary's famous stromboli. We spent the last night again beating the girls in 500, but we did let them win one game. Tuesday morning Dad and Mary had to leave at around 7 am and head east for Florida. Rachel and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and showing our new city and apartment. We have a break for a couple weeks until three of my friends and my sister come down to visit for their spring break, should be a great time.

Our Photo Journal

Rather than load a ton of pictures on our Blog, we made a photo journal on Shutterfly for every one's enjoyment! We'll be posting pictures soon from all of our visits with friends and family, so keep an eye out for that! There's also a link under our favorite websites so that you can access it anytime.

http://stefanandrachel.shutterfly.com/

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! Cheers!

best job in the world

Hey all!

A friend of the family is applying for "the Best Job in the World" and made a video for it. If you follow this link, you'll see her handiwork and you can also rate it. If she gets a high rating she'll be given an interview in Australia.

Follow the link and watch the video. You can rate it next to the video where it says "Rate Me." Please give her a 5 Star rating so she can be the care taker of the island!

http://www.islandreefjob.com/applicants/watch/Frl63CQcXJw

THANKS!

some Valentine's pics

I made heart shaped cookies with cow sprinkles!

Happy Love Day!

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, but we've had a bunch going on! Starting last Thursday- when Stefan and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day together. (I know every one's thinking that Thursday wasn't Valentine's day, but my parents were here all weekend so we wanted to celebrate with just the two of us before they got here). That day, I went to yoga and then grocery shopping for all of the items for dinner. The menu included: Roasted Garlic Spread & Baguette, Steak and Sauteed Mushrooms, Fresh Spinach Salad with Roasted Tomatoes, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts, and then for dessert an Apple Tart with Vanilla Frozen Yogurt all served with our favorite bottle of Shiraz. (I'll post recipes if anyone is interested).

The next day, my parents arrived for some sunny skies and warm weather. Unfortunately, Friday was the only day of sun and warmth! After they arrived we relaxed, ate, and showed them our place. Then we headed to the Base to show them around there and then went to a restaurant we had never been to. It's called Casbeers at the Church and came as a recommendation from a friend. It was great people watching and a nice patio so that we could eat outside. Because of the slow service, though, we didn't finish dining until about 10pm, so we headed home. We dropped off my parents and headed to our friend Stella's Birthday Party. We had fun playing Rockband and then headed home.

On Saturday morning, we slept in while my parents went for a Run/Walk around the neighborhood. When they got back we all got ready for the day, had some breakfast, and headed out to Boerne, a small area north of San Antonio, to find some vineyards and do some wine tastings. The first winery we went to was a crazy little house where a lady made odd flavored wines like peach, raisin, and even jalapeno! After that little adventure, we made our way to a real vineyard. It was deep in the Hill Country and the land was wonderful- almost as good as the wine! :) The property is typically situated on a creek that has a waterfall, but it hasn't rained here in a long time, so we're technically in a drought. Therefore, there was no creek or waterfall. On our way back home, we stopped at Rudy's BBQ for some Texas style barbecue and then headed home for a long nap! I was going to make lemon-herb shrimp with couscous, but we were all so full from the BBQ that when we woke up we just played some games and had the raspberry dessert cake with ice cream and raspberry sauce.

On Sunday, we went to Mi Tierra, a mexican bakery and restaurant. There were tons of people there and we were told we had to wiat an hour. Luckily, Mi Tierra is connect to the city's Mexican Market, so there was lots to see and do while we waited. After Brunch, we went down to the Riverwalk and the Alamo. We sent my parents on the Riverwalk Boat Tour. While they were on the Tour, we went to a Pub on the Riverwalk. After they finished, we headed to Gruene Hall just north of the city, where we enjoyed the live music and the great people watching.

On Monday, we went to the Guenther House (one of our favroite brunch places) and then headed to the Missions. As we walked them through the first few missions, we took a bunch of pictures, that I'll be posting in a little bit. After that we headed home so I could get a little bit more prepared for dinner. It was my mom's birthday and she loves guacamole, so we did a little chopping of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and jalapenos. Then we went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. It was breathtaking! We hadn't been there before so it was great to see something new that is so fantastic. (I got camera happy, so those pictures will be posted soon, too.) After the hike, we had built up an appetite where I made pulled pork tacos, homemade salsa, and guacamole. It turned out to be phenomenal- if I do say so myself- and again I can post the recipes if anyone is interested. We played my mom's favorite game, cribbage, printed off their boarding passes for the next morning and headed to bed!

It was a great weekend, and we were really glad to visit some new places. Stefan's dad and Mary are coming to visit this weekend, so we're already compiling a list of places we'd like to see. Hope everyone enjoyed being with their loved ones this Valentine's Day. We love you! xoxo.

a week without much excitement

just to fill everyone in on our last week- it wasn't too exciting. The most exciting for us was that Stefan did the best on one of his flights (there were 5 or 6 other Navigator Trainees, too)! Because he did the best, they brought him up to the front of the plane for the landing. Because he had three flights in a row (Mon, Tues, Wed) they were given Thursday off. On Thursday we went running together, lifted weights and watched a movie. It was a nice relaxing day. Friday, though, we both had to do a bunch of work. I went to an evening yoga class and when I came home Stefan had made a wonderful dinner! He made Lemon Parsley Pork chops with steamed broccoli and carrots. Delicious!

On Saturday, Stefan's whole flight was having a barbecue out at Canyon Lake. It was fun to get together with everyone and meet their significant others and children, but unfortunately it was extremely windy! Nobody seemed to mind too much, though. We grilled out, chatted, and the guys played football.

That night we went out with one of my best friends, Fritz, and his wife Stella. They are both pilots in the Air Force. Fritz is based out of Del Rio (a couple hours from us) and Stella is finishing up some Training here in San Antonio. We went to dinner and then to the Riverwalk for some drinks. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and telling old stories.

Now it's a new week, and we're getting excited for my parents to visit us this weekend. It's nice and warm here, so I'm sure they're excited for that, too!

a mother's cooking

Happy groundhog day everyone! AND Happy Birthday Erica! Hope everyone had a great Superbowl weekend. We're finding it quite ironic that the groundhog saw his shadow (which means there will be six more weeks of winter) given that yesterday we were wearing shorts and flip flops to the Super Bowl party.

Stefan is currently on his first of three flights for the week, where he gets to put his radar skills to use. He recently found out that he is ranked near the top of his class- and I decided to brag for him since I know he wouldn't do that for himself. He studies a lot and creates a lot of charts that one wouldn't understand upon first glance. He works really hard, so I'm glad it's paying off for him.

This weekend we went out to Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas. It's fairly famous- Lyle Lovett and George Strait got their start there, and they even filmed a scene from the movie Michael with John Travolta there. It was fun to go out with a bunch of the people from Stefan's flight, as I'm not here a lot to visit with them. Anyways, we saw a band there that was kind of a mix between jazz and bluegrass. They were really good.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping and then grabbed some dinner with friends at a Texas BBQ place nearby. To give a little bit more explanation, you walk in and there is this huge grill and a man standing there serving you the meat that you'd like. He dips in sauce, then they weigh it, you grab any sides you like, and then you pay. At the tables they have loaves of bread, hot sauce, BBQ sauce, baked beans, pickles, onions, etc. You eat off of this shiny paper and get really messy, but it's so good (and every one's messy) so it doesn't matter.

Then we went over to a friend's house to watch a movie, and then back home. The next morning, Stefan had to work for a little bit and when he got back we made homemade potato salad, brownie bites, and veggies and dip to bring to the Superbowl party. This brings me to another subject- to our beautifully talented moms- please start writing down your recipes. My mom is quite possibly one of the best cooks in the whole world, but I'll never be able to replicate her recipes because they are all in her head! I think even if I copied her recipe exactly it still probably wouldn't be as good, but at least it'd be close. I know this because Stefan's mom gave me a gorgeous recipe book for a wedding shower present, but the end product isn't as good as hers. maybe some day...

until then I'll keep cooking, and testing out recipes from our families and friends. Tonight I'm making chicken piccata with angel hair pasta. I'll let you know how it turns out...