Juicy Lucy

We had our own little "Man vs. Food" competition last night at the Siefer Household. This weekend we caught an episode where the host goes to Minneapolis to conquer the "Juicy Lucy." It is a hamburger with secret molten cheesy goodness inside, just waiting to come out. Just like a cheeseburger, but with the cheese inside.

Inspired by the show, Jeremy had me gather up all the ingredients and we tried to make one of our very own last night.

I would say were were successful in the "looks" department...

But then at the end of the meal we both decided that we have yet to conquer making hamburgers at home.... and would much rather go out to Longhorn and buy one there! What is it about the basic hamburger that is so impossible to replicate at home...it just never tastes the same... but that hasn't stopped us from trying!

2 years down 62 to go!

On July 14th we celebrated our second anniversary... and Jeremy's grandparents reminded us that they are on year 62! Makes the two sound not as exciting, huh! =) It was fun because this year we were actually back up in Okoboji, right where we were married.
We got dressed up for a night out and decided to go back to Gull Point and take a walk at the site where we said our vows.

Only on this July 14th, the skies looked like they were about to open up any second! Here we are on the same dock as the shot above.

Then we headed to Bracco's for a sunset dinner. It was "ladies night out," so I ordered the girly-est drink I could find! They seated us between three different tables - all of which were celebrating someone's 50th birthday. We got to sing happy birthday at least three times, and then there were competitions between the three tables for who could sing the loudest....and this was all before their drinks had arrived!

Then we headed back to John and Marianne's to cut into the top layer of our wedding cake.

Marianne had been saving it for us for two years! Yes, that's right TWO! We were a little suspect to try it out...but you know how traditions go.

She must be an expert cake wrapper-upper, because it actually tasted pretty good! We all willingly ate our pieces!

And we finished the night off with some pink bubbly! Two years down... man they went quick! =)

Okoboji Work-Play-Vacation

We just got back from our yearly trip to Okoboji. This year we mixed in a little bit of work along with play...and I had a great time sharing my company's biography service with some of the families that summer in Okoboji.

We started off the visit by heading up to Brookings, SD, and Jeremy played in an Ultimate Frisbee Hat Tourney. Here's the man in action below. Jeremy's parents let us borrow their Saab convertible for the hour drive up to Brookings from Sioux Falls. Jeremy was so excited by the 58 degree temperatures that he decided it would be really fun to drive the whole way with the top down! I had the heater on full blast as well as the seat warmer. Talk about shocking coming from 103 in San Antonio!

We finally hit Okoboji on Saturday evening... Marianne was ready to greet us!

And so was John!

We had some great meals while we were in town. One of the best had to be Marianne's filet mignon dinner with a blue cheese crumble melted on top. Yummmmmy!

I even got to wear a sweatshirt for quite a few of the days there. Here we stopped off for Jeremy's favorite food group.... hamburgers!

And our trip would not be complete without an afternoon at the Barefoot bar!

And then...with just one hour to spare before leaving for our flight back to Tejas, we jumped on the jet skis for one last ride. And yes, I sucessfully threw Jeremy off the back when I was driving!

Using the last few shots on our underwater camera...left over from our cruise in February. I think they turned out pretty schnazzy!

The week flew by way too fast!

An honest mistake

So today, Jeremy was running out of the house to get to work. We just got back from our work vacation to Okoboji, so not much in the house for food.

I said, “Hey babe, why don’t you take one of these new healthy snack bars for your breakfast? It is better than going on an empty stomach.”

He agreed and I even let him choose which flavor of “Larabar” he wanted. He went with “Cashew cookie.”


About five minutes later he calls me and starts going off about, "What did I give him for breakfast, and that it tastes like someone already ate the cashews, spit them out, and then glued them together into this bar!" Whoops, guess he chose the wrong flavor. And with that I hung up the phone...hoping that my afternoon snack flavor of "Cherry Pie," would be tastier!

Again, I get another call from him at 1:00pm today…. “Oh, my gosh, what was in that bar… I never should have eaten it! It caused a major emergency for me here at work…if you know what I mean! Are you trying to sabotage me woman!" I just told him that it couldn’t have been the bar…he was probably just getting an ulcer from all his work stuff.

And then the truth came to me…just now.... as I was biting into my own Larbar. I turned over the wrapper and read their slogan…

“Humm Food: Real food that creates an unmistakable feeling of health and well-being, often accompanied by an inexplicable and irresistible urge to, well, hum.”

And slowly, as I am reading every word, it dawns on me what I really did to Jeremy this morning with the offering of a snack bar....whoops! =) Hope he didn't have to run out of that meeting too fast!

Do people really make food that does this to you…and then market the fact! I mean it’s not like I was in the senior food section!!

Well, I haven’t told Jeremy about my newest finding on the bar that I fed him this morning…but now it is only a matter of time....it was an honest mistake, but hope I save you from making the same one! =)

Wii are having too much fun!

Ahh, yes, we are now the proud owners of "Samba de Amigo," a maraca shaking fiesta of fun...according to Sega!

I came home the other night to find Jeremy shakin' it to the sounds of Gloria Estefan and Chumbawamba's "I get knocked down!"

A snapshot of the maraca shaking man himself!

I just need to point out that this is a seizure waiting to happen. The creators of the game tried to use every single color at the same time, and also somehow worked in a dancing jalapeno (see far right), and a Las Vegas style dancing girl!

Here's Jer in action....the jury is still out about all of you purchasing this game. Feel free to come on by if you are feeling even in the least bit ready to samaba!

Segway n' the City

We spent the 4th of July in Austin with my parents...and had a blast!

The first night we all kayaked out to the Congress Street bridge on Town Lake and watched the bats, come out at sunset. I know, sounds a little creepy, but it was amazing to see the 1.5 million bats all come out from this urban setting. They were still streaming out after 20 or so minutes of watching!

Then we headed back to the rental house we were staying at...which was probably the coolest rental ever. It is called the "Architects House" and we actually stayed in the guest house in the back, but it had a gourmet kitchen, very sleek modern design, a roof top patio, and they even threw in breakfast rolls and coffee!

Here is my dad cooking up a masterful meal for us the first night. Jeremy loves a good spaghetti dish, and so Dad tried out this Bolognese recipe from one of my favorite cooking bloggers, Pioneer Woman.

With a little bruschetta and some wine, we really had a great meal..compliments to the chef!

This is Jer on Saturday morning...he found an Austin ultimate group to play with, but to me he kind of resembles "Pig Pen" from Charlie Brown! Anyone agree with me on this one?

For lunch on Saturday, the 4th, we went to Huts, on 6th street for some tasty burgers! Again, highly recommended on your next Austin trip!
Then, the highlight of the weekend...we took the SegCity, segway tour...and yes we did get the gelato tour (how can you pass up riding a segway, seeing austin, and eating gelato!?). Dad was the first of the group to try out his mad skills on the segway. He had a very "terminator-like" face during this training session!

Then Mom was up...

Then me...

Then Jer...

Somehow I made it across the street with the rest of the tour, but the rest of 'em got left behind...here we are during the first part of the tour!

And then we finally made it to the capital! Jeremy and my mom were racing each other up and down the front driveway. Luckily no secret service took them out!

And finally we got to celebrate Mom's 30th birthday! =)

All in all it was a great 4th of July weekend...and now I have a segway on my Christmas list this year...it'll only set you back 6G's!

Slip-n-Slide

So you may think that slip n' slides are just for children! I beg to differ with you! This past weekend we went up to Austin to celebrate Molly's birthday...and it was complete with a 30-foot inflatable slip-n-slide! So what if she had to call five companies to find one who would rent to adults! =)

We had soooo much fun and it reminded me that you actually can enjoy the outdoors in this crazy Texas heat. Here are some of the snapshots...

Kevin, Molly's husband, was the slip n' slide champion..you can see why!

He actually got a jump named after him...we called it the "Kevin Corkscrew 360." He would start off in one lane, bounce, roll over 360, and land in the other lane...with enough momentum to make it all the way to the end! Look, we can't just do plain jane slip n' slide here...there have to be some elements of difficulty!

The feet-first attempt.

Molly vs. her sister Julie...even though it was her birthday, Molly lost to super-star Julie in this head to head competition.

By the end of the night, after the 6-person relay, the head-to-head tournament, and some pretty tasty ice cream cake, Jeremy was ready to buy one of these slip n' slide contraptions to take back with us to San Antonio! Anyone looking for some summer fun, I'd definitely recommend it!!