Easter Weekend

This past weekend, Ryan and I headed north to my sister Hillary's house in Duluth for Easter. Since her Ryan has Fridays off and my Ryan is currently unemployed {his last day at Gerard was last Wednesday - he's taking this time off before we move to Omaha to finish his dissertation} we drove up on Thursday.

Friday was a busy day. We hooked up their trailer and brought some stuff to the dump {they recently redid their upstairs bathroom}, picked Hillary up at work and brought her out to lunch down in Canal Park {froze our tushes off walking from the parking lot, down the block, to the restaurant}, went to the grocery store {Why do I go to grocery stores the day before holidays?! It's a form of torture!}, went to Menards {where Ryan kindly showed us everything Ryan and I need to hook up a sink downstairs and likely saved us multiple trips to Lowe's in the near future}, stopped at the liquor store {you can't have a bon fire with the boys with out a couple a brewskis} and then went to Sam's {to pick up a big bag of frozen strawberries for frozen drinks} before heading back to Hill and Ryan's place.  Shortly after we got home, Hillary got home and shortly after that my parents and Sophie arrived. Kristin and Dave weren't able to make it up to Duluth :-(

For dinner, I had found a recipe online for cheddar broccoli stuff chicken. So I prepared all the chicken and left the cooking up to the guys. But, low and behold, they went to throw them on the grill and the grill was out of propane. So they guys took a roadtrip to the gas station to fill the propane tank. While they were gone, I wondered and asked if we should just start the oven and cook them in there. Hill told me "No, we'll just throw them on the grill when they get back. They'll cook faster on the grill." I guess I should add that it is about 730ish at this point in time. We waited a little longer for the guys to get back with the propane. They finally got home, came inside and asked "Is it okay if we just cook the chicken in the oven? It's raining outside!" Ha! So into the oven it went.

Lookin' good!

 Saturday we woke up to snow. Of course, who doesn't wake up to snow at the end of April?!? Geez!

:-(

Ryan was super excited about the snow!

The Food Network has a show called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. When we have the opportunity, we like to visit featured establishments. Just last year Sara's Table up in Duluth was on the show which focused on their famous cranberry wild rice french toast. So to Sara's Table we went for breakfast and boy was it delicious!

Ryan had the plate-sized pancakes. Wowzers, those are big pancakes!!

There it is. The Cranberry Wild Rice French Toast!

Proof that Guy Fieri from the Food Network ate here.

After breakfast we did what every other family does after breakfast {just kidding}....we went and picked out tuxes for Hillary and Ryan's wedding :-)

Ryan getting measured by the tux lady {while all the high school prom-goers picked out tuxes}.

The two Ryans standing around while Hillary is making important decisions.

Now the other Ryan is getting measured.

Ryan trying to hide as he no longer wanted his picture being  taken in his penguin suit.

Picking out the tuxes and trying clothes on for size took a little time. For a while, my dad and I sat in the store's wicker chairs and messed around/played games/read the newspaper on our smart phones. But after awhile, my dad gave up. He went out to the truck to take a nap - ha! I was not far behind. After getting home I took a three hour nap. Ahhh, nothing like napping on the weekends. I think I could be a professional napper :-)

After nap time, it was invitation time! Hillary, mom and I set up shop and got to work on invitations for Hill's wedding. I didn't take any pictures but the invitations were looking good by the time we finished. Just a few more weeks and they will be in the mail! Can't wait for the wedding!!

Hillary's Ryan was itching to build a bonfire and since it was chilly outside, the heat of the fire felt really good.

Love these action shot photos!

Chopping wood so we can have a Ryan-sized bonfire.

Nice chopping Ryan!

This is just the beginning of the bonfire {yes, we burned some cardboard boxes too}.

Saturday night we had our Easter dinner complete with spiral cut ham, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes and fruit salad. It was SO tasty! After dinner, it was back to the bonfire.

This is a Ryan-sized bonfire.

And it burned well into the night.

On Sunday after church, Hillary, mom and and I took Sophie and Hillary's two dogs for a walk around the block {which happens to be about 3 miles}. Hillary's dogs enjoyed marking about every ten feet. Sophie loved being out in the fresh air and being picked up by mom every time we approached other people's dog as Sophie would be the perfect snack-sized treat.

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Sophie never wants to miss out on any action.

Honestly, she doesn't like to be left out. While mom was outside, she perched on the chair to keep an eye on her.

She didn't care who was sitting in the chair, she had her look out. I love this picture of her. I was calling her name and she was ignoring me. Then she finally turned around and was like "What?! You talkin' to me!?" ha!

My dad installed a "retro camera" on his photo and was trying it out.

Hill and mom being techies :)

It was a fun weekend. I wish it wasn't such a far drive! Ryan and I got home Sunday night around 10pm and I went right to bed :-) A good time was had by all!

~Ashley