spring is here to stay!

Boy, am I glad we can finally say that spring is here- and it looks like it plans on sticking around!  What a beautiful weekend it was.  I made Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese on Friday night and it was a big winner!

http://nutritionella.com/2013/01/butternut-squash-mac-cheese/

This recipe is rather time consuming, but it is so worth it!  We've been eating it non-stop since it came out of the oven.
I cheated and bought the already cubed butternut squash at Harris Teeter.  Hey, it was on sale!
This dish has a really great texture and the flavor is out of this world.  Those 3 cheeses are magical, I swear.  Don't skip out on them!  And did you know that HT sells fancy cheeses already shredded now?  Finding a bag of shredded Gruyere for $3.00 made my day.  It's the little things...
I don't have an immersion blender, so I put the squash mixture in my food processor after it cooled down for a bit.  I had to do it in 2 batches because it would have overflowed otherwise.  It worked just fine!
Definitely follow the broil step.  It gives it a perfectly crusty cheese layer to top it off.  Yumm!

I could chat about food forever, but the rest of my weekend was even better than that mac&cheese, believe it or not!  My MOH and I took a quick road trip to Fayetteville on Saturday to visit another one of my bridesmaids and her daughter- my flower girl!  We went to the spring fling at her school and had too much fun watching her play (and playing a bit ourselves...) and I even won a cake at the cake walk!  Talk about a good day!  I just love getting to spend time with Libby and Ava since they don't live close!

Me, Meredith (Libby's sister), and sweet Ava!

Payton and I spent Saturday night watching episode after episode of Walking Dead on Netflix.  They aren't kidding when they say that show is addicting!  We kept saying "one more" until it was 2am.  We finished the season on Sunday night, so now we don't know what to do with ourselves.  Pathetic?  Now when I see people walking on the side of the road, I automatically think they are walkers.

Sunday was like, the best day ever.  Payton and I took Scoutie for a long walk, which is when I remembered how much I love spring time.  We also went to Diamonds Direct Crabtree to take advantage of their big designer showcase sale!  We got out WEDDING BANDS and I also got my wedding jewelry!  I love it there.  We both got exactly what we wanted - maybe even more, and for a fantastic price!  Then we had lunch in the mall while we talked for a long time about our future and kids.  I love that Payton likes to talk about kids.  Some guys are terrified of it, but he's just excited.  And the good news is, we're on the same page about everything (for now...)!  I really can't wait to be married to him.  But don't worry, we're many years away from being ready for the little ones!  It's just fun to talk about it :)

From the time I was about 12 until Snowy moved to New Hill in November 2011, I only lived about 10-15 minutes away from him.  At one point, I only lived a mile from him!  I was spoiled with the fact that I could go visit him whenever I wanted.  I miss that luxury SO much that it actually makes my heart hurt sometimes.  There are days when all I want to do is throw my arms around his neck and hug him.  He is 35 minutes away from me now and with my work schedule, I only get to see him on the weekends.  Most of the time, I only get to see him for 5 minutes when we have Sunday dinner with my parents.  I finally had the chance to go spend some time with him yesterday afternoon.  I called his name and he whinnied at me just like he always has.  He hadn't forgotten about me!  Mom had given him a bath the day before, so she got to be the bad guy for once!  I did pull his mane, which isn't his favorite thing, but he took it like a champ and I rewarded him with an hour of grazing on the bright green clover.  I curried him and shedded him until my hands were numb.  The ground looked like it had a fresh layer of snow (ha, get it?).  It's amazing how much hair comes off of those animals when spring time hits.  It's never ending!  I was covered from head to toe in white hair, but I didn't care one bit.  I was so happy to just be with him and I felt better than I've felt in weeks when I left.  It's hard to put into words how much joy he brings me, but all I can say is I'm lucky to call him mine.

And we can't forget about Mason the donkey.  He and Snowy are fence friends :)

Happy Spring!