Twenty Ten

Happy New Year Everyone!

Mike & I are headed to celebrate the end of the 'aughts' and the beginning of a new year with some of our favorite people ...again! Jessie & Chris & Des Moines get ready cause here we come!


this is us at last year's Black & White Party at Champps. Stay tuned to find out what this year's theme is!

Souper Sunday: Week 14&15

Week 14: Broccoli Cheese Soup
Week 15: Creamy Chicken Corn Chowder

-these both turned out seriously good, I'd say both making the top 5 so far

Snowstorm, Christmas Tree & Rudolph- we love Christmas!

Xena is thoroughly enjoying her first winter so far. She LOVES to pounce around in the snow and chase snowballs, she had the time of her life wandering around the Christmas Tree farm with us and even though she is terrified of my stuffed Rudolph and barks at him she was mesmerized by the Rudolph movie (my favorite!) and couldn't take her eyes off it. I think she wanted to join in the Reindeer games :)

Merry Christmas from Mike, Laura & Xena!

Weeks 12 & 13 of Souper Sunday Funday

Week 12: Hamburger Soup

Week 13: Beef with Veggies & Wild Rice

P.S. My very own Fantasy Football team is going to the playoffs this year! Wish me luck beating all the boys!

my new biz

I've started a new business for myself! I now sell Cookie Lee Jewelry and would love if you would check out either the online catalog here or ask me to send you a catalog.

Please check it out one way or another to see if you love it as much as I do! Everything is priced competitively under $48 and you won't believe how many compliments I get every time I wear the jewelry- really! This jewelry sells itself and there is something for everyone in every price range. Keep me and my new business in mind as you shop for the women in your lives this holiday season! I am offering FREE GIFT WRAP for all purchases made before 12/9/09 (so you can get and give in time for Christmas) and if you buy 3 items your 4th is half price! Thanks and Happy Holidays!

email me at laurawalsh.cookielee@gmail.com if interested!

Souper Sundays Week 10 & 11

Week 10: Vegetable Beef & Orzo Soup
Week 11: Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
(my mom suggested Amish noodles & Mike gave it two thumbs up!) I was even able to throw in some fresh thyme that is still thriving outside on our desk in its pot- in November!

An afternoon with Ayla

I had the pleasure of spending last Saturday afternoon with my one and only and therefore very favorite niece, Ayla. She turns 3 this Wednesday so my gift to her was a special one on one afternoon of just her and me and anything her little heart could desire! We started out at the book store and read probably 10-15 books of her choice and then she got to pick one to take home for her very own. Then we made our way to a couple of stores to try on shoes and shop for clothes. Then I asked Ayla what her very favorite thing to eat would be and without hesitation she knew she wanted pancakes. Well pancakes for dinner it was! She informed me that she thought she could eat seven pancakes and would also like some lettuce for dinner- so a side salad and chocolate milk also completed her special meal. The nice man at Perkins even let her pick a cookie to take home which turned out to be a major highlight for her :) After dinner we had a little more shopping to do and we found her a cute flowery dress and pink shoes for her brand new birthday outfit.

I had the most fun time and we were both pretty happy and tired by the time we got her back home to share our stories and purchases with the rest of her family. I sure hope this is a tradition I can continue with my precious niece and nephews- I'm pretty sure I had as much if not more fun than she did.

Week 8 & 9 & a surprise to go with it

Souper Sunday Week 8: Steak Fajita Chili- recipe from my sister's magazine Cuisine at Home!

Week 9: BYE week- read on to find out why I deserved a bye this last Sunday.....

Saturday I threw Mike a 30th Birthday Surprise Tailgate & Party! After misleading him to believe that no one could come tailgate but a very few friends- people started showing up from all over to surprise him at our Iowa v. Northwestern tailgate. Then the surprises continued as we convinced him it would be a good idea to watch the game at Old Chicago where his family and more friends were waiting to yell, "SURPRISE!" We had a great time and I thank everyone who made the trip to help surprise him and celebrate his turning the big 30!

The Soup-er Sunday Challenge Continues...

Week 6
Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Week 7
Loaded Baked Potato Soup

both huge hits in the Walsh household! Stay tuned!

I'll admit it...

Overcoming denial is the first part, right? Well here I go. I'll admit it- I bought a Snuggie, yes I did. And I LOVE it! It also just so happens to be an Iowa Hawkeye Snuggie and I WILL be tailgating in it :)

SOUPer Sunday Weeks 4&5

Week 4: Beer Cheese Soup
-recipe above found on Cooking Light website
-Mike ate 4 bowls in a row so I think it was a winner
-enjoyed on Monday night in honor of Packer v Viking game (unfortunately they lost)

Week 5: French Onion Soup
-recipe from Food Network Magazine insert 50 Easy Soups
-substituted Jarlsberg cheese for the Gruyere (for cheese toast toppers) to save $$ & calories

New Soup-er Sunday Funday Tradition

+


= love





I'm starting a fun new tradition for this fall/winter football season. You may already know this about my hubby Mike but he lives for and loves NFL football and soup. If these things were available at all times for him he would be a happy guy so I'm doing my part to combine these loves of his and went ahead and made this into a challenge for myself. My challenge is to make a new soup every Sunday this football season. That means 17, count 'em, 17 soups! I'm 3 down so far. I am gladly accepting suggestions for future soup ideas! I am going to try not to repeat too often, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to.

Week 1: Chicken Tortilla Soup (I created my own recipe which turned out delish!)

Week 2: Vegetable Beef Stew (I made 5 gallons in my favorite giant soup pot)

Week 3: Chili (my own classic recipe)

Xena Pupdate

Believe it or not our little puppy is not such a little puppy anymore!

Xena had a great summer and continued and continues to grow every day. One highlight of her end of summer was a camping night with us at Lake McBride which included much romping through the woods which left her and especially her ears covered in tiny little green burrs (3 hrs of combing and cutting fur later....) and sleeping in our tent with us. She also spent lots of time digging in and eating mud from the puddles in our backyard.

She is approaching 6 months old at the end of this week and has already lost her baby teeth and currently seems to be going through a bit of a rebellious stage (one book I read called it the equivalent of a human hitting their teenage years) This outta be fun!!!

Lake of The Ozarks Mini Vacay

For the last 5 or 6 years Mike & I, Jessie & Chris and a couple of other friends have been making the trip every August to The Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri to meet Mike's family for a long weekend of boating, golf, lots of sun & coolers of cold beer. We always have the best time and even though the drive down there is not the most fun we always decide it is well worth it. Here are some pics of trip to 'LOTO' last week.

the girls on the boat (Sarah, Becca, me, Lisa & Jessie)

me & Lisa try to stay afloat in Party Cove

Chris aka "filly" with Jessie, Becca, "UJ" and Chris "W" also stay afloat in Party Cove- koozies are a MUST when you party with the Walsh's!

our fearless captain "T-Bone"

(otherwise known as Mike's dad)

Mike caught the largest horse fly I'd ever seen! They were attacking us!

photo-ops after just making it to the dock before a monsoon rain hit

thanks Jessie & Lisa for the photos! :)

Des Moines Adventure & Pics

We had the most fantastically fun weekend with Jessie & Chris on our "Choose Your Own Adventure in Des Moines" Christmas gift! Jessie & Chris met and greeted us with cold beers at Prairie Meadows where we watched traditional horse racing with the hilarious promo event of camel & ostrich racing Friday night. We each chose our faves but had no idea who won because we were all laughing too hard. Our favorite horse was guess which name (see picture) even though she didn't win us any $!

Saturday we started out the morning with a bike ride to the biggest and most awesome farmer's market we'd ever see in downtown Des Moines where we enjoyed breakfast and a bloody mary bar- yum!

We stopped for a photo-op by Grey's Lake

Then we went golfing! How does my swing look?

Next we headed back to Jessie & Chris' apartment to relax and have a 'dip party' and 'good' beer (2 of our custom adventure choices for the weekend) it was one of my favorite parts! Jessie made 5 dips and provided plenty of fun different dippers.

Then we were off to a Barnstormer's game with a pregame warm-up at a close by sport's & gaming bar (Mike was in heaven!) We snuck down to 2nd row seats and it was such an exciting game- we now LOVE arena football and wish we had a local team! We then hit the downtown bars and experienced the Des Moines nightlife.

We ended our adventure on Sunday morning with a delicious breakfast at a popular local diner and headed home exhausted and happy and feeling so lucky to have such a wonderful sister & brother! Thanks Jessie & Chris!

Christmas in August!

We are so excited and looking forward to our 3rd & final Christmas gift experience for the year- this one from Chris & Jessie and happening this weekend! Their gift to us was our very own "Choose Your Own Adventure in Des Moines." Jessie created with Chris' help the cutest picture book of so many different things we could do in Des Moines complete with options for snacks and drinks, breakfast choices, etc.! We had to circle what we wanted and send it back to them to plan it all out for us (I know- what a great gift!) We decided upon an outdoor adventure for this coming weekend. It is all starting Friday night where we will meet Jessie & Chris at Prairie Meadows Race Track & Casino in Altoona to watch, get this, LIVE CAMEL & OSTRICH RACING!

Seriously, check out the posters- it is for real!

Then we'll head back to Des Moines for many more adventures- check back next week to see what we did! Thanks in advance to Jessie & Chris- it is going to be awesome!

Xena's Day at the Beach

Last Saturday Xena had a wonderfully exciting & tiring day with us boating & playing on the beaches of the Coralville Res. As usual she followed right on the heels of & pestered Angus until she ran out of energy and took a nap in the boat.

p.s. the little chunker has put on 7 lbs in 4 weeks :)

RAGBRAI PICS

RAGBRAI here I come!

After work tonight I am off to Ottumwa to join up with Mom, Dad, Jessie & Chris who are already on RAGBRAI. I will ride 75 miles with them on tomorrow's route from Ottumwa to Mt. Pleasant- I am excited & nervous so wish me luck!

I'll have plenty of pics to share soon :)