Keeping with tradition, we celebrated Dominica's birthday at the Braves Opening Weekend game this past Saturday. Since its the third year we've done this, it's turned into quite the spectacle with friends from out of town coming in for it. What can I say? Dominica's a big deal.

Let's back up to the end of last week, first....

This little psycho learned a new trick called "Jump from the chair to the table and make noise until mom comes out and looks."

He also met his first baby at the dog park - it was instant love for both of them. Ruthie was so over Hank at the dog park. She's over all of the attention he gets. 

The celebrations kicked off on Friday night when some of my favorite out-of-towners arrived and we headed to Chuy's for dinner.

 After dinner, it only made sense for us to take Natalie, Whittney and Alex (no pictures?) to Mulligan's. Whittney spent a good chuck of change at the jukebox, and Natalie played a mean game of dice with some locals...

Love my friends! Wish you were here, Annie!

 Saturday was game day, and after a brief stint at a Wedding Shower we were off to the tailgate. We decided to take Uber and it was the best decision going down there - it only cost $35! (Coming back was a different story... nightmare.) Of course, Natalie got shot gun so Adam had to squeeze in the back with us. (Poor Alex came down with a stomach bug! But he met us at the game later.)

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD! I love my friends. Even when we can't pull it together for a nice picture.

Birthday girl!

How amazing does this look? Natalie made Dominica 'Trash Brownies'... cookie dough, oreos and brownie mix all baked together. SO DELICIOUS... and so easy to make.

Adam and his newly engaged girlfriend.

Lindsay came!!!! Her whole family came to the tailgate, including her niece Rachel - who was the hit of the party.

How amazing are these wine chalices? It's how they serve wine at Turner Field now.

It was perfect weather for a baseball game... and the Braves won!

Adam is seriously the child whisperer...kids just gravitate toward him. After flirting with him all night, Adam had to break her heart and tell her he was married. Her response? "What if she dies?" Gotta love kids!

Sister wives! Love my Barb.

#westerngirls

And one more picture to seal the deal. Sorry, Madi! The rest of us look cute.

spring celebrations

I knew this past weekend wouldn't even be worth a post of its own, so I decided to hit you with two weekends in one post. What a treat. (Ha!)

On Saturday (March 29), Saira invited Adam and I to attend the USA vs. Uruguay rugby match right up the street from us at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. It was a World Cup qualifier game, so it was kind of a big deal. (Spoiler alert: We won! #teamamerica)

The weather was beautiful one minute, and then a monsoon the next. Good thing Saira and Aaron came prepared with rain jackets! (Sorry for stealing yours, Aaron.)

I went to a New Zealand vs. South Africa rugby game when I lived in New Zealand, but I didn't know what to expect at an American match. Um, best tailgate EVER! So much America and so much enthusiasm! I could have stayed there all day.

Adam and I didn't have time to actually go into the game (who does that anyway?), but we did watch the first couple of plays from behind the fence. So poor.

We were happy to skip out on the game, because we had to head over to the Bakers to see the McNeelys - our favorite Canadians! They're also some of our favorite people, in general. (Not the best picture, but at least I got one.)

After dinner with the McNeelys, we decided to head home and then to Mulligan's for a few more celebratory drinks. OH MY GOSH. Totally forgot. Adam took the GRILL (a really hard test at Enterprise) on Friday... and he PASSED! He got a bonus, a promotion and now he can start applying for Assistant Manager positions within Enterprise. So proud of him!

Of course, I had to bring him down by beating him at darts...

Last week I finally got back on board my 'eat healthy at home, splurge when we're not' kick, and made this delicious paleo meal... Stuffed Peppers! Meagan and Nathan let us borrow a cookbook called Everyday Paleo, and I'm kind of obsessed. It's so easy for kitchen noobs, like me.

The pot kind of looks like mush, but I promise it was good! Also, get so annoyed when recipes say 'Prep Time: 15 Minutes'. YEAH... if you don't count the hour of chopping before that. 

Ta da! I have to admit, it could have used some sort of sauce (tomato sauce, perhaps?). I added hot sauce to mine, but it was still pretty dry.

On Friday, the whole Koch family was in town for a wedding, and it also happened to be Frances' 60th birthday. We all celebrated with amazing food, drinks and fun at Canoe. You have to get the Cracker Jack/Popcorn ice cream.. YUM! 

The whole gang! The little blonde one is Bea... I haven't seen her since she was one, so it was fun actually conversing with her.

Adam was gone the whole weekend for Kirklan's bachelor party in Charleston, so this is basically what my weekend looked like with the pups. (Told you it wasn't worth its own post.)

And since I've only asked Adam to hang up these pictures in the office 3948794 times, I finally did them myself. Girl power.