Weekly Blog Hop - Favorite Recipe

Welcome to Keeping Up With The Spences!

I am participating in the Weekly Blog Hop with the theme of sharing your favorite recipe. I have chosen to share a very simple, yet delicious crock pot recipe! My family LOVES this meal...even my VERY picky three year old son! I am very excited to "hop" on over to everyone's blog and acquire some new favorite recipes.

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken

2-4 chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 envelope ranch dressing mix

1 8 oz. cream cheese

Combine chicken, soup, and dressing mix into the crock pot and cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. Add the cream cheese 30 minutes before serving. Serve over fettucine. Enjoy!

One Great Date

Saturday night, John and I had a wonderful date night. Everything was perfect from the gorgeous cool weather, delicious dinner, peaceful scenery, entertaining musical, and of course the company. First the weather has been unseasonably cool and this was an added treat to our date. We went to dinner at The Boathouse in Forest Park. The restaurant is located on Post Dispatch Lake with outdoor seating, a band, paddle boat/canoe rental, and great food. Our wait was about an hour so we sat by the water...so peaceful and relaxing. For dinner we were lucky enough to get an outdoor table next to the water to enjoy the water and scenery a little longer. We both decided to order the tilapia sandwich and it was fabulous! The band began as we were eating dinner so we also had a little musical entertainment during dinner. It was a great choice for dinner and hope to go back soon to take Kyle on the paddle boats!

Patiently waiting for dinner to arrive. Our view from the dinner table

After dinner we had tickets to see the musical Godspell at The Muny. The Muny is located in Forest Park, as well, within walking distance to The Boathouse. The Muny is an outdoor musical theatre which seats about 11,000 people. There are seven musicals performed each summer. We actually were season ticket holders the two summers before Kyle was born and we always enjoyed the shows. We have seen Meet Me In St. Louis, Annie, The Music Man, 42nd Street, South Pacific...too name a few. Godspell was a great performance and very high energy. The best part of the show, however, was the fact that we had front row, center seats...literally. Our seats were typically where the orchestra is seated, but since the orchestra was behind the scenes for the performance there were actual seats in the orchestra pit. It was a completely new experience to be so up close to the stage. If we were any closer we would have had an acting or singing part in the musical. We may attempt to see either Camelot or Hairspray within the next week or two depending on ticket availability. It was such a great date...we had so much fun!

Front and center

Kyle also had a fun night on his date with the same babysitter he has had the past two times. We were so glad Kyle didn't scare her off from their last date. Kyle really likes her and so does Mommy and Daddy. Kyle took a wagon walk, played outside, and had fun with someone other than Mommy and Daddy! It was an all around enjoyable night...couldn't have asked for things to be more perfect! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Great Wolf Lodge Vacation - Recap Two

Recap Two from our mini-vacation will focus on eating, which of course is our favorite activity to do on vacation! Our first night (Friday night), we ate in the Critter Cafe which is the restaurant inside the Great Wolf Lodge. We also ate breakfast there each morning, a "must" for us on vacation. Saturday night we ventured to the outdoor mall area close by the lodge and ate dinner at one of the many restaurants. We attempted to eat at several restaurants, but the wait was too long. We finally decided to try the T-Rex Cafe and it was the best decision. We did have to wait to be seated for dinner, but Kyle was throughly entertained, traveling into a prehistoric adventure. He was in awe of the life size animated dinasaurs throughout the establishment. We were seated for dinner close to a dinasour display which kept Kyle content during our meal. Another cool thing about the T-Rex Cafe was every half an hour they would have a meteor shower...the lights would dim/flash and you would hear the sound of thunder. We would love for a T-Rex Cafe to open in the St. Louis area....what a magical adventure for kids of all ages!

View from our table at dinner

Wooly Mammoth display Dinasour display

Prehistoric dinasour

Kyle is all smiles at dinner

Sunday night we drove over to Kansas City, MO. to eat dinner at Houston's Restaurant in the Country Club Plaza area of town. Houston's is one of my favorite restaurants so it was mandatory we eat there since we were so close by. The food is always top notch and the spinach/artichoke dip is delicious. We took a nice stroll through the Plaza area after dinner, but didn't stay too long so we could get back to the lodge to visit the waterpark one last time.

Below are a couple of photos taken outside of Houston's restaurant. I promise that I was actually on the vacation, but unfortuntaly, I didn't make my way into any of the pictures. Although, it's more imporant to document Kyle's fun times on the vacation!

Six Year Celebration

Saturday night John and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary. Technically, our anniversary was Sunday, May 17th, but since we were unable to celebrate last weekend we decided to do it this weekend. We had a fabulous evening! We chose to have dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse! They sprinkled rose petals on our table to signify that we were celebrating our anniversary! Everyone who came by wished us "Happy Anniversary"! We thought it was a special touch to the dining experience. Wow, the meal was fantastic! We began with the shrimp cocktail appetizer, John ordered filet with lobster tails, and I had petite filet with shrimp....everything was absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, desert was out of the question since we were extremely full!

After dinner, we made our way over to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to enjoy some cocktails. John and I first met at the Ritz-Carlton in 2002, so we enjoy seeing where "our story" began...although, we didn't officially start dating until six months after we met at the Ritz. We look forward to many happy years to come!

Early Celebration

Saturday night, John took me out for an early birthday celebration date night. Since it was my birthday, I had the upper hand in making all the decisions about where to eat dinner and our after dinner entertainment. For dinner we went to Napoli 2, a newer Italian restaurant in STL. We were very pleased with the restaurant...service, decor, and most important: the food! We started with a shrimp appetizer topped with a spicy tomato sauce...delicious! For our main entrees, John ordered the Lamb Chops, which is totally off the board for him, but he thoroughly enjoyed his dinner. I ordered the Veal Parmigiana which was very tasty. I find myself ordering veal out since we don't eat veal at home very often. To top off our delicious dinner we split a tiramisu desert. I'm not sure I have ever met a tiramisu desert that I didn't enjoy...LOL! This was a wonderful way to begin celebrating my birthday. We would recommend the restaurant to anyone in the STL who is an Italian food lover!

Next on our stop for our evening "entertainment" was Barnes and Noble bookstore. I use the word "entertainment" very loosely for this activity, but we love to read books so it was a nice treat to stroll through the bookstore without having to worry about Kyle getting antsy or bored.

After our tour of the bookstore, we went to see He's Just Not That Into You. I've been wanting to see this movie since it was released. We (yes, John too) enjoyed the movie very much....great cast of actors! Have you seen this movie and did you like it? Have you read the book? I haven't read the book and I'm unsure if I will since I have already watched the movie. I LOVE my husband since he doesn't mind watching "chick flicks" with me....these days that's hard to find in a husband/boyfriend! Once you have children, it's hard to find the time to go to the movie theatre, so for date night a movie is always at the top of my list. My only issue with movie theaters these days is the movie times. I really wish there was a showing between 7:00p.m. (too early) and 10:00p.m. (too late).

Since it was after midnight when the movie ended, we headed home...way to late to be staying out these days...LOL! On our way home, the local county police department was conducting a sobriety checkpoint. Thankfully, we opted to see a movie instead of going out for drinks. Each car was stopped...John was asked where he was that evening, asked for his license, and insurance card. Of course, we were fine, but this was a first for both of us. I was unsure if we should inform our babysitter about this checkpoint since she would be driving by the area. I really wanted to let her know, but John thought it was best that we not mention it...so we didn't. Of course, I wasn't worried that she had been drinking, but I would have been scared driving alone after midnight and pulling up to a sobriety checkpoint. Do you feel we should have told the babysitter?

I hope everyone in the blog world enjoyed the weekend!

Also, don't forget to enter our Blogoversary Giveaway!

Feeling Refreshed

Yeah, it's March! Why am I so excited about this? The three coldest months of the year...December, January, and February are OVER! Crossing my fingers, March brings more spring like temperatures. Today, however, was still a bit chilly, but I do have thirty more days to be hopeful! March also includes one of my favorite holidays...St. Patrick's Day! Why do I love St. Patrick's Day so much? It's my birthday! Also, you may have noticed my cute little gadget on the right side bar. March is also my One Year Blogoversary! Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging for almost one whole year. Where do the days, weeks, months, and years go....way to fast!

Last night, we went out sans Kyle and the camera...LOL! This was our first experience using our babysitting service. John and I liked the sitter and best of all Kyle seemed to as well. John and I went to dinner at the Wild Horse Grill. I'm sure you are wondering what we ordered...John had the shrimp and scallops which he rated four and half out of five stars and I ordered the veal picatta, which I would rate with five stars! As you can see, we enjoyed our dinner! After dinner we did a little shopping which is always nice without Kyle in tow. Our next stop was to a local bar for a cocktail and listen to a band. It was a nice, relaxing evening and best of all we feel refreshed! We have another date night planned in a couple of weeks to celebrate my birthday (a little early) which we are already looking forward to. Yeah for reliable babysitting...what a wonderful feeling!

I hope everyone in the blog world enjoyed their weekend!

Excellent New Orleans Cuisine

Yes, yet another New Orleans post.We had a fun-filled few days and I want to have all of our activities documented.

We spent three nights in the city and every night we had "date night". Thanks to my Dad (Poppie) for watching Kyle in our hotel two nights. We don't get many nights out while we are home and it was such a refreshing break. On Sunday, our last night, we went to one of our favorite restaurants we discovered when we were dating...The Upperline Restaurant. The restaurant is located in the Garden District of New Orleans off St. Charles Ave. As always, our dinner was delicious...we both ordered drum. The food in New Orleans certainly is unique and one-of-a-kind...that is one of the many things I miss about my home town.

New Dinner Favorite

Do you LOVE pasta? Do you LOVE easy to prepare meals? Do you LOVE Romano's Macaroni Grill? Then, this post is for you!

On a recent trip to the grocery store I discovered these Macaroni Grill meals to prepare at home. Chicken is the only extra ingredient you will need to prepare the meal. There are several varieties available...are super easy to prepare and ready in approximately twenty minutes. Tonight we had the Garlic & Herb Chicken Penne. Since my discovery, I always have one on hand, as well as chicken, if I'm in a pinch to find a meal. For further information click the Macaroni Grill link above.

Bon Appetit!