Let me start by apologizing because I imagine right about now you are singing along with me in your head…

“If you like Piña Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
I’m the love that you’ve looked for, write to me, and escape.”

And now that song is going to be stuck in your head all the live long day. Again, I’m sorry. Actually not really, because doesn’t that song make you happy? It makes me feel like I’m back on the Regal Princess Cruise where I enjoyed fun, sun and plenty of frozen Piña Coladas. Here is just a sampling of photographic evidence of my new found Piña Colada love……

Read More

The post If You Like Piña Coladas {Perfect Piña Colada Recipe} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

I recently returned from a glorious 7 day cruise aboard the amazing Regal Princess ship. I’ve always been a fan of cruising and really believe it is the best way to vacation! With that being said, I noticed something while I was on my 7 day vacation… I was extremely happy.

I know what you are thinking…”Well, duh, Kristen. Of course you were happy… you were on a CRUISE vacation, spending time in the sunshine, eating amazing food, and getting away from this hellish winter weather.” OK, you’ve got me there, but despite the obvious reasons for my happiness, I noticed while away little things that the cruise staff did or even the cruise line itself had in place that increased my happiness.

As I was cruising along, I kept thinking (each time I’d feel that little jolt of happiness) what can I learn from this Princess cruise about happiness? What are some things I can incorporate into my daily life back home that will give me more of this kind of happiness? And so, I started to take note… and now I’m sharing with you!

Here are some of the top things I learned about happiness from my most awesome vacation….

Read More

The post What I Learned About Happiness on a Princess Cruise appeared first on Dine and Dish.

This past August, our family went on a family vacation to Colorado. I’ve promised time and time again to share with you all of the fun we had in Denver and Estes Park, and I’ve finally had the time to go through the 600+ (ahem) pictures I took so I can share some of them with you. We had a such a great time as a family in Colorado and I can’t wait to visit again!

The first leg of our road trip found us in Denver, Colorado. We decided early on that Nick and Jacob would have guy time in Denver while the girls and I lived it up together. While the boys took in a ball game and other boy things, the girls and I went shopping then got settled in a room at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel downtown. …

Read More

The post Travel: Girls Weekend at The Four Seasons Hotel, Denver appeared first on Dine and Dish.

“>Pin It

We’re going on a road trip…

Actually, we’re headed out on our family vacation at the YMCA or The Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado with a stop at The Four Seasons in Denver along the way.

This equates to fine times ahead, but a long, 10+ hour car ride to get there. Long car rides + four kids = a whole lot of fun, as you can imagine.

People always ask me how I get my kids to travel so well in the car. Long distances are nothing… in fact, each spring break the kids and I take a 36 hour round trip car ride to visit my parents in South Texas. They are little road warriors, which is a great thing.

My secret to a less harried travel experience is snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. I swear my kids could eat the entire trip if I let them (and sometimes I do if it buys me some peace and quiet along the way!)

When I saw this great idea on Pinterest, linked from the Tip Junkie site, I knew it would be a fun way to ration out the snacks for our upcoming vacation. Each kid gets their own box full of a variety of our favorite snacks. How smart is that? This way I don’t have to dole out snacks the entire way and they can snack on what they want, when they want. Pair it with a cold water bottle and I’m hoping we have happy travelers!

Instructions for creating your own travel snack kit for kids:

• A clean, lap size tackle box with adjustable compartments. Choose one that latches closed tightly to avoid accidental spilling.
• Small snacks that will fit within the adjustable compartments
• If you want to get all fancy crafty on your kids, you can use puffy paint or something fun to decorate the outside. In fact get some stickers and let that be a travel activity they can do in the car on the way!
• Simply fill the compartments with snacks, latch it up and surprise them with it once you start your road trip! It’s that easy!

What are some of your favorite tips for traveling with kids? Make sure to check out these other Kid Travel Tips from Tip Junkie!

The post Family Vacation Road Trip Snack Kit for Kids appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Nick and I just got back from enjoying a kid-free vacation in Park City, Utah… the first we’ve shared in over 6 years.

In 6 years time, it is pretty easy to forget all the reasons you fell in love with your spouse in the first place. I definitley knew I still loved my husband, but this vacation was exactly what we needed to get reacquainted with each other again, and that was a good thing.

With 4 kids and grandparents who live far away, getting away for even a date night is hard. Add to that living on one income and juggling busy schedules, finding the time and resources to get away isn’t easy, but we decided it was time to make it happen.

There’s something to be said for adult time… getting to have real conversations without interruption, sleeping without little bodies wiggling between you, eating at restaurants you wouldn’t set foot in with children, doing activities (like our 22 mile hike) that you wouldn’t sanely take 4 kids on…. it was truly blissful.

It’s important to turn off the noise and let the light shine on you as a couple every once in awhile. Hopefully, now that we’ve had this reminder, it will happen more often than not. I am grateful for the man I married. I love my kids too, but I know that we will both be better parents if we continue to invest in our marriage this way, don’t you think?

We’re back home now, but have one more kid free evening ahead of us. I see these fun cocktails and a good movie night in my future!

I’m thankful for my in-laws for keeping the kids at their place while Nick and I vacationed together! We couldn’t have done it without them.

Print

Cherry Poke Cake Cocktails

This refreshing cocktail recipe tastes just like old fashioned Cherry Poke Cake.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Pinnacle Cake Flavored Vodka
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 4 ounces cold Sprite or 7-Up
• 1 ounce cherry juice from the Maraschino cherry jar
• Maraschino cherries for garnish

Instructions

• Fill a highball glass with ice
• Pour Cake Flavored Vodka, Lime Juice, Sprite or 7-Up and Cherry Juice over ice. Stir well.
• Garnish with cherries.

The post Then There Were Two {Recipe: Cherry Poke Cake Cocktail} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Nick and I are in Park City, Utah for our first kids free vacation in more years than I care to admit. We have had a very nice, relaxing time beginning with a 4 hour nap the first day! We’re obviously making up for lost time.

When we haven’t been napping, we’ve been exploring the beautiful outdoors. Park City is one of my favorite towns. Quaint shops, great restaurants and amazing landscape, we’ve talked time and time again about how much we would love to live here. At the very least, if moving isn’t going to happen, we know it is one of the places we want to return to for vacations in the future.

Today we had the opportunity to go to Olympic Village and just so happened to be there in time to see some future olympic hopefuls training. It was a pretty amazing thing to watch!

Our goal for this vacation was to rest, relax and reconnect. We didn’t go into it with much of a plan – it’s kind of how we roll, and one of the things I love most about my husband. When it comes to traveling, we like to take things as they come and let our mood direct our days.

This afternoon was about as perfect as it could get for exploring the mountains during a hike. Thank goodness I had my new Nokia Lumina 900 Windows Phone. Without a plan in place, Nick and I were able to download an app called Outdoor Navigation, find a great trail for hiking, and keep track of our elevation, distance, direction and speed. It was honestly the easiest app I’ve ever used for outdoor navigation! My Windows phone also worked like a dream in the mountains, never losing signal and keeping us on track perfectly. Make sure to check out the Windows Phone Home Page for your own demo of the power of this great phone.

I’ll be sharing more about our vacation as well as more about my experience with the Windows Nokia Lumina 900 phone over the next couple weeks. Oh, and stay tuned as I’ll be sharing a giveaway for one of the phones as well! I hope you enjoy following along!

Disclosure: Microsoft gave me the the new Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone to test drive.  I am being compensated for this review, however all opinions are all my own.

The post Hiking in Park City with My Windows Phone appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Sunday, March 4: I almost forgot to take a Project 365 picture today. When I came home from running errands, I found this all too common scene going on in our house. Anytime Nick lays down, he has at least one kid climbing and jumping on him!

Monday, March 5th: The girls and I headed out for Shamrock Shakes at McDonald’s while the boys enjoyed a night out at Tanner’s. Taken with my iPhone.

Tuesday, March 6th: The day was almost at an end, and again, I realized I hadn’t taken my Project 365 picture. At just about that time, I looked over and noticed this gorgeous, golden stream of light coming in through my office window. The answer to my “what will my project 365 picture be today” question was answered!

Wednesday, March 7th: Leah and I made homemade garlic pasta for lunch today. I love that even though she is almost 3, she still has those pudgy little baby hands. (Check out my Guest Post on Once a Month Mom for the pasta recipe!)

Thursday, March 8th: After school, the kids and I head out on our 2 day trek to Mission, Texas to visit my parents for spring break! Taken with my iPhone.

Friday, March 9th: Morning of our spring break adventure, day 2. What was supposed to be a 11 hour drive today ended up being a 15 hour drive, thanks to the rainy weather all throughout Texas! It was a very, very long day but I am so proud of what great travelers my kids are. Taken with my iPhone.

March 10, 2011: If you ask my kids what one of their favorite things to do in Texas at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, riding on the golf cart through their retirement community is top of the list! Taken with my iPhone.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully next week you’ll see lots of pictures of sun and palm trees as we finish our spring break in Texas! Remember, you can always follow along on Instagram!

The post Project 365 2012 – Week 10 – A Photo a Day Journey appeared first on Dine and Dish.

As you already know, we leave for our Spring Break vacation tomorrow morning. This morning a friend of mine graciously offered to watch my girls so I could pack and get things ready to go. I had two hours… two hours to sort through clothes, get car ride activities together, figure out what food to take, wrap up any loose ends before we leave. What do you think I did with those two hours? Well, I did pack the road snacks (which is essential when you are going to be in the car for 16 hours!) After that, I didn’t do a darn thing to get ready for vacation. Nope, instead I baked some more bars! As if we did not have enough to eat on the way there, I decided my free time would best be used by baking.

I don’t know what it is about me and that last minute pressure to get things done, but I thrive under it. With my deadlines for work, I cannot seem to really hammer out a great story until I have that deadline looming over my head. With housecleaning… I can get more done in the hour before my husband comes home than I do all day long.

If you are a last minute person like me, these Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars are the perfect thing for you. They take no more than 5 minutes to mix up and baking time is around 15. They are quick, so if you are into the thrill of the pressure that comes from procrastinating and realize you need to whip something up for your Bunko group tonight or for a bake sale at church this afternoon, skip running to the store to buy something from the bakery and trying to dress it up like it was your own creation. Instead, give these Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars a try… they are the procrastinators friend!

Print

Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars

Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars (from Something Sweet)

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 1½ cups flour
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup butter softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease either a 9x9. (Depending on how thick you want them to be)
• Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg. Gradually add flour mixture. Spread into pan.
• Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; sprinkle over dough.
• Bake at 350F for 14-18 minutes, or until golden brown (or a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean). Let cool in pan. Cut into bars.

The post Vacation Procrastination (Recipe Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars) appeared first on Dine and Dish.