How has it been 10 years already?

I haven't heard your voice, felt your hug, or smelt your cologne for 10 of the longest years of my life. The pain doesn't get better; I have just learned to live with it. The void in my heart never fills. Most days the void reminds me of the good days and other days it reminds me of days like today.

  

There isn't a day that passes I am not thinking of you. My boys love hearing stories about you, probably as much as I love telling them. I find myself doing things your way and always finding a way to fit you into my day, whether it is talking to you or reaching for your thumbprint that hangs around my neck.

I can't believe it has been 10 years already since God called you home. I have missed you now for 3650 days and it just seems like yesterday that you left. Miss you always but love you more Grandpa Marc!

Cajun Gumbo

This past weekend we attended a Cajun Fest at a friends house. They had a Shrimp Boil, the host also made jambalaya and a cajun pasta, there was plenty of white rice and cornbread to pair with the dishes. There was also plenty there for those that weren't cajun fans, such as chili, sloppy joes and other sides.

The host, knowing mine and Tim's love for cajun food, had asked me to make my Gumbo and I was happy to do so. I have since had many requests for the recipe and figured this was the best way to share. Through the years I have found what I love in my gumbo and other things I don't (like bay leaves).

New Orleans Gumbo

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Flour
2 large Yellow Onions, chopped
5 Celery Stalks, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Clove Garlic, minced
8 oz Tomato Sauce
1 lb Fresh Tomato, chopped
2 cups + 1 cup Chicken Broth*
1/4 cup water
1 tsp Cracked Peppercorn
1 tsp Ground Mustard
1 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 tbsp Slap Yo' Momma Cajun Seasoning**
1 tsp Granulated Garlic
24 oz frozen Okra
1 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
3 lbs of raw peeled shrimp***
28 oz Andouille Sausage or Polska Kielbasa, sliced
1 Rotisserie Chicken shredded
Cooked White Rice

 In a large stock pot brown the flour and oil, stirring until it makes a light brown roux. Add the vegetables and saute' until they are soft. 

Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, chicken broth, water, Okra and seasonings. Simmer on medium about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. During the simmering process if the roux appears to be thickening add the extra cup of chicken broth. 

Add the chicken and sausage and simmer for another 20 minutes. 

If you are serving right away then add the shrimp and simmer another 15 minutes. However, if you are making this a head and are transporting in a crockpot to the location then transfer the Gumbo to your crockpot, put on warm and add the shrimp to sit and simmer for at least 4-6 hours. 

Serve over a bed of white rice. 

Serves about 10 - 12 people.

* You can use chicken, vegetable or seafood broth. I sometimes make use my homemade boths. 

** I use the mild because we have children that can't handle the heat but before Tim and I had little ones we used the Hot Slap Yo' Momma's. I do find that we can spice it up a little with the Cheyenne Pepper if you want it spicier.

*** there are times I use fresh and other times I use frozen

Minneapolis Vacation 2019

It looks like I am blogging once a year, after an amazing vacation. This year we didn't want anything to costly or far like the last two. We decided to cut costs we should go see my brother in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has lived there for 13 years, of which I had only visited 3 previous times. In those years he has never had a siblings full family visit.

We started planning this in January and originally planned the trip for June. We figure Tim's busy season would have slowed by then and our vacation would be done and over and could enjoy the summer. Well, June approached and with all the rain and flooding we have had Tim's busy season was just picking up. After talking to Bryan we decided to come the fist 6 days of August. It did give us something to look forward to all summer but I also felt like we were wishing out summer away.

So August 1st approaches and we hit the road bright and early. On the way we made several stops  and got to see a lot of fields and wind farms, something we say on the way to Colorado a few years before. BUT there was one thing I spotted that I knew we would have to try out on the way home...

We arrived to Bryan's apartment about 6:30p where he was in the parking lot waiting for us. Once the car was unloaded and re-arranged we wasted no time and loaded back in the car, this time Bryan was driving, and headed to his favorite place to get a Juicy Lucy. I have had one of these burgers before but we were both super excited to have Tim and Carter try one. They are so amazing they come with warnings.

The burgers didn't disappoint. Tim and Carter demolished them.

Friday we were up early and out the door by 9am and headed to The Mall of America. Carter was in awe and wanted to walk into every store, Oliver and Evan wanted to enjoy the theme park. The mall is a lot to take in but we went with a plan. We got tickets to the mirror maze, which Carter and Oliver didn't want to leave. 

It was a definitely an experience, and Oliver and Evan ran into a few mirrors. I ended up sitting out with Evan after a few rounds. Once they were tired of that we headed to the Crayola Store to try out the Crayola Experience. We spent over 3 hours in that place and still didn't finish the experience. If you are going with little ones I highly recommend this experience.

 Once we left that store we were all starving so we headed to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. where we got to sit and rest before doing more walking. We finally called it quits about 5p and headed home. We were all tired of walking that we decided to stay in and watch movies. Bryan made us the most delicious mexi-dish and spend the remainder of the evening relaxing.

Saturday was another early morning. Our first destination was Foshay Tower, it used to be the tallest building in Minneapolis. We got to see the city from 30 stories up. It was a beautiful sight. We also enjoyed the little museum that was at the top of the Foshay Tower that gave us the buildings history. Once we completed the tour we headed to the restaurant at the bottom called Keys  Cafe. Bryan and I were the most excited about this place because this is where we got these Ruben Balls we have spoke about for a year. See, we ate them last year when I went to visit him and we loved them so much that my mom surprised us with them at Christmas. SO we were very disappointed when we found out that they no longer made them... Tim says the looks on our faces was priceless. We still enjoy the food, service and atmosphere.

After leaving the Cafe we needed to walk off our food so we headed to the Stone Arch Bridge. It used to be a train track turned into a walking/running/biking path. It is built of all stone and has the most intricate arches. This bridge crosses the Mississippi. It was a nice walk with a lot of bikers and runners. Evan got to see a few princesses (brides) and in the end we enjoyed some Kona Ice (shaved ice). Evan started to get a bit cranky after this so we decided to head back to Bryan's place for naps, which Evan, Uncle B, Tim and Carter all took naps (I may have gotten about 20 minutes in there too).

When we woke it was raining and were worried we weren't going to get to finish our sight seeing. We finally decided to head to Black Sheep Pizza until the rain quit. This place is AMAZING! Out of three pizza's there were only 2 pieces left, that is how good it was. The rain actually let up before we arrived to eat so once we were finished we headed to Sculpture Gardens. Where the boys got to enjoy the art, a art piece that was also a swing and a lot of ducks and geese.

When we left here Bryan suggested we walk to this ice cream place up the road from his apartment. We aren't a family to turn down ice cream. He was right, it was only a few blocks (city blocks) from his house and all up hill... but we made it. Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream is the best ice cream in the world... by the Keller's opinions. We each got different flavors and they all were equally as amazing.

Once we got back to his apartment it was basically bed time and no one was fighting to lay down.

Sunday was a lazy morning and were able to take out time getting ready. About noon we headed out the door to a Twins v. Royals Game. Once inside the stadium we headed to the sport shop because Carter and I wanted a hat and we couldn't leave without getting Olive and Evan a foam finger.

 With the Twins in first place we knew this game wasn't going to disappoint.. and it didn't. They won 3-0. This was Oliver and Evan's first MLB game and they did amazing. After the game we headed to the two story Target Store, which happens to be my favorite place to visit when I got to see Bryan. It is like a mini mall and carries SO much more than ours here in Illinois. After the Target tour we headed to Bryan's friends house to swim. They boys played so hard that when we left at 9p Oliver and Evan didn't even make it out of their subdivision before falling asleep. We couldn't get them to wake to bath so we let them be, obviously changing them into jammies.

Monday was the day we said "until the next time" to Bryan and headed home. We made many pit stops but there was on that was planned and that was in Waterloo, Iowa at the John Deere Museum. The boys, including Tim, were in heaven. 

They had hands on items, displays of old engines and tractors, cut outs that told stories, a drawing board to draw your own tractor, a time clock to punch to show the date and time we were there, and designated tractors to crawl on. We spent a good hour to hour and a half here and the boys talked about it for another hour after. We finally made it home about 8p and we were whooped.

I purposely took off Tuesday to unpack, get the yard back in order and get laundry caught up because school starts a week from today and I wanted to not have to worry about vacation stuff.

Family Vacay 2018 - Gulf Shores

The last two weeks people gave some funny looks when I say we went on vacation with a grand total of 40 people.... all relatives. The ages were 60+ to 4 months old. To be honest we are used to being with these people, maybe not for a full seven days, because they are the same people we camp with. 

Photo Credit: Judith Buescher

We rented a 12 bedroom / 12 bathroom house, Morning Glory, on a private beach in Gulf Shores and it was gorgeous. 

We left Saturday, July 14th about 8am and headed to our first stop, Lamberts Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri. When I was a kid we always stopped at this Lamberts on our way to visit our Aunt and  Uncle in Mississippi. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed. They didn't walk around with the sides that they used to and when it came to throwing the rolls they never made it to our side of the room, they would stand in this one door way and throw. 

Leaving there bummed we prepared for another 5 hours in the car.... hitting just about every gas station and rest stop from Sikeston to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I was proud of Evan telling us he had to pee BUT it was almost every hour. We stopped for the night in Tucsalloosa, grabbed a bite to eat, found a hotel and called it a night. 

The guys chose Waffle House...

this picture represents how that 

made me feel.

We were up and on the road again by 8am on the 15th with only 4.5 hours left to drive. Once we got to Gulf Shores we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to our meeting spot "The Hangout." 

Where the boys played in their sand area, enjoyed some Dragons Breath and a good foam party. 

We checked out the beach and then headed back to the car to dry off and head to the house. 

Once we were all unpacked some headed to the beach and others headed into the private pool.... and others went and hid from their wives and kids. 

Monday through Sunday was full of many memories. We played at the beach most the time, I participated in sand volleyball and beach yoga. We swan in the pool at the end of each evening. There were many board games, card games, bags tournaments and video game playing going on. 

The littlest littles watched Moana about a million and one times. There were some ladies that took advantage of the outlet malls, however I did not. 

Our little family went out to eat a few times. One place was on my "have to eat" placed and that was Whataburger. I know it is just a simple fast food place but I haven't had it in a good 20 years.... it is basically a Steak and Shake at the speed and prices of  a McD's. It is delicious for fast food. My brothers Bryan and Randy and his family went out to eat on Wednesday to Lulu's, which is Jimmy Buffet's sister's place. 

There are gift shops there, plenty of things to for the kids to do while waiting for a table, a great atmosphere and the food was amazing. We also went out with Randy and his family on our last night in Gulf Shores to The Hangout, again. This time we ate there. The wait for a table was an hour and a half so the kids played in the sand area again. Oliver, Stella and Chloe jumped on the bungee trampolines while Carter enjoyed his second Dragon's Breath of the week. Poor Evan and Tim didn't enjoy themselves as much. Ev's was going to "jump jump" like Stella BUT as he was being called to the trampoline he all of a sudden had to pee. I tossed him to Tim who went running to the bathroom... but they didn't make it and both ended up wet. He rushed back to the house, showered them both, and rushed back just in time to get their food. After dinner we hung around outside a bit longer before calling it a night and heading back to the  house. 

My baby brother even joined us.

Not everyone in my little fam enjoyed the full vacation. Tim got an ear infection that kept him at the house and medicated. Evan had a rash on his legs from the sand and his swim trunks and Carter got some funk under his arm that none of the medical personnel in my family (1 doctor and 2 nurses) could agree on what it could be. Hell, even our family doctor didn't know. These three stayed at the house from Wednesday through Saturday just giving up on beach life. 

Mine and Tims greatest memory is going down with our boys and enjoying the week. Our plan was to enjoy us 5 and the other people there were a bonus. We did exactly what we wanted to do on this vacation and that was absolutely nothing. We spent the days doing exactly what we wanted, when we wanted, eating out as a family and enjoying my families company. 

Carter's biggest memory, I think, is that he got to turn 12 in Gulf Shores. Even though he had a f unk going on he got to do whatever he wanted on his day... if that meant playing video games on the beach then so be it. He got tacos for supper and a cookie cake. He though life was good. If turning 12 isn't Carter's favorite memory than his second would be night crab hunting with the big guys. They would be gone for hours. 

Oliver's favorite memory was playing on the beach. He is my beach bum. Every morning he would ask to make sure I was going to the beach so he could go. Oliver didn't miss a day at the beach and when we left he said he had already missed it. His least favorite part would probably be getting stung by a jellyfish. It didn't keep him away from the beach but it did keep him from going further out into the water. 

Evan is not a beach baby... he preferred the pool, which was good with me because that was where Tim was. However, Evan's favorite part of this vacation would probably be his cousins Stella and Jackson. It could be 5:30 am and if he heard one of them awake he would sit straight up in bed and want out of the room asap. These three would run around together until they were forced to go to bed. The morning we left to go home Evan was begging to see them however, Jackson's family had already left and Stella's family was still sleeping. So the whole 12 hours home he begged to go see Stella and Jackson. 

It was a fun week but we were all glad to sleep in our own beds. We don't know if we will go on another vacation where we stay with more than just us 5 but it was all worth it for the memories. 

The Kitchen and Dining room Before...

Hello Blog Land! I literally have not visited with you in over two months. I promised myself I would always record the weekend and even that fell by the wayside. 

A few years back I started spending January - March redoing a room in the house. First was the Boy's room, which I know I never revealed BUT it still isn't reveal worthy. Last year I redid the Master Room, which I also never shared because it too isn't ready. I am actually waiting on better weather so I can refinished the pieces that are needed to complete the room. 

This year BIG things are happening in the Keller house... or should I say TO the Keller house. I had been wanting to repaint the dining room from the ugly yellow to a clean gray and white for some time now. Presidents Day 2018 was the day it happened and I fell in love....then snowballed into re finishing the kitchen cabinets AND countertops. Which was decided on a Friday night at 7:30 P.M. when I just started ripping wallpaper off the walls. 

I promise by the end of the summer I will reveal both the Master Bedroom AND the Kitchen/Dining Room's. I do post teasers to my IG so your welcome to check them out. 

In the meantime I will leave you with my dining room/kitchen before's. (insert pukey face)

There was a hole in the wall where the Great Uncles had their tv stand because they used our living room as a "pool room" aka junk room. We were initially going to put shelves there so never filled it in... then we decided against it after kids and was left with a gray/mud and tape spot for over 5 years. Don't get me started on the yellow. I didn't live with my husband until after marriage, although I painted the whole house he demanded on picking the colors, which I hated the whole time but thought anything was better than the kelly green walls and tractor wallpaper that was in the room prior to it being yellow.  I would just give him time with his colors and them "poof" change them 5 years later. 

Then there is the kitchen, which is separated from the dining room by a 9' opening and 2 short walls. It was covered in UGLY wallpaper... which we didn't remove during the time we removed the ugly tractor wallpaper because it was "tolerable". Even though it did not match and was uglier than sin we dealt with it... until the dining room was looking cute and the kitchen wasn't even attempting to blend in... this is where kitchen resurfacing commenced. 

The wallpaper vanished in a weekend, the top cabinets are already resurfaced, we are currently working on the countertop resurfacing and then we will do the bottom cabinets. In this process I may also have to re-paint our fridge because she works great but is off-white and everything else is white... plus our butcher block, table and chairs, bench and coffee bar will all be getting facelifts.

I will be posting on all of these things throughout... So check back every now and then to see what is new... and you are going to what to know why I fired my husband. 

Twinners Weekend Fun... and their Birthday

Once a year we plan a weekend get away with Tim's twin and his gf/fiance'/almost wife. We decided last year that we are going to start doing them during their birthday weekend, meaning we moved it from August/September to January. This year we stayed to Devils Kitchen Cabins in the Carbondale, Illinois area. Tim and I had stayed there before so we knew what was in the area. We got down there Friday evening about 8p where we enjoyed a soak in the "hot pool" and many games until well into the morning. Tim and Matt were literally the last ones awake. 

Saturday we were up and out of the cabin by 11a. The plan was to follow the Southern Illinois Brewery Trail. There are three loops to the trail so we were doing the green loop. We started with the brewery furthest away and made out way back... out first stop was The Hop Brewery. 

They had only been open since October and the place has so much potential. They have a huge game/beer garden that will be fun during the summer/spring months and their staff is very polite and knowledgeable. After that we headed to Route 51, this place was amazing! 

The facility could hold hundreds, there were a few hotel rooms attached and the decor was super cute. Seriously, my favorite part were the homemade electrocuted table tops. 

I mean, how cool are these tables?

After 51 we headed to Big Muddy where we got excited about the Peanut Butter Cup Beer, which was good, but the rest of the place we not all that impressive. 

Where there is a beer named after a historic site 10 minutes from 

your home you drink a pint... When you find out it is the last

of the only 10 gallons made you praise that pint because

you don't know when or if it will ever be made again.

Once we left there we headed to Mollys. It was decorated like an old irish pub. I decided at that point that I couldn't fit another craft beer in my gut without bread or crackers so I opted for their non-alcoholic homemade root beer. The guys were using the "its out birthday" excuse to get out of going to the last place... which at the time Lacey and I were not happy about but in the end probably a good choice. Once back at the cabin the guys grilled steaks while Lacey and I baked the potatoes and put together a ceasar salad. We soaked in the "hot pool" for a bit, sang happy birthday (for the 10th time that day), ate some homemade chocolate cheesecake and played more games. The guys pooped out early so Lacey and I headed to bed too. 

Sunday we were up, packed and headed home by 9:30a. We stopped at Hourboughs in Carbondale for breakfast before actually heading home to our little guys. Once home and unloaded we went to Tim's parents to grab the boys.... only to find Oliver cranky and Evan running a low grade fever. We spend the rest of the day napping and cuddling the boys before having to get Carter from his dads.... where we got the news that Carter doesn't want to play baseball. I can't force him to play but I really feel he is going to regret this decision. 

A Weekend of Literally Doing Nothing...

This weekend we did absolutely nothing... kinda. Friday night we did head to Tim's parents to visit with his dad's friend Fred. We stayed until 10p where we headed home and went straight to bed. 

I forgot to mention we got a new cat... His name is 

Muddy Britches, from the movie Cars 3. 

Oliver named him but he loves Carter the most. 

Saturday Oliver and Tim went with Tim's brother to check his traps, Carter parked his butt on the couch for a Harry Potter marathon and I made grocery lists, went through the pantry, went through some clothes to donate to a house fire victim and took down some Christmas decor. When Tim and O came back I showered and we headed out to grocery shop. I hate going shopping only to grab fast food before heading home because you are too tired to cook... but that is what we did. Once everything was unpacked and everyone was fed we all settled on the couch to resume Carter's HP marathon. 

This kid HATES hair cuts. He literally started crying when we

pulled in the parking lot and repeating, "No, no hair cut"

However, our hair lady rocked because he cried the first few

minutes but then spent the rest like a big boy... and was happy after. 

Sunday Tim left early to goose hunt with my dad while the boys and I slept in... and they all slept until 9:30. It was glorious! When we got downstairs I made myself a cup of coffee and Oliver a cup of cocoa only to get to the living room and find Carter have the HP movies on...AGAIN! I got caught up on laundry, we took down ALL Christmas decorations and relaxed the rest of the day. 

So it was a weekend of not having to do anything but got a lot accomplished. What did you do this weekend?