Happy Valentines Day

Micah and I started dating back in February of 2004. Our first Valentine's day was spent at Rizzi's (on State Street in Downtown Peoria) with our friends Chris and Jessica. It was a wonderful evening and Micah thought it would be romantic to spend our first Valentine's Day as a married couple at the same place. He had it all planned out just for the two of us, but then of course i suggested our favorite couple friends join us. And although i do not doubt it would have been a wonderful night just the two of us, it was an incredible night with friends (as always).
Everyone met at our house and we piled into our jeep to head downtown. When I say piled into the jeep, i do not like. There were 4 of us sitting on top of one another in the back seat. I would put a picture up BUT we were so smushed I could not use my camera. Once we got to Rizzi's we ran in as it was rather chilly, and were seated at our table (reserved by my oh so wonderful husband) We had a wonderful dinner with our usual random conversations, and then headed back to pile in the car. This time, it was a bit tighter as we were all fairly full.

Us enjoying our dinnerBetsy and JakeJennie and Dave

Once we got back to our house we hung out and talked...and of course...played Dominoes (if you didn't guess that was going to happen, you have not read the last few posts :o) The TV didn't even get turned out. That's how you know you have wonderful friends. You are the entertainment for one another. I am so thankful for our friends and so glad we all live close enough to hang out 90% of each week. Yes, I just said that I was glad we live close to one another, which is probably as close to saying "I am glad I am back in peoria" as anyone will ever witness.

Jennie and Dave...this is Jennie's personality caught on camera. I believe the thumbs up are because she just kissed her hubby. haha Dave is such a good sport.We are so close we share husbands...haha Not really but it is not uncommon to hear Micah call Jennie babe and Dave call me babe. I think we are all together a little too much :o)Jennie and Micah being coolThe Guys being AWESOME sports with my picture taking. I think they are used to it by now, but they all actually smiled. We are still waiting for Dave to show his teeth while smiling, but a smile is enough to make us happy as of now.My favorite twins EVER. Love you both so much. Thanks for making the move back to IL enjoyable. I don't know what I would do without your love and support.

It was such a wonderful evening that Jennie and Dave ended up spending the night. Micah and Dave talked until 4:30 and Jennie and I are early to bed girls so we both fell asleep. Rather than waking Jennie, Dave just opted for staying in our guest room. Love good friends.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day as well.

Superbowl Sunday

While we were in CA, our goodbye dinner with our friends Ben and Debbie was Fondue. We LOVED the social aspect of a slow paced meal, so we decided we would have a fondue night of our very own. At first it was just going to be a random night, but as weekends kept filling up with plans, we ended up having to combine our fondue party with the superbowl party. We were worried about how this would all play out with the boys and the game...but it went wonderfully.

The table all set up and ready for feeding.

I have everything ready and then once people got there we were able to enjoy :o) We started with cheese fondue. I was originally going to make it from scratch but could not find all the types of cheese i needed, so we found a pre-made fondue. it was AMAZING. (Kroger in the specialty cheese area, YUMMY) We ate that first with french bread, mushrooms, cauliflower, and broccoli. We probably could have stopped there, but would have wasted a lot of food

Everyone sitting enjoying their meals.

Next was the main course which was either teriyaki chicken cooked in chicken broth or seasoned beek cooked in beef broth. We also had carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and potatoes to cook in the provided broths. So good I wish I was currently reliving the moments of pure indulgence....

Betsy cooking up some beef.

Although bellies were very full, we still had room for desert. Chocolate!!! We had our chocolate fountain and provided marshmallows, rice crispy treats, bananas, strawberries, and pretzels for dipping.

Around the Chocolate fountain dipping the goodiesHalf-way through....now i know what to buy more of next time ;o)

The husbands were so wonderful and really only watched the game between courses. They were too into the food to stop. They were even willing to sacrifice lounging and watching the game so they could play a nice game of dominoes. It was just a wonderful evening with wonderful friends. I would recommend fondue nights to anyone just wanting time to chat with friends and enjoy each others company.

Love you Mooney and Cease families.

Dominoes...Our entertainment

Winter is not the best time to enjoy life. You can't really spend time outside, and in Peoria there's not much to do. SO you must MAKE entertainment. Our entertainment is Dominoes. Towards the beginning of our time back in IL, our friends Dave and Jennie invited us over to play dominoes. We played with Dave's parents, and we were hooked. So of course we went out and bought out own set and now play at least once a week.

Before we started playing, we thought that dominoes was just a boring game of lining them up and knocking them down, but it is oh so much more.

We love socializing and getting a little competitive with one another. We also play Rummikub but Dominoes is preferred. I am waiting for the day we get bored playing and have to find something else to do for entertainment on cold winter nights.

A game with the four of us (sometimes we get lucky and Jennie's twin sister and husband come play also)

Being creative with my photographyJennie and Dave...looking incredibly happy, and Micah trying to look elsewhere. Silly kidsA typical Jennie and Micah momentMicah did Jennie's hair :o) haha love it

I love friends and good company. We especially love time with our Mooney family