Adventures of Southwest Oklahoma

A couple weekends ago the hubs and I made our first road trip....all the way to Southwest Oklahoma to visit my parents ha.  My parents moved to the big town of Hobart, OK a few years ago.  It's about a 3 1/2-4 hour drive from Tulsa.  If you know me and the relationship I have with my mother, you will know that this is WAY too far.  Thank goodness for cell phones and texting.  Ricky and I hadn't seen them since the wedding and things were finally settling down so we made a weekend trip of it.  

We met my parents in Clinton on Friday night for dinner and while waiting we visited the Cherokee Trading Post where Ricky posted for this picture.

The next day the guys went to play golf while mom and I entertained ourselves.  For dinner they took us to this place called Meers.  Here is more information about the restaurant.  It was really neat.

RC Diet Cola served in Mason Jars

Some decor

Never know about those loose women

Famous Meersburger.  No worries, Ricky ate the whole thing.

You have to have homemade cheery cobbler with homemade ice cream if it's offered

 Following dinner, we drove back to Hobart the other way....through the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Reserve.  Here is some info from the website:

Established in 1901,Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is one of more than 546 refuges throughout the United States managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The 59,020 acre Refuge hosts a rare piece of the past - a remnant mixed grass prairie, an island where the natural grasslands escaped destruction because the rocks underfoot defeated the plow.

The Refuge provides habitat for large native grazing animals such as American bison, Rocky Mountain elk, and white-tailed deer. Texas longhorn cattle also share the Refuge rangelands as a cultural and historical legacy species. More than 50 mammal, 240 bird, 64 reptile and amphibian, 36 fish, and 806 plant species thrive on this important refuge.

Pretty cool huh. So on our drive through, we encountered wildlife of all sorts.

Yes that is a buffalo crossing the road, quite slowly I might add

Deer and their baby

Prairie Dog (they have their own village basically)

More Prairie Dogs

We saw this scampering in the pasture, we think it was a coyote.

Another reason I love Oklahoma, beautiful summer sunset.

So if you ever want to take a weekend get-away.  You should really check out Southwest Oklahoma.  There is a really nice resort close to Altus.  It's called Quartz Mountain.  You can stay there and go check out all of these small town restaurants that make it so unique.  Don't forget about the wildlife reserve :)

Baked Crab Rangoon with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

Finally a new recipe! Things are finally starting to settle down and I'm finding more time to try new recipes.  A couple weeks ago I found this recipe and decided to give it a go.  They sounded delicious and were baked so they were too unhealthy for you, and they make a nice appetizer.  (Even though the hubs and I decided to just eat them for dinner one night) I found this recipe on Pinterest, here is the original recipe.

Baked Crab Rangoon

• 2 tablespoons sour cream (light is fine)
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup crab meat, drained
• wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 415 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix the sour cream, cream cheese, scallion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sugar together until well combined. Fold in the crab meat.

Lay a wonton wrapper on your work surface. Place about 2 teaspoons of the filling mixture in the center of the wrapper, then brush two adjacent sides of the wrapper lightly with water. Fold the wrapper over on the diagonal. Press around the filling to remove air pockets, then press the sides to seal the wrapper tightly. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Spray the tops of the wonton wrappers lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and crisp.

Makes 20-24 

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 red serrano or jalapeno peppers, seeds removed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water

 Add the garlic, chili peppers, sugar, water, vinegar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process until well combined - the pieces of garlic and chili should be very small. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cooking until the pieces of garlic and pepper soften a bit, about 3 minutes. 

Whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl. Add to the sauce mixture in the pan and continue simmering, whisking frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes. Leftover sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 cup

I have now made this recipe twice.  And I have not figured out how to make the "insides" not come out.  The second time I didn't fill them as full thinking I just made them too full the first time.  And that helped a little.  Hubby said to maybe poke a hole in the wonton wrappers to let some air out and that might help.  So next time we will try that.  The dipping sauce if super spicy.....so if you like that then great.  Me not so much, so next time I might make it without the jalapenos.  But these are truly delicious! 

Jamaica Honeymoon!

When booking our honeymoon, we knew we wanted to go somewhere tropical.  We wanted to relax.  After all we had been through with the crazy deployment and wedding planning, we wanted to lay on the beach with not a care in the world.  So we decided on Jamaica, and of course it was all-inclusive and adults only.  

We decided to wait to leave on Monday morning after the wedding.  That gave us an extra day to recover from the wedding and re-group before being gone for a week.  

Sunday morning breakfast at I-hop.  Where else do newlyweds eat breakfast?? 

Arrival at Sandals, Montego Bay, Jamaica!

In room celebration with champagne

Our little villa on the right.  It was a one bedroom suite with butler service.  My husband goes all out on the honeymoon :)

First night, dinner on the beach.  Simply beautiful

The view out our window, clear blue ocean

Time on the beach

We had reserved seats, for Mr. & Mrs. Myers

Beer of choice in Jamaica.  Red Stripe is made there if you didn't know.

Beautiful Jamaica sunset

Zipline!

On our Reggae Cruise (aka- booze cruise)

First time snorkeling for me!

This italian restaurant had THE BEST lasagna I've ever had.  It was so good we ate there twice.

The last night we headed to another Sandals resort nearby for dinner and drinks

Cheesy wedding ring photo :)

You are given a complimentary photo shoot there (but still had to purchase the photos)

One of my favorites

 We had such an amazing time.  I'm ready for the next vacation!!!

Bridal Portraits

Toward the end of April I set up to take my Bridal Portraits.  It was pretty nerve racking simply because my dress didn't finish getting altered until the day before.  But all was well.  Here are a few of my favs.

My #1 supporter.  I wouldn't have done it without her :) 

Wedding Day - Sunset Pics

Our photographers suggested taking some pictures on the golf course at Sunset and they turned out beautifully!