The Dallas Trip Was Fun

Randy was in Dallas on Friday for bank business, and he got to drive to Athens and stay with his sister and brother-in-law that night. Gina and Trey have recently moved into a new house and are busy working to make it their own. Randy said it's a great house with a huge backyard and a front porch that overlooks the lake. I think he's a little jealous that they get to live that close to fishing! :) On Saturday, Randy and Trey went to the Busch races. Randy won a contest at work and he got two free tickets to the Bank of America luxury suite at Texas Motor Speedway. They also got VIP access to the pit area. No joke, they tried to take pictures of the cars as they zoomed by and we ended up with a bunch of pictures of empty track. Although this was the first race that either of them had ever watched, they still had a pretty good time!

Mary Jane and I had our Holdiay Happening retreat here in Lubbock on Friday and Saturday until 4pm. But, as soon as we wrapped up our meeting on Saturday, MJ and I were off to Dallas. Of course, I had to get us lost a time or two, both with help of bad directions from my sweet husband and on my own. We took a little detour through Azle. Sorry we didn't stop to see you Eddy and Sheri! You might not have wanted us to though, since we didn't get there until almost 9pm. On Sunday morning while Randy and Trey went to Bass Pro Shop and some Golf superstore, Gina, MJ, and I went to the Junior League of Dallas' Spring Market. It was fun even if we were disappointed in the show. It wasn't anywhere near as decorated or put together as our Holiday Happening is here in Lubbock. The vendor quality definately wasn't what we were expecting from a big show in Dallas. Of course, we talked about how there is so much shopping in the Dallas area anyway, maybe they don't think it's worth their time to go to a market hall. We did find a few that we thought were worth inviting to our show, but not as many as we had hoped for. Don't worry though, for those of you that will be attending Holiday Happening this year, we will have some great merchants to shop!

All in all, it was a fast and furious, but very fun trip!

How 'bout that?

So, although I've always thought I was pretty unique, it turns out I'm really not. :( There are 108,564 people in the U.S. with the first name Cory. And, statistically it's the 495th most popular first name. However, 94.44 percent of people with the first name Cory are male, so I guess that counts for some sort of uniqueness! If you were wondering (and since you're still reading this I have to assume you are!) there are 316,646 people in the U.S. with the last name James and statistically it's the 70th most popular last name. So, put it together and there are 114 other people in the US named Cory James. All of them boys, undoubtedly! This site is kind of neat. Try it yourself!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 114 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Chandler's Baby Shower

Today we had a baby shower at Chad and Beth's house for Justin and Chandler Franklin. Their soon to be new baby boy, Bode (pronounced Bodie) Blair Franklin, got lots of great gifts! It was lots of fun to see so many cute little things. Yes, I said CUTE! We played a clothes pin game that you couldn't say the word cute or you would lose your pin. I obviously didn't last too long in the game! Anyhow, I made Bode a Dallas Cowboys quilt since his room will be sports themed and the Cowboys are mom and dad's favorite team.

Here comes Randy Cottontale!

Ha! Randy made a bet with his branch that if they could get 20 approved credit cards this week, he would wear bunny ears and pass out easter eggs today. He thought that 20 was a safe number. After all, they got a total of 39 during the entire last quarter. As you can see, he lost the bet. At the close of business on Thursday they had 26 approvals. I guess the lesson here is to never underestimate the power of motivation! As you can see, they also fashioned a bunny tail that he had to pose for pictures with.

Recipe of the Day!

If you like bread pudding, this is a great recipe that also happens to be super easy! You can adjust the amount of bread up or down to make it more like cake or like a real pudding.

BREAD PUDDING
1 can Eagle Brand condensened milk
8 slices bread, torn into small pieces
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 cups whole milk

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until combined. If you like a more cake like bread pudding, you may save some of the bread to add and barely blend for texture after the rest of the mixture is blended. Pour into a greased corningware dish and bake at 325 for 1hr 45min or until the center has set. It's best served warm. Just before serving, make the maple sauce.

MAPLE SAUCE
1 cup pure Maple Syrup
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp butter
1/8 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Stir to blend; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue boiling, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. This mixture can boil quite high, so be sure to watch it carefully and reduce heat or stir as necessary.

I hope you all love this recipe as much as we did!!!

Are you getting ready for the summer???

I love this time of year! I know it's early, but when everything starts blooming and the weather gets warm for a few days in a row, I start doing some summer dreaming. We've already been to the lake this year, and this warm weather really makes us want to go back every weekend. The days aren't too hot yet and the evenings are really nice for sitting outside. Of course, in West Texas, this time of year is also severe weather season, so we are thankful for days like today when the weather is as perfect as it can be. I know we aren't the only ones getting ahead of ourselves and thinking about summer. I spent an hour on the phone with my mom earlier talking about the 4th of July! Hope everyone is making plans to be at her house for the fireworks, and the boat riding, and the jet skiing, and the fishing, and all the other fun stuff! After talking to Tim the other day, I know he's planning on being there. And, according to Lesa, KK has had her bags packed to go to Aunt Bet's for vacation since January. So, the rest of the Prather family needs to get in line and get ready to go!