Father's Day at the Beach!!

Since being married, Ian and I have learned to split the holidays and events and this year, my dad got a Saturday Father's Day and the only thing he wanted was to go to the beach! Even though its technically summer, we still live in Canada and the lake we went to had ice only a few weeks before we were there to swim in it so even though the weather was great when we were there, as soon as we got into the water to swim, we remembered that we live in Canada and contemplated a vacation in Florida.

Packing for the beach is a big deal for us because we can't just go to the store to buy what we forgot because there is no store around. Dolly likes to help sometimes too:

 So here are my absolute must haves for a day at the beach:

 I absolutely have to have: Roots bathing suit, American Eagle flip flops, SPF60 sunscreen, prescription Ray Bans, and my floppy sun hat 

I was most excited to see Dolly in her new ruffle bathing suit that we got from the baby section at Joe Fresh (we just cut a hole for her tail):

We had a great day at and even got Dolly to swim in the lake which was a big deal because it was so cold! Here's a few more from our day at the beach:

Walking Dead Dinner!!

SEASON PREMIER DAY IS FINALLY HERE!!
Ian and I have really grown to love this show and even though last season wasn't our favourite, I have high hopes for this season! Since Thanksgiving was the next day after the season premier, we decided to not host a Walking Dead Party like the last time, but instead just make a zombie themed dinner for us. So as soon as church was done, we ran to the car to get home and start cooking!
Here's what we had:

Toxic Zombie Guts (or Spritz Up with green food colouring)

Roasted Hand with Mashed Potatoes (or Meat Loaf with cheese and mashed potatoes)

And Dirt with Worms for dessert (or chocolate pudding, oreos, and gummy worms)

The dinner was yummy but kinda gross in that the hand really looked real! This was way easier than the party and no police were involved (last year, the decorations were so good that neighbors thought we were in trouble and called the police) so that was a relief!

And now we wait for the season premier that we have been waiting forever for! 

PULLED PORK RECIPE!!!

Here in the summer, there are Ribfests all over the city and as much as I love BBQ food, I don't really love the prices that go with ribfest. I have been dying to make my own pulled pork sandwiches since I got married, so two years later, it's finally the time! 

Here's all you need to make your southern yummy Pulled Pork:

And you are definitely going to need one of these bad boys:

I have been stalling using this forever because even though I hear it's an awesome appliance, I also heard of the stories of people leaving it on all day cooking and coming home to a burnt house. I can take burnt food but a burnt house, not so much!

The pork cut we used was:

Yup, we're eating butt! After laughing about the name for a good while, we googled if we really were going to be feasting on porky pig's tushie, and it's not actually a butt (it's the shoulder cut)

The first thing you want to do is season your pork tushie with seasoning. I'm using what I had on hand, but any BBQ seasoning would do great!

Once you rubbed that seasoning into the pork bum, place them into the crockpot evenly so that when you add the sauce, it gets covered evenly:

Aaannnnnddddd now for the sauce! By this point, I was talkin in a southern accent y'all! (BBQ makes me super excited!) 

Mix both the BBQ sauce and coke together:

I did the BBQ sauce first and poured some coke into the bottle so I could get ALL the BBQ sauce out:

Pour, and shake!

 

Then you add the rest of the coke and mix together:

Pour that yummy saucey mix all over the pork bum and set your crockpot:

I set mine on LOW for 6 hours, then I checked to see if it was done. If the bum is still tough, it's not done yet:

Once it's cooked and comes apart easily, shred the pork with two forks and serve on a bun!

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE VACATION!

Ian thought all of his birthday surprises were done after the surprise party with his family but they definitely weren't! I made sure Ian had gotten time off work on his actual birthday so that I could take him to Tobermory for a mini vacation.  It seems like everyone on facebook is going to Tobermory and with the pictures I've seen, we had to see it for ourselves!
According to Google Maps, the drive should have taken 4 hours. Challenge accepted! I made it in about 3 hours 40 minutes and beat google! We stayed at Big Tub Resort and I honestly didn't expect much from their website, but we were very surprised and will definitely be staying there next time we go. Two minutes away from the resort was a lighthouse that we were told to go see and since we didn't have plans to see the Grotto until the next day, we checked out the lighthouse and fell in love! The lighthouse was so cute, there were wild orchids everywhere, and the water was unbelievably clear!

 I kept telling Ian that I felt like I was in the real life Little Mermaid movie!

The only thing that made me incredibly nervous during our time at the lighthouse (or pretty much anywhere we went) were the signs warning you of the wildlife:

To say that I am afraid of snakes would be the understatement of the century! If given the choice between seeing a snake for 1 minute from a distance and only eating broccoli for a week, I would choose the broccoli without question!

After our time in town, we came back to the lighthouse to take in the views and I had brought my marinera skirt, so I got Ian to take some shots of me and I edited them and I LOVE what Ian got!

And we can't forget the most handsome birthday boy ever!

Here's the vlog for our first day on the surprise vacation!

For our second, and last day in Tobermory, I only wanted to go to the Grotto. It was a huge part of why I chose to come and I couldn't wait to jump into the cave and swim! Well, that didn't happen. Watch our day 2 vlog for the whole story, but we ended up coming back to the lighthouse to swim, which was really fun!

Since I love pink, I made sure I had my souvenir (there's water in that can, not pop)

We took a canoe trip where Ian did most of the work (thanks babe!)

Then it was time for swimming in the lake that was 13 degrees Celsius!! 

It took a while to get into the water, but I eventually got my picture on the Little Mermaid rock (yup, I named it!)

Here's our vlog for the last day of our trip!:

SURPRISE IAN!

For the past few weeks, I have been planning a surprise party for Ian. Now he doesn't really like parties, but I kept it strictly family and his family from Alberta was coming up to visit so he was going to get to see them! Turns out keeping a secret from your husband is way harder than I thought! He spent the last few days thinking I was mad at him because I kept the talking to a minimum so that I wouldn't spill and tell him. I could tell he was REALLY surprised when he opened the door and saw everyone, which made it all worth the ridiculous shopping trips, the secrets, and stress of making it perfect for him. After we ate and sang happy birthday, we headed to the gym for some volleyball and I got to spend some one on one time with Caleb! All in all, the night was a blast and we had SO much fun seeing everyone together again for Ian's birthday!

And here's the vlog for that day!!: