Saturday fun & Taco Salad!

I have so much to share with y'all from this weekend, I don't even know where to start!

Saturday we went to Monkey Joe's. Wow what an adventure. Note to self: Do not go here on the weekend again. Birthday party central = 1 million kids running wild

Despite the chaos, we had a blast. Madi could play on the slide in the toddler section all day. I'm sure of this. She just loves it. She likes the big slides too but I think she prefers the little slide because she can do it herself. She's very independent! I was hoping to share the videos with you guys but they are on hubs' phone and he just left for D.C. But, here are some pics:

After MJ's we went to Cupcake. I've been wanting to take Madi for a while now and decided to finally do it! She got the "I Love Chocolate" and I got the "Mint Chocolate Chip." Hubs was anti-cupcake that day. We had a great time and she really enjoyed it, but I think Betty Crocker does cupcakes better. Sorry to say. :(

I think she's licking her lips. :)

So, after our fun-filled family time hubs tackled the garage. Oh boy was that a project. I tried to "help" but it was just SO hot and humid outside. I lasted about 20 minutes and then decided to do indoor cleaning. My brother came over and helped Justin build a work bench out of salvaged wood and they got the garage in order and looking great!

I forgot to get a before pic with all of our junk in there but here is an "in progress" picture:

And an after picture: (it was difficult to get the whole garage because I was too lazy to open the garage door)

I'm pretty thrilled about the clean garage, because it's been really irritating trying to get in and out of my car in there. So yay!! Thanks hubs!!

Since hubs worked so hard all afternoon I figured I should make something great for dinner. My brother and step-dad joined us and we had taco salad, recipe courtesy of Paula Deen. Now let me set this up for you - I DO NOT cook. I buy box dinners and put them in the oven, or I buy a box of noodles, a jar of spaghetti sauce and cook up some ground beef and say "dinner's ready!" The only thing I really "cook" is meatloaf and I only do this when hubs begs me because I don't like sticking my hands in all of that nasty gunk. SO I decided to really try and cook something from scratch. To y'all a taco salad may be simple, to me it was a challenge! I even bought a head of lettuce instead of the pre-shredded bag. Now to me that is huge! :) 

My creation!

Taco Salad Recipe by Paula Deen

Ingredients

• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 pound sharp Cheddar, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 head iceberg lettuce, washed, drained and shredded
• 1 pound lean ground beef, browned, crumbled and drained
• 1 cup salad dressing (recommended: Catalina)
• 1 (7-ounce) bag taco flavored chips, crushed
• 1 cup salsa
• Tortilla chips, to serve

Directions

Combine the tomatoes, cheese, onion, lettuce, and ground beef in a large bowl. Add the salad dressing and mix well. Just before serving, add the taco chips, tossing to combine with other ingredients. Top each serving with salsa. Serve with tortilla chips.

*I used regular tortilla chips in place of the taco flavored chips and I put the salad dressing on the side. The Catalina salad dressing is very sweet and I knew hubs wouldn't care for it. To get the taco flavoring in there I added the taco seasoning to the meat. It worked really well.

They LOVED it and really boosted my confidence in the kitchen!

Thanks for sticking with me through this incredibly long post. How was y'alls weekend? Do anything new and exciting?

XOXO.