What's Love Got to do with it?

Love has EVERYTHING to do with it.

I wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day this year, so I asked my friend Amanda if she and the mister would be up for a double date. You see, Amanda is very creative and an out of the box thinker...and I just knew she'd come up with something fun that our boys would like and I can follow a recipe pretty well and can whip up some goodies in the kitchen.

The components for a successful manly Valentine's day for included the following:
1. Bacon bouquets
2. Red wine
3. Thick cut ribeyes from the local meat market
4. Potatoes
5. Homemade ice cream and cake pops
6. A path of mini army men lining the hallway and on the table...men don't need Rose petals.




Amanda's beautiful and tasty creation.


Well protected appetizers





The spread


Dessert





Love this girl and couldn't have planned a better Valentine's day myself!


My handsome Valentine.





It was a perfect evening with some spectacular friends. There's not much better than spending an evening with the ones you love!

-And that's Life With the Riley's--

Out in the west Texas town of El Paso

January 1, 2014 was a day Baylor fans were looking forward to.

We had accepted our first EVER invite to play in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Hello BCS bowl game!

Of course this meant we had to go, right? Well, we secured tickets BUT Travis is working on this ginormous 1 million square foot 650 billion dollar hospital and since it was near its completion date there was ZERO chance he'd be able to make it out to Arizona.

So, what does a girl do when her husband can't go? She thinks of one of her favorite friends that would hopefully be up for a road trip of a lifetime.


Rebecca was kind enough to say yes and she drove from Houston the night before we left.

Monday, Dec. 30th, Susan picked us about around 4am and off we went on our 965 mile tour of I-10.

Road trip selfie


This is what 99% of the drive looked like.








We made it to Las Cruces for lunch


Next stop, Scottsdale. Susan booked our rooms at the Doubletree resort. It was full of Baylor people (including my parents!) and had a Starbucks. That's a win in my book.

Rebecca and I ate at the hotel buffet every morning and then promptly went on leisurely 5 mile walks.














Homemade pretzels with provolone fondue. That was my favorite "meal" of the entire trip. If you're ever in Scottsdale, do yourself a favor and go eat at the Culinary Dropout.


Next up, RG3 and his wife in their car. We were waiting for the pep rally to start and Rebecca noticed him sitting in his car.








Game. Day.

We tailgated at a restaurant adjacent to the stadium with approximately 400 other BU fans. It was fun, but crowded!!















While we had a great time, Baylor came up short and UCF took home the Fiesta Bowl trophy. Our offense put up an impressive 42 points, but it's hard to win a game when the defense allows 52.

Even though we came up short in the biggest game our football program has ever played, I'd still say it was worth every penny and worth every mile (all 965 of them).

It's a trip I won't soon forget, and one I'm grateful to have been a part of.


And that's Life With the Riley's--