insta-summer

my life lately according to chad's and i's iphone/instagram pictures. 

1// katie's party! 2// katie looking all cute, about to get married on saturday 3& 4// katie and i ventured out to our favorite coffee shop in the city, spyhouse. we did lots of studying there in college. good ol' memories 6// cutest ice cream truck at calhoun 7// time for a baseball game! 8// family at the game 9// chad and i 10// our hats matched the twins piggy bank. 

life lately. well the sprummery weather has continued in minnesota, so i am just going to call it the year that it became insta-summer. no spring, just summer. but i can't complain! it also feels like summer because our first wedding of the year (aside from our own) is this weekend for my good friend katie rose. and to top of the summery feelings, we went to our first baseball game of the year. life is good. summer is great. :)

link up with us and show us your insta-lately/ iphone photos! 

a forgotten favorite of breakfast and desert

as many of you know, i love to bake. and cook. but the only problem around here is that chad doesn't love to eat. (what type of person doesn't like to eat?!) so the majority of the things that i bake/cook end up being shared or frozen for a later date. but, that is not the case with banana bread. which is a great thing, i love banana bread. it can be served as desert, or you can have it for breakfast (sweets in the morning, my favorite thing). however i sometimes forget about how much i love banana bread until someone brings it up. and the other day, both chad and laurel (my sister) made references that banana bread should be made. 

so with that- laurel came over, we made banana bread, and snacked on brie cheese with apples. 

it was a great combination :)

the best classic banana bread 

1 cup sugar

1 stick unsalted butter

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas (mashed)

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

add chocolate chips if you would like!

1. preheat oven to 325. butter a 9x5x3 pan

2. cream the sugar and butter in a large bowl. then add eggs. 

3.  add bananas, milk, and cinnamon.

4. in a separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and slat. then add dry ingredients (and chocolate chips if you decide to go that route!). do not over mix.

5. pour batter into pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. 

enjoy!

oh the flower shop

for the anderson household, it is not mothers day until you go to the flower shop. so that is exactly what we did over the weekend (this year laurel was out of town, we missed her a ton!) . my mom has a great green thumb. every year, she does landscaping, plants a flower garden, and somehow fits time in for a veggie garden. and for as long as i can remember, she always wants flowers (to plant) for mothers day. so that is exactly what we get her! as we have gotten older (and have allowed her to sleep in), we have started making a tradition that we go to the flower shop together on mothers day. we get to go in, see all of the beautiful flowers, and choose what types of plants we will fill our yard with. 

and as the years have passed my mom's green thumb has rubbed off on me, and i have started gardening! this makes going to the flower shop even more enjoyable because i then too pick out what i will see blooming in my yard for the year. 

... and though we may love going to the flower shop on mothers day, another mother's day tradition we may love even more is cold stone;) 

what did you do for mothers day? do you have any fun traditions?