Becoming Social Butterflies

Chris and I are becoming Social Butterflies here in Rifle...
or at least, that's what it feels like after our long-distance engagement, getting married and honeymooning outside of Colorado, then moving to a new town and taking time to settle into our little home and get a puppy... all of those factors didn't make us the neighborhood social butterflies.  But, as time has passed, we seem to have found a nice variety of friends, clubs and community events in our area.

We have been involved with a Food Club with other teachers since we moved here, which I've posted about before.  Food Club meets once a month to bring/make food from a different region of the world (we've covered Louisiana, India, Brazil, Britain and Thailand).  This past week, Food Club met at our home, and we made Thai food.  It was DELICIOUS and a lot of fun.

This is what the inside of Spring Rolls looks like -- That's right,
I made Spring Rolls!  :-D

Just needs to be rolled and fried...

Here's our Spring Rollin' Crew

The gang's all here... just waiting for the food

Noodles, Peanut Sauce, Frying Oil -- Smells like Thai food

Our first time frying anything on the stove

Looks good!

I had the fire extinguisher nearby in case this oil got out of hand -- Seriously

Dinner parties for us means a nice, clean house!

Lloyd had a blast with the end of the peanut butter container...
It kept him busy and happy for nearly an hour

Cucumber salad, Lettuce wraps, Spring rolls...

Soup, Thai peanut noodles

What a great Food Club!

A great cooking experience and dinner means...

Lots of clean up...

Since we had a clean house from Food Club on Monday, it was great timing to host a game night for some other young married teacher couples on Friday night.  Instead of a formal "dinner party", we opted for "snacks and games" and Chris and I had fun making appetizers.  The group "meshed" very well together and there's talking of making Game Night a monthly occurrence.

Plenty of games to choose from

Fortunately, our guests like animals...
Even Lloyd had a game night (his friend, Butters came to play)

Appetizers

I invented a new appetizer for this group (because I was feeling adventurous and courageous).  The things that look like crescent rolls are actually filled with taco meat and cheese.  I made my regular taco recipe and put a spoonful on the crescent rolls with a pinch of shredded cheese before rolling the crescents.  Its the same concept as Pigs-In-A-Blanket, but with tacos on the inside... More of a Mexican Blanket?  Whatever you want to call them, they were a hit.  :-D

Yum!

Lexie stayed on really high shelves while two dogs were running wild

Friday Fun!

Apples To Apples

I gave Lloyd peanut butter in a toy to keep him busy while we played

The dog, Butters and his dad, Jeremy

What a fun game group

Who's winning?

Next came Taboo, and we played husbands v. wives.  It was fun for the spouses to manage the "Buzzer" for their spouses.  :-D

Amy and Jeremy are the newest newly-weds
Married last August

Rachel and Jeremy are the wise ones, Married for over two years

I opted for a bun all day because I didn't want to dry my hair

Not only did we host two group events this week, but we're meeting friends of Chris' parents, who attended our wedding for a dinner theater event Saturday evening... and then Chris has middle school ski outreach on Sunday again.  :-D  I think its safe to say we're settling in to our little community.  It's a really nice, social-butterflying feeling.

How was your week?